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I'd never heard of the Canadian law-school blog "Law Is Cool" until yesterday, when someone pointed out one of the complainants against Maclean's was posting on it. So I linked to it. They've now published "Steyn Fans Spam Law is Cool":
We’ve had over a thousand new visitors in the past 24 hours. We can track how people get to our site, so we know they are mostly readers of Mark Steyn or affiliated sites.
Part of Steyn’s expressed tactics include spamming government officials, media, and other figures. They have done the same here.
Comments for these posts will be closed. Irreverent comments will be retained, irrelevant ones will not.
You can call this as well an attempt to “stifle free speech;” instead, you have demonstrated that your supporters are a bunch of rowdy and immature trolls.
Just a couple of points. First, for "law students" these lads are extremely imprecise with their terms. "Spam" means I send out the same cheap Viagra pitch to a million e-mail addresses. The commenters they've decided to clamp down were responding individually to points made in the anonymous Law Is Cool post. That is not, by definition, "spam". A lawyer who doesn't understand language doesn't understand his own currency. Would you really want these guys handling your divorce or wrongful dismissal suit?
Second, re "part of Steyn's expressed tactics", that link is nothing to do with me. As Kathy Shaidle writes:
How about getting your facts wrong, like stating that the "Free Mark Steyn" blog was started by Mark Steyn when it wasn't? In fact, a five-second google reveals it to be the brainchild of the intrepid "binkie".
Third, what happened to all the macho swagger?
Since this is a tribunal affair, and not a case being brought by the Crown before a criminal court, Steyn’s freedom is hardly at stake.
Yet.
Suddenly you get a dozen comments and ooh, oh dear, we need to shut the comments section.
Which funnily enough is the heart of this case. Law Is Cool is your blog. If you don't want my "trolls" writing on it, that's your right.
Likewise, Maclean's is Ted Rogers' and Ken Whyte's magazine. If they don't want your guys writing on it, that's their right.
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