Speech Spoken Here

[Oscar Michelen]

 There recently has been a lot of positive interaction with the internet community about the ELI site including a recent EFF post about the Georgia Court decision in the Linda Ellis case.  As the issue of copyright trolling gets more and more attention, folks have been coming to ELI and reading and viewing the huge amount of content on here. But what makes ELI unique are the FORUMS. ELI is the only site I have heard of that allows folks to come and comment anonymously or in the open about their experiences with trolls. Yes most blogs allow comments, but the ELI message board is not limited to what Matt and I want to talk about - many community members bring their own topics for discussion and the discussions often expand well beyond the initial post subject. It's a website whose predominant purpose is speech. Yes Matt and I (separately) do get hired for assistance by some who come to the site. But if money were the primary motivator of the site, we would hide all the valuable content behind a pay wall or sell ad space. Instead, the thousands of folks who come to ELI for the first time each month are able to read past conversations, join existing ones or start new ones.  It allows for a vibrant, free-wheeling exchange of ideas which is precisely why it is popular and has created a loyal group of supporters and followers. Yes sometimes posts focus on humor, parody and harsh opinion against copyright trollers and their henchmen. As EFF put it so well tonight "As many copyright trolls have found, their tactics are often reviled and frequently criticized."   But since 2008, ELI has become the leading resource on the net for information about Getty Images and other copycat copyright trollers in the digital image industry and beyond. It is the content and conversation on the site that irritates those who troll. It is the content and conversation  that keeps me and many others coming back several times each week to read new posts or let everyone know about a new trolling issue or a great new article on fightcopyrighttrolls.com or just to put our two cents in on a topic that interest us. That's what ELI is about at its core. Information. Expression of Ideas. Communal Conversation. Speech.     

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I couldn't agree with you more Oscar and as always you make you point very well.

[lucia]

Agreed. People disapprove of the behavior of trolls. It's natural that the disapproval will be expressed through speech.  Where speech is allowed, some of that speech will be rambunctious, but it is speech nevertheless. It would be inappropriate for anyone to suggest the speech should be squelched merely because it is either rambunctious or expresses disapproval of those whose behavior is considered to be "trollish".