Just wanted to bring everyone up to date on the Streetbeasts lawsuit, share some good news, and say a formal thanks to all donors.

To recap, this past year, I was sued by over an article we wrote about Streetbeasts in the wiki. The article revealed the connection between Streetbeasts and Classic Motor Carriages, who pleaded guilty to Federal wire fraud charges for defrauding people over kit car purchases. This type of lawsuit is what's known as a SLAPP suit: a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. SLAPP suits are frivolous lawsuits that are frequently used to stifle free speech on the web. While some states have anti-SLAPP statutes that forbid these type of suits, Florida (where Streetbeasts is located) does not. More details about the lawsuit are in this thread.

Anyway -- good news . One of the two lawsuits against me in Florida has recently been dropped. AND -- we're expecting that the second one will be dropped as well. Most importantly, the article has not been taken offline, and is actually on the front page of Google search results for "streetbeasts".

This victory would not have been possible were it not for the numerous donations from forum members, which took a serious bite out of the total legal fees. Thank you. It seemed like everybody wanted the article to stay online, and was willing to put their money where their mouth is.

The next step is to defend against a similar lawsuit filed in Colorado. Then, once we beat that, we should be done, and the article can stay online permanently. Three lawsuits is not a small price to pay for keeping a single article online, but sacrificing our free speech is, in this situation, simply not an option. If we can, once again, raise a similar amount for the legal fund, then I think that we should ultimately be able to get the Colorado lawsuit dropped as well. Any leftover funds will go into a legal defense fund to protect the free speech of Hotrodders.com members.

I've listed all non-anonymous donors on this donation thank-you page. Thanks again. Your donations help protect free speech for hotrodders online.

If Hotrodders.com has helped you out, please think about how much this site is worth to you, and consider donating one-tenth, one-twentieth, or one-hundredth of that amount to the legal defense fund. You can make a donation via paypal, or see this thread for more details on donating, or other ways that you can lend a hand. Thanks.

These Slapp lawsuits, can you sue them for wasting your time and resources or would that be too expensive? It gripes me that this company can do this to you, this is basic freedom of speech and newspaper, tabloids having been doing this for years, they do lose a suit when they are maliciously in the wrong, but these guys have a history.I wouldn't have a problem seeing them getting sued.... I would also like to see this in some car magazines, editorial type of letters. They could be next.

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Support free speech on our website, looky here:Lawsuit against our free speech

I think you should make this a Sticky Thread, Jon. I think its important that anyone who has been following this on going battle realize the hard fact of what your going through for the everyday consumer.

I don't want my hard earned cash going to sketchy businesses, let alone businesses who pet their lawyers for keeping their dirty little secrets hidden.

If transactions go sour, I want the freedom for everyone to say whatever they want, whenever about whatever! How else are we suppose to know? I don't buy anything without proof that I will get what I paid for. That involves what other people have to say (unedited and unbiased).

No one wants to be in your shoes, Jon, but if they believe in free speech... they need to pitch in! I sure as hell can't afford to do business with the fraudulent type and I think a benjamin towards the cause is the least I can do. The same goes for everyone else.

Jon,congrats on having good news,keep up the good fight !!!
I am 100 % for free speech,my father fought in WWII,guarding convoy's in the North Atlantic,he saw duty on Destroyers & Corvettes.
I am back to work for the winter season in the Alberta oil patch,and before I am done,you will get another donation from me.
This is a great site,and I appreciate all your hard work.
Guy

Man this is really great news!

Way to go, Jon !!

I think this thread should be read by everyone here.


454 RATTLER

We all should make a donation, no matter how small it is, to help Jon.




Larry

I was shocked at how few members were named for donating. If every member on this board gave a dollar or two that would be a great help I am sure.

I wanna give. HOW?

I gave some money just now, wish I could give more, hope my wife doesn't yell ha ha.

Anyway, it seems there are a number of things at stake here! First, this place is a database. Its basically an online encyclopedia of hotrod knowledge that we all get free. Not only that, but we all can ask questions and get answers from guys who have been doing this their whole lives. I think we lose sight of how valuable that is. Jon has never once asked for a dime for us for this service. The amount of storage and capacity of bandwidth to run this site probably costs as much as a mortgage payment every month. Jon pays it, and never even mentions that to us.

It always seems like its getting harder and harder to hotrod with all the costs, laws and challenges associated. I see a lot of talk on here about hotrodding being a dying breed to. I think thats true! Even in my short experience it seems there are fewer guys to talk to about rear ends, dropping in a motor, how did you configure that suspension etc. This place allows us to stay in contact with the experts at all times.

There are a bunch of hotrod sites out there, but this one is the best. Its professional, the information is high quality and the membership is top-notch. Here we get get the real story about what works, what doesn't. What products are good and which are junk with experience, not just an anecdote or two, to back up those claims.

So along comes streetbeasts and with their deep pockets and wants to try to shut this thing down because they got called out for product quality on this forum. If we all chip in a little bit we can prove to them that their money can't buy our silence. We have a right to say what we want. We made sure of that with the VERY FIRST amendment to the constitution. Ask yourself how much money you'd pay to let somebody take that from you, because that's what's happening here.

I don't have a ton of extra money right now but I dropped mine in the bucket and hopefully I'll be able to throw some more in. Even while I'm in grad school, with a child on the way, with a new house and a new wife there's always a few bucks for the important things. If we all added up the money we've saved reading at this site, or added up the entertainment value we've gotten from it and multiplied that by .0001, we'd pay for this lawsuit 100 times over.

Don't believe for a minute that just because we're on the internet here that this isn't real. Don't let these people buy your silence.

K

Through paypal...https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/w...6f850d773643350

Refere to Post #1 by Jon, There is a link there click on it and then you can donate, That's how i did it . Hope this helps.......Cole

Thanks to Jon and all of you here that lend your thoughts and experiences to help those of us who are trying to educate ourselves. I donated what I could. Hope it helps. If this last suit starts going bad, let me know and I'll donate again!

We've got a great bunch here, keep em coming! I'm waiting til I see my wife smile, then I know she's in a good mood, she has the paypal account...

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Support free speech on our website, looky here:Lawsuit against our free speech

Thanks again everyone -- I've just updated the Donor Thank-You page with the usernames of the new donors.