Partly Response-ish
Sep. 30th, 2006 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heidiI admit that I haven't read all of the posts from Micheka aka Laura aka Purple Popple aka Partly Bouncy, but I've read enough to know that people are going to have questions.
But more than that, it seems from Michela's account that various users of the Sugarquill and Gryffindor Tower forums/sites have been hearing lies about me for years. There's things in Michela's account which are completely fiction. I mean, what can one possibly say about
...except that it's entirely fictional. Someone created a story, perhaps to cause other people to fear me, and to fear Cassie. That's all it is - a story - the same kind of story that parents tell their kids to keep them from going into the candy store across the street. Urban legend, whatever you want to call it, it's a lie.*
So if you've been told of something evil, nefarious, underhanded, malicious or bad that I've done - ask me if it's true, and I'll let you know. But since tomorrow night marks the start of Yom Kippur, and thus I'm going to be mostly-offline through Monday night, I can't answer everything - but I'll answer any questions people have about any contents of her posts or any comments made on B_P before things were deleted there, or on her own JF account. Anon commenting will be on through Sunday and again on Tuesday, and IP logging will be off at the same times. If I can't do all the answering, I'll finish on Tuesday and afterwards.
But I do want to deal with a few things sooner than later, because they're attacks on my professionalism and on me as a lawyer.
I did use my blackberry on occasion to post to various private (ie ungoogleable archives that are not accessable by members of the public unless they join them) Yahoogroups. This was actually allowed under our internet usage policy - we could use our blackberries for occasional personal usage - the same way that people in many offices can use their office phones for occasional personal usage, like to make a lunch date with a friend or check in to make sure the kids have made it home from school.
I'll defer to Rebcca Tushnet's law journal article regarding where I based some of my feelings in 2000 and 2001 regarding disclaimers, and note that I don't think that there was a fandom-standard for disclaimers at that time, in any way, especially because "senior" fanfiction people like Cairnsy at ffn did not have any disclaimers on
their stories, not even of the HP characters and content. But YMMV and reasonable minds may differ.
I don't know where she's getting hte idea that Sinead stalked Cassie but on the matter of sinead, I'll defer to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kelleyscorpio's post to Michela on B_P back in June - Kelley, I know you sent me the link this week and that was the first time I'd seen it, but I can't find the url now - let me know so I can edit it into this if that's ok?
I've seen that people are wondering why I discussed fannish things at work.
It's a long story... but a nice one.
My first month at Carlton Fields was in October of 2000. I was in a "satellite" office with attorneys from a law firm that had been a small and independent firm for over a dozen years, and had just merged into CF. At said small firm, there was a firmwide tradition of dressing up for Halloween, and in 2000, my boss, and at least one other attorney, and IIRC a paralegal, showed up in full Star Trek regalia. Boss told me that day that he was a Trekker, and it was then that I first saw his Klingon dictionary on his bookcase. I admitted to my Harry Potter and Crowded House fannishness (I used to mod the frenz.com forums withaswas) and he promised me a day off to go see the film the day it opened the following year, noting that he always took the morning off when a Trek film opened.
I felt comfortable being a fan because I knew I was around other people who had attended cons, who brought their fannishness into the workplace to some degree, and who didn't blink at the pre-release
Sorcerer's Stone poster I had framed on the wall.
I know I'm lucky to have had these experiences, but I am not the only one. I know of lawyers who have served as counsel to fandom groups, with the knowledge and support of their firms - and they sometimes even get pro bono credit for it. I know accountants who've done the same. And I personally think it's terrific.
I was not fired from Carlton Fields in November of 2001 because of posts I made online in June of 2001. No law firm would ever wait nearly six months to fire someone for violating firm ethics rules or guidelines. Too much liability risk. I left Carlton Fields, along with the other attorneys in my department, when the firm disolved the San Jose office and the entire Internet Law department when we just didn't have enough business after the death of the department's co-head, Keith Stephens, the previous spring, only six months after the department had started. I left on good terms with everyone and have lunched, dined and hung
out with former colleagues since.
I hope this clarifies a few things, and I'm off to re-allow anon comments and turn off the IP logging.
ETA: Anons are unscreened again.
But more than that, it seems from Michela's account that various users of the Sugarquill and Gryffindor Tower forums/sites have been hearing lies about me for years. There's things in Michela's account which are completely fiction. I mean, what can one possibly say about
> It is also about this time, in the spring of 2002,
> unsubstantiated rumors circulated saying that Heidi Tandy was going after
> an adult woman who had left Cassandra Claire negative feedback. Along
> with Stacey and with Cassandra Claire's involvement in helping with IP
> information, they tracked down the woman and her employer. Supposedly,
> one of them contacted the employer and informed the employer of the
> woman's fannish activities. This led to the woman being fired. This story
> cannot be verified and the truthfulness of it is almost not important.
> What is important is that people heard this story and believed it to be
> true. The story helped stem a great deal of criticism regarding Heidi and
> Cassandra Claire's actions out of fear that the duo would do similar
> things to the unfortunate person who crossed them.
...except that it's entirely fictional. Someone created a story, perhaps to cause other people to fear me, and to fear Cassie. That's all it is - a story - the same kind of story that parents tell their kids to keep them from going into the candy store across the street. Urban legend, whatever you want to call it, it's a lie.*
So if you've been told of something evil, nefarious, underhanded, malicious or bad that I've done - ask me if it's true, and I'll let you know. But since tomorrow night marks the start of Yom Kippur, and thus I'm going to be mostly-offline through Monday night, I can't answer everything - but I'll answer any questions people have about any contents of her posts or any comments made on B_P before things were deleted there, or on her own JF account. Anon commenting will be on through Sunday and again on Tuesday, and IP logging will be off at the same times. If I can't do all the answering, I'll finish on Tuesday and afterwards.
But I do want to deal with a few things sooner than later, because they're attacks on my professionalism and on me as a lawyer.
By this time, Heidi was posting to fan fiction mailing lists from an
e-mail address that included information regarding the law firm she
was working for. The signature from that e-mail address added to every
post as a text file specified that the advice offered in it should not
be considered as legal advice.
I did use my blackberry on occasion to post to various private (ie ungoogleable archives that are not accessable by members of the public unless they join them) Yahoogroups. This was actually allowed under our internet usage policy - we could use our blackberries for occasional personal usage - the same way that people in many offices can use their office phones for occasional personal usage, like to make a lunch date with a friend or check in to make sure the kids have made it home from school.
I'll defer to Rebcca Tushnet's law journal article regarding where I based some of my feelings in 2000 and 2001 regarding disclaimers, and note that I don't think that there was a fandom-standard for disclaimers at that time, in any way, especially because "senior" fanfiction people like Cairnsy at ffn did not have any disclaimers on
their stories, not even of the HP characters and content. But YMMV and reasonable minds may differ.
I don't know where she's getting hte idea that Sinead stalked Cassie but on the matter of sinead, I'll defer to
kelleyscorpio's post to Michela on B_P back in June - Kelley, I know you sent me the link this week and that was the first time I'd seen it, but I can't find the url now - let me know so I can edit it into this if that's ok?I've seen that people are wondering why I discussed fannish things at work.
It's a long story... but a nice one.
My first month at Carlton Fields was in October of 2000. I was in a "satellite" office with attorneys from a law firm that had been a small and independent firm for over a dozen years, and had just merged into CF. At said small firm, there was a firmwide tradition of dressing up for Halloween, and in 2000, my boss, and at least one other attorney, and IIRC a paralegal, showed up in full Star Trek regalia. Boss told me that day that he was a Trekker, and it was then that I first saw his Klingon dictionary on his bookcase. I admitted to my Harry Potter and Crowded House fannishness (I used to mod the frenz.com forums with
aswas) and he promised me a day off to go see the film the day it opened the following year, noting that he always took the morning off when a Trek film opened.I felt comfortable being a fan because I knew I was around other people who had attended cons, who brought their fannishness into the workplace to some degree, and who didn't blink at the pre-release
Sorcerer's Stone poster I had framed on the wall.
I know I'm lucky to have had these experiences, but I am not the only one. I know of lawyers who have served as counsel to fandom groups, with the knowledge and support of their firms - and they sometimes even get pro bono credit for it. I know accountants who've done the same. And I personally think it's terrific.
I was not fired from Carlton Fields in November of 2001 because of posts I made online in June of 2001. No law firm would ever wait nearly six months to fire someone for violating firm ethics rules or guidelines. Too much liability risk. I left Carlton Fields, along with the other attorneys in my department, when the firm disolved the San Jose office and the entire Internet Law department when we just didn't have enough business after the death of the department's co-head, Keith Stephens, the previous spring, only six months after the department had started. I left on good terms with everyone and have lunched, dined and hung
out with former colleagues since.
I hope this clarifies a few things, and I'm off to re-allow anon comments and turn off the IP logging.
ETA: Anons are unscreened again.
Re: Part II
Date: 2006-10-02 11:18 pm (UTC)So...the hospital records department, in violation of federal law (HIPPA) exposed itself to 1) a huge ass fine (per violation), 2) a lawsuit by msscribe, 3) a lawsuit by the United States Government, 4) loss of its accreditation, 5) etc., because it felt like being really nice and "confirming" the information you listed?
Newsflash: Not everyone on the internet is an idiot who will believe anything they read. Some of us have functioning brain cells. The likelihood that a hospital would expose itself to all of the above and THEN some just to give you information is pretty much NIL.
I'm going to give you a hint. HIPPA violations are taken very seriously by the government and by the medical community. Confirmation that X person was/is/will be a patient without the expressed consent of the patient, the patient's medical power of attorney, or a court of law is strictly prohibited.
Even if its possible someone in the hospital record's department was stupid enough to fall for whatever scheme you laid out in order to extract this information, the very fact that you would have had to have had a "scheme" makes you a "not credible person".
Take your bullshit to another fandom. We aren't buying.