thread: 2012-03-03 : Ben Lehman: Caveat Scriba: Margret Weis Productions
On 2012-03-04, TimD wrote:
>>In private discussion with several freelancers employed by
>>MWP, there are shocking parallels. In total: Margret Weis
>>Productions has, uniformly, been either unconscionably tardy
>>in its payments for services or simply refused to pay. This
>> refusal generally takes the form of an extended run-around
>>with a lot of responsibility dodging and mealy-mouthed
>>indications that payment may be just around the corner.
>>This is, quite plainly, theft.
I am the one who said that Ben opened himself up for libel...
In the part I quoted, Ben SPECIFICALLY and EXPLICITLY states that there has been several DIFFERENT problems, and then he essentially calls MWP a den of thieves.
THAT is libel right there......
Now, we have no idea of the details of the problems these alleged authors have with MWP, and as has been pointed out, it could be nothing more than them demanding something that their contract did not authorize them to have yet.
We weren't even given sanitized details, such as:
>>>>
Author 1's payment was 14 days past due the date of payment specified in his contract. He wrote MWP and asked about it and in return, they said "you misread the contract, publiclication is defined as the release of the print version", to which Author 1 responded with etc..etc.. etc...
>>>>
NO, all Ben did was call MWP thieves and then go on a rant. Plain and simple...
It also ignores the fact that most contracts usually have legal remedies that should be followed if there is a problem with them. If MWP failed to make payment, and then gave me the run around for a month or so, then I would officially declare them in breech of the contract, which triggers a cure period in which the problem MUST be fixed or the product ends up getting pulled.
Is somebody claiming to have problems with MWP?
Vincent says that he has talked to one person, and Ben says he talked to several.
So the answer is most likely yes—one or more people are CLAIMING to have had problems.
Are those problems real?? Now THAT is the question. Unless those "authors" showed you their emails to MWP and the return emails from MWP (presuming that all contact between the two was via email and ONLY email), then NOTHING is proved conclusively.
You end up with Ben and Vincent believing one or more people making claims without real proof (them telling how badly they have been treated is NOT proof without emails or something else to back them up).
And then you end up with Ben calling MWP thieves without proof, only heresay....
