The idea of Defiantly.net was born out of unique legal circumstances I faced in March 2013 as a blogger, discussion forum host, and website owner of ExtortionLetterInfo.com. I was legally blindsided by Linda Ellis, poet-author of “The Dash” poem (and copyright extortionist who threatened to sue people for thousands of dollars for mistakenly using her poem) who sought and secured from a local court (stunningly beyond belief) a breath-taking, overreaching permanent protective order against me (conveniently ignoring the First Amendment & Section 230 CDA) although I never mailed, emailed, faxed, text messaged, telephoned, tweeted, or contacted her in any way. Forum members and I wrote and posted some controversial and disapproving rhetoric about her on a discussion forum that I own and operated. That permanent protective order ordered me to remove all 2,000 posts about her, her business, and her copyright extortion operation. This outrageous and overreaching legal ruling was appealed through the Georgia Court of Appeals ultimately reaching the Georgia Supreme Court. I am happy to say we were ultimately victorious. It got me some new-found friends and contacts in the legal and blogging community.
I found myself in a strange position of not being able to write and communicate about a legal situation I would normally be very outspoken, vocal, and complain about. But I was prevented by court order from doing so on my own website. I sought other websites and media that would tell and share my story on this runaway, reckless legal ruling and irresponsible protective order against me. More importantly, I wanted and needed a bigger communication platform to get my story out but I didn’t have another platform of any significance beyond ExtortionLetterInfo.com (which was specifically named in the court order in which I couldn’t use to tell my own story!)
Although I ultimately succeeded in getting my story out to some important media websites, because I had no control over them, my story was told in limited ways. Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely appreciative to get the media coverage I did receive. It is more than the average person would ever get in their own case. However, I realized I needed another media website of my own so that I wouldn’t be overly-dependent on other media websites to tell and and share stories that needed to be told. With that thought, the idea of Defiantly.net was born.
Today, the need for political and social correctness, pandering, and etiquette strangles the raw, direct, truth-telling process. The truth isn’t always pretty or polite. Sometimes, it is just plain ugly, rude, and politically incorrect. I dislike injustice and unfairness and I am vocal about it.
I believe there is a need for a website that is willing to tell the uncensored and unvarnished truth like it really is without sugar-coating. That truth is sometimes cold, hard, bitter, and painful to accept. It often makes people angry and upset at you. But it is what it is.
No one is being forced to visit or read this website. I give fair warning to everyone that I make minimal efforts to be politically or socially correct. I am occasionally rude and impolite in what I say. My tolerance is low for people who do like to threaten others legally.
I give notice to everyone that: The First Amendment allows me to use rhetorical hyperbole, snark, sarcasm, colloquialisms, symbolism, epithets, combative, antagonistic, rude, profane, derogatory, insulting, insensitive, and politically-incorrect language. Legal scholars and law professors Eugene Volokh & Aaron H. Caplan are legal experts in the First Amendment and extended their legal expertise to support my right to Internet free speech through their work on the amicus brief for my case. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (who sponsored the same amicus brief) supports Blogger Rights’ which is part of the First Amendment’s Freedom of the Press.
I thank my adversaries for trying to shut me up and censor me. They helped me to get to a place, status, and important contacts I could not have gotten on my own. They forced me to become a whole lot more smarter and a whole lot tougher.
Pull up a seat, put your seat belts on, and enjoy the ride. We are going on an adventure.
Matthew Valor (pen name for Matthew Chan)
Matthew can be reached at: matt30060 / gmail.com.