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{{Short description|Website dedicated to critique and or mockery}}
{{ref improve|date=August 2012}}
{{Expand Serbian|Грип_сајт}}
{{nofootnotes|date=February 2011}}
A '''gripe site''' is a type of [[website]] devoted to the [[critique]] and or mockery of a [[person]], [[Location (geography)|place]], [[politician]], [[corporation]], or [[institution]]. They are also known as "complaint" or "sucks" sites. The Internet provides a low-cost public platform for anyone, even of modest means, to reach a global audience via a "gripe" website. The web gives ordinary individuals the opportunity to publicly criticise the rich and powerful, including [[multinational corporation]]s. Time and money is invested in the hope of gaining satisfaction by airing a perceived grievance and embarrassing the party which is the target of the "gripe".
A '''gripe site''' is a type of [[website]] that is dedicated to [[critique]] or complaint about a specific subject.<ref>[https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/riseofthegripesite Rise of the gripe site] ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]'' (February 2007).</ref> The subject could be a [[person]], [[Location (geography)|place]], [[politician]], [[corporation]], [[institution]], or something else. A gripe site may aim to offer constructive criticism to the subject (like an [[open letter]]), or may simply [[Parody|lampoon]] the subject.


Some websites "position themselves as places where consumers can post complaints", providing coverage of "a wide range of consumer markets".<ref name="Perkins">Ed Perkins, "[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-gripe-sites-let-you-giv/149096324/ Gripe sites let you give black eyes to deserving travel suppliers]", ''The Tacoma News Tribune'' (July 9, 2006), p. E9.</ref> In addition to providing a forum for the posting of complaints, such sites may also "offer general guidelines about where to complain and how to do it", and "provide links, snail-mail addresses and even names for places and people" to whom complaints can be directed.<ref name="Perkins"/> Other gripe sites may be dedicated to a single business,<ref name="Perkins"/> and "some major suppliers do monitor gripe sites", albeit not for the benefit of those who are complaining.<ref name="Perkins"/>
The following definition of a "gripe site" is from comments authored by a notable American lawyer, [[Public Citizen|Paul Levy]], and published online by [[Public Citizen]], a [[Washington, D.C.]]-based organization founded in 1971 by [[Ralph Nader]]: "A 'gripe site' is a web site established to criticize an institution such as a corporation, union, government body, or political figure. Not surprisingly, powerful institutions often do not take kindly to being criticized, and they have invented a variety of ways to try to suppress the speech of their adversaries."{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} Levy is also a lawyer within the associated [[Public Citizen Litigation Group]], another non-profit making organization. He is the founder of the groups “Public Internet Free Speech Project”.


A 2021 report found that some companies advertising reputation management services to remove slanderous information from gripe sites were actually working in collaboration with those sites.<ref name="Krolik Hill">Aaron Krolik and [[Kashmir Hill]], "[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent-the-new-blackmail/149098017/ The New Blackmail]", ''[[The Independent]]'' (May 6, 2021).</ref> Companies with such a relationship, the report speculated, would charge a substantial amount to get information removed from one gripe site while facilitating the appearance of that information on another gripe site, in order to continue charging for further removals.<ref name="Krolik Hill"/>
In an attempt to shut down a gripe site, companies have sued the gripe site owner alleging defamation, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, libel, and copyright infringement. Public Citizen, the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], and the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]], for example, have defended gripe site owners in court on the grounds that [[free speech]] gripe sites are protected under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] or civil liberties provisions of constitutions in other countries.


==See also==
==See also==
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==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
*[http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=8209 Rise of the gripe site] [[Prospect magazine]], February 2007


==External links==
==External links==
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*[http://www.webgripesites.com webgripesites.com]
*[http://www.webgripesites.com webgripesites.com]
*[http://www.weeklygripe.co.uk weeklygripe.co.uk]
*[http://www.weeklygripe.co.uk weeklygripe.co.uk]
*[http://www.gripes.com.au gripes.com.au]
*[http://www.gripes.com.au gripes.com.au] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302075654/https://www.gripes.com.au/ |date=2023-03-02 }}


{{Intellectual property activism}}
{{Intellectual property activism}}
{{Websites template}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Gripe Site}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gripe Site}}
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[[Category:Copyright law]]
[[Category:Fair use]]
[[Category:United States trademark law]]
[[Category:Intellectual property activism]]
[[Category:Trademark case law]]
[[Category:Consumer protection]]
[[Category:Consumer protection]]
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[[Category:Websites]]

Latest revision as of 20:27, 10 November 2024

A gripe site is a type of website that is dedicated to critique or complaint about a specific subject.[1] The subject could be a person, place, politician, corporation, institution, or something else. A gripe site may aim to offer constructive criticism to the subject (like an open letter), or may simply lampoon the subject.

Some websites "position themselves as places where consumers can post complaints", providing coverage of "a wide range of consumer markets".[2] In addition to providing a forum for the posting of complaints, such sites may also "offer general guidelines about where to complain and how to do it", and "provide links, snail-mail addresses and even names for places and people" to whom complaints can be directed.[2] Other gripe sites may be dedicated to a single business,[2] and "some major suppliers do monitor gripe sites", albeit not for the benefit of those who are complaining.[2]

A 2021 report found that some companies advertising reputation management services to remove slanderous information from gripe sites were actually working in collaboration with those sites.[3] Companies with such a relationship, the report speculated, would charge a substantial amount to get information removed from one gripe site while facilitating the appearance of that information on another gripe site, in order to continue charging for further removals.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Rise of the gripe site Prospect (February 2007).
  2. ^ a b c d Ed Perkins, "Gripe sites let you give black eyes to deserving travel suppliers", The Tacoma News Tribune (July 9, 2006), p. E9.
  3. ^ a b Aaron Krolik and Kashmir Hill, "The New Blackmail", The Independent (May 6, 2021).
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