Kathleen Bruce <[log in to unmask]> wrote and quoted one of her list
subscribers' comments to her:

>>And yes, of course you can deny me access from this address and this
>>server. But were you to do so in what I considered an unreasonable,
>>arbitrary, unjust or discriminatory manner, you can bet your bottom dollar
>>that you wouldn't have heard the last of the matter! I really really wish
>>you hadn't felt it necessary to make those statements re access. You must
>>know that I won't be persuaded by threats now or ever. It ups the ante
>>enormously to start wielding big sticks in discussion. And the whole thing
>>surely is about persuasion.."

There is probably no legal precedent in this regard.  The Internet is still
a wild, untamed frontier legally, and that's just within the US, to say
nothing of transnationally.  It stands to reason that chances are extremely
remote that a person would 1) succeed in such a suit and 2) want to come to
the US or hire an attorney here to bring a suit over such a trivial matter.

It sounds like you are dealing with a couple of control freaks who like to
bully others.  It's your list, and you are providing a tremendous public
service (as most list owners do) for little or no thanks most of the time.
You should have little or no tolerance for those who make your life
miserable as you help others.  They are guests in your house.

If it were my list I would give both subscribers one warning to cease and
desist their public behavior toward each other and their private behavior
and threats toward you (regardless of what they say).  Tell them that no
further warnings will be given for transgressions and that your reponse
will be an immediate unsub or filtering of them both.  Another option is to
just put your list on "hold" for a period of time (like a week) to allow
cooling off and explain to everyone what's going on.  In the case of your
list, that means that it's 1700 irritated people against 2, and that pent
up subscriber ire is a powerful weapon for you that you can use as a last
resort.

Fortunately, it sounds as though the persons involved are not kooks intent
on bothering you or your list from behind a pantheon of fake addresses that
you have to continually block one at a time as they play cat and mouse with
you.  In other words, if you blocked them from their current addresses, it
would probably be a pain for them to resubscribe under other ones.  This is
a major point in your favor (and you can help keep it that way by setting
your header to Subscription= Open,Confirm).

Again, be strong, remember that you're in charge of your own list, and put
your foot down on the idiots.  Good luck.

-- John