@mr john honovich
Well call me a nervous nellie but some of the 'potential downsides', as you call'em, of your actions are enough to scare the whiskers clean off a bobcat.
I can only gather that T. (Troy), has given you permission to copy his mistakenly addressed e-mail and to publicize it to thousands of people 'round the world. Because without his thumbs up, then some of them legal consequences of the unauthorized publication of a private persons facts and e-mail could be 'potentially' most negative.
And, no sir, even an admission of guilt on the phone does not grant you the legal right to make embarrassing public disclosures about a private person, whether they be true or not. (Note: Saying anything to thousands is considered public, pay wall or otherwise)
And then you got the fact that it was disclosed first-off to people in his industry, including current and future employers, which would 'potentially' rachet-up the award amount, since it could hurt his earnings for years to come.
Then to top it all off, you were not even the intended recipient of T's e-mail. And even though you darn well knew it was mis-addressed, you done published it anyhow!
I'm sure you checked out, as I did, what the legal consequences of publishing the contents of misdelivered/misaddressed mail are. 'Potentially' heinous. When you know its misaddressed, that is. Like you did.
But maybe you are banking on the fact that T. would like to keep his job and just wants to lay low, by which I reckon you're prolly right. Anyway, like you say its just a 'potential' downside, a little money and a good lawyer goes a long way towards beating down this type of case.
Legality aside, Mister, the real problem here is you are a public figure. And although you done agreed to trade some of your privacy for notoriety, T. did not. You have direct and instant access to various media channels to give your point of view. T. does not. There is a responsibility that comes with power. You, sir, have abused that power.
And as for your wallet, maybe you are right and your public stockading of T. will scare any of them deadbeats out there to pony-up $200 to a subscription to IPVM pronto. But is it worth the fact that to the members, and to us 'ignorant posters', you just come off as a self-indulgent prick? It's time I done saddle-up.
Good luck, y'all!