UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums Resources and Customizing Admin Zone legal responsiblity for posts

This question has been brought up on several forums I am on and one I Admin.

Can the Forum owner be held leaglly responsible for posts made by members? I am on a GSD forum(s) and two area's where it seems to be an issue are breeders or talking badly about breeder usually results in board owner being threatened. Another is some one feels insulted or posts not showing them in a good light. The third was one rescue groupd saying there were being slandered when all that was posted was recapping the information on their site or what they posted on the forum.

Thanks
Val

Well fist off I usually have a set of rules that are agreed upon during registration where this is directly addressed.

• Do not post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, nudity of any kind including cartoon nudity, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, or in violation of any law.
• Do not transmit or post via (YOUR SITE NAME HERE) any information, data, text, files, links, software, chat communications or other materials ("content") that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, nudity of any kind including cartoon nudity, racially or ethnically hateful, political in nature, discussion of nudity or sexual content, including that pertaining to sexual orientation.
• (YOUR SITE NAME HERE) staff reserves the right to edit or remove posts and/or entire threads at our discretion.
• (YOUR SITE NAME HERE) Administrators and Moderators do our best to read all messages posted. However, we are not responsible for the content of any of these messages. The (YOUR SITE NAME HERE) staff reserves the right to edit or remove posts and/or entire threads at our discretion. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless (YOUR SITE NAME HERE), their agents, and site owner, with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
• (YOUR SITE NAME HERE) also reserves the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) to the proper authorities in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

A disclaimer should do it and then if the need arises you can just point them in that direction.

Adding to JAISP's post above something like:

• YOUR SITE NAME is not responsible for any comments or views posted by its members or visitors who use the forums.
• YOUR SITE NAME is not responsible for any of the contents displayed or held by any of the linked web sites.

etc.

But even with all of the disclaimers, there is nothing to stop someone from going after you in court. That's just the way this country is.

Very true.
Look at the tobacco companies. They have a disclaimer on every pack and still they get class action suits against them all the time.

*puff*

But this can't be harmful.

*puff* *cough* *cough*

The warning label must just be a misprint.

*puff* *cough*

/end derail

Don't forget the wheeze between each word.

There is precedent that protects web site operators from comments by it's users BUT you must speak with a qualified attorney to understand everything you must do in order to have them apply to your site.

You should be able to inexpensively add Errors and Omissions insurance to your business liability which can help protect you from claims arising from this...even frivolous claims.

Disclaimer: The contents of this post are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. I am not a lawyer, so I do not give legal advice. If you should have any questions or want professional assurance that the information is appropriate to your situation please consult a licensed attorney.

Rick you can (cough, puff,wheeze) derail any post I make. I am just the new kid on the block, well new posting, I am here reading fairly often.

Thanks for the info.

I should have thought about the errors and ommissions thing myself, so thanks for that reminder.

Val

All the disclaimers in the world won't help you if their lawyer is a bit sharper than yours and they happen to hit a sympathetic judge. This is an evolving field, one in which precedent and case law is both inconsistent and being set on a daily basis.

Or, in other words, your liability and exposure is inversely proportional to the quality of legal representation you can afford.

What else is new? LOL legality is nothing more than who can afford the sharpest lawyer.


Dunny

Yeah, isn't life just grand in the USA. You can be totally right and still loose cus your lawyer is not in the right circles.

Around here it is who carries a bigger stick.

I want to move to finalnd, no one is allowed to sue anyone !

Yes, I keep forgetting that your laws are different.

I can't believe (or maybe it shouldn't really be a surprise in the "only in the USA" sense) that if two people are having a disagreement an innocent third party can be held to blame. That's just ridiculous.

Not only can each country be different but each US state can be different. We actually went to our corporate attorney and had them make suggestions and sign-off on the content of our Forums Use Agreement. If you want to read our flavor of it:

http://www.simhq.com/_aboutus/aboutus.html#agreement

That is very good, very close to ours.