With all due respect Poolplaya9 (and other censorship screamers), liability associated with content/conduct in & about forums is largely unchartered waters. Last I was aware, insurance companies did not insure sites like AZ against suits. The market does not yet exist (or if it started, it is brand new). However, it IS just a matter of time. Some site will soon be sued because an attorney took a case from a client stating he/she was harmed and the site should have/could have prevented it and perhaps even enabled it. There may or may not be merit to the suit, but the site will be overwhelmed with expense, distraction and stress. Perhaps enough to destroy the entity.
If there is even a possibility of a threat of violence, libel, slander, or other crime - a site's admin would be well served to employ the practices necessary to prove at all times that the site was diligently moderated and took action against questionable conduct (Ie. save transcripts, have witnesses, etc).
So many visitors don't have a F'g clue here as to a forum's legal exposure. Listen... What AZ admin will not tell you... An in-law relative of mine passed away in '04 and I reluctantly took over a # of chat rooms and message boards (I say reluctantly because the content was largely deplorable :eyes: and I own/operate my own retail business of 10 franchise locations). The web-sites were adult in nature and received millions of visitors per year. They were very successful under my reign. I had them moderated out the wazoo looking for (in great part) predators seeking minors and other prey. I could not get insurance. I spoke with attorneys about exposures and sued some jerk site over the use of intellectual property. (btw, I sign divorce papers today and no longer run the sites. :thumbup: I sure don't miss the perverts and policing them. I'd say I miss the money but the ex spent it all and then some.... Unfaithful F**king B**ch. Damn, there's my Tourettes again).
Anyway, no one was going to take that business away from us while I ran it. If I could prevent it - No pervert or sicko was going to hurt someone, rape someone or libel someone under my watch.
And none of the short-sighted VISITORS CRYING "censorship, favoritism, unfair, arbitrary!!!" was going to stop me from drawing the lines only I could draw in the murky legal sand.
Trust me, Mike and his team have their work cut out. His mod's work for free. My policy handbook was long and well defined. But how do you train mod's - free agent associates - how to handle every situation? So AZ and the web-forum world are on their own for now, interpreting where the line must be drawn on a case by case basis. There's no "Site-Owner's Legal Forum Rules for Dummies" book out there! I see and applaud AZ'sefforts in dealing with the 3% psychotic trolls and sickos that breed here and the other 5% of visitors that so freely and ignorantly slam their management practices.
Honestly...
You don't know WTF you're talking about.
