Help a Noob please- disclaimer/terms etc. on a new forum

Started by keenstudent, December 08, 2014, 07:43:02 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Have you ever come into legal trouble in running your forum?

Yes
1 (14.3%)
No
6 (85.7%)

Total Members Voted: 7

keenstudent

ADDED POLL

Dear All,

First of all I would like to thank everyone involved in making this great product available to use for the general public. I for one greatly appreciate your help :)#

My question is around getting a forum up and running. The sort of community I hope to set up will certainly not be a rowdy or controversial one but I am keen to ensure I am "covered" in the eventuality of potential legal troubles etc. My questions, which I hope you will be able to help out with, are:

1. How likely is it, running a forum, to run into legal trouble or lawsuits etc.?
2. What is the best way to cover yourself in these circumstances?
3. Is there a template new forum owners can borrow from or simply copy, which they can insert somewhere on theire forum to ensure they are not liable? Sort of like with this forum when you sign up or on others where I have seen a 'terms' link at the bottom etc?

Thanks again for ANY help on this. You guys are the best :)

KL

Kindred

in 20 years of running forums - I have been legally threatened ONCE...   and that one time, the guy had no actual idea what he was talking about (which is pretty much the case with almost every "threat" I have ever seen)


Your best bet is to make yourself knowledgeable about your LOCAL laws regarding personal data and libel.
(for example, Germany and Canada are more obnoxious that most about what constitutes "personal data")

In general, the best way to "protect yourself" is to just tell people "The forum is mine. Behave or you will be banned. Your actions represent you and not the site or me." (and then follow through, if people don't behave)

As for a boilerplate template...  google is your friend.
https://www.google.com/search?q=forum+terms+of+service
https://www.google.com/search?q=forum+terms+of+service+generator
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

keenstudent

Quote from: Kindred on December 08, 2014, 08:07:40 AM
in 20 years of running forums - I have been legally threatened ONCE...   and that one time, the guy had no actual idea what he was talking about (which is pretty much the case with almost every "threat" I have ever seen)


Your best bet is to make yourself knowledgeable about your LOCAL laws regarding personal data and libel.
(for example, Germany and Canada are more obnoxious that most about what constitutes "personal data")

In general, the best way to "protect yourself" is to just tell people "The forum is mine. Behave or you will be banned. Your actions represent you and not the site or me." (and then follow through, if people don't behave)

As for a boilerplate template...  google is your friend.
hxxp:www.google.com/search?q=forum+terms+of+service [nonactive]
hxxp:www.google.com/search?q=forum+terms+of+service+generator [nonactive]

Thanks for the sound advice, I really appreciate it! I will go ahead as you suggest.

Best

KL

keenstudent

I have added a poll to this thread. Hopefully it is not a question which has been answered before.

I would be keen to know who here has come into any legal troubles in running a forum before, as in the question. Likewise, if you have voted 'no', a heads up on what precautions you have made regardless would be great

Thanks Guys!

Bigguy

From Kindred's links I found this online generator that seems to do great to make one up. It does ask if you wanna buy their pro version but you don't have to. It should help you out in creating one:

https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/index.php

Advertisement: