Setting up a website with a forum, what legal obligations apply?

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galleryman

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Hi all, this may not be the correct forum, hopefully it is.

If I wanted to set up a Website and to have a discussion forum on that website does anyone know what my obligations are to manage and monitor the forum content etc?

Would I (or the website) be liable for any slanderous, racist, threatening or otherwise unacceptable comments posted?

Do I need to appoint Moderators and if so how does that usually work? Do site moderators get paid etc?

Any advice or reference material to point me in the right direction welcome.

Thanks
 
Would I (or the website) be liable for any slanderous, racist, threatening or otherwise unacceptable comments posted?
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I'd imagine that you'd have to take some responsibility and put in reasonable procedures to make sure that this type of content is not published in the first place and if it is, it is removed very promptly.
 
There was a recent court case on this topic which you should read.

"Mulvaney & Ors -v- The Sporting Exchange Ltd trading as Betfair"

There is also an ongoing case between boards.ie and MCD , but I believe any discussion would be contempt as it's an ongoing case.

 
Hi, I run a website with a busy discussion forum.
The website has rules that people must agree to before signing up. If you look on any forum you will get the general idea though some have more rules than others.
The moderators are trusted members of the forum who monitor the content to ensure that it stays within the rules. They don't get paid (on my site anyhow).

Ultimately, the website publisher/proprietor is responsible for the content of the boards and therefore I immeadiately delete inappropriate content.

Also make sure that you set up your board in such a way that spambots cannot register. Otherwise you will be plagued by very inappropriate postings usually during the night.

I have a Products and Services Forum where paying advertisers can post details of their services. However I keep it locked in order to prevent businesses trying to promote their services for free.

Hope this helps
 
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