Comments on: Popular Community ScubaBoard Sued for Libel and How to Limit Libel Claims on Your Forums

By: 5 Responsibilities You Have as a Community Admin | The Blog Herald

5 Responsibilities You Have as a Community Admin | The Blog Herald — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:15:47 +0000

[...] legally, you can’t be held liable for defamation committed by your users, disputes can still create legal headaches as you can still be sued or involved in a legal dispute between the two parties [...]

By: Interesting Links, March 2010 | An Eclectic Mind

Interesting Links, March 2010 | An Eclectic Mind — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:06:55 +0000

[...] Popular Community ScubaBoard Sued for Libel and How to Limit Libel Claims on Your Forums – Jonathan Bailey (of PlagiarismToday.com and CopyByte.com) does a guest post about how forum management can avoid libel lawsuits. On ManagingCommunities.com. [...]

By: NetDoc

NetDoc — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:33:52 +0000

The real “take-a-way” here is that this can happen to ANYONE no matter how careful you are. Except #3, I follow those suggestions pretty closely.

How has this changed ScubaBoard? It really hasn’t. Why should it? We did nothing wrong. Yes, I am a bit more intolerant of peeps who threaten me with law suits and some have experienced some unintended consequences for their threats. But my staff sees it as business as usual.

By: antoine

antoine — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:17:43 +0000

These types of situations and the discussions swirling around them are almost always very heavily skewed to the side of “Freedom Of Speech”.
The concept of Freedom Of Speech does not in any way include the reckless & malicious destruction of another person’s life & reputation.
There are 2 sides to every story. Yes, sometimes bullies use the legal system to shut down legit criticism:

http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case343.cfm

but also there are times when legit reputable business people are slimed and slandered and have no other recourse than to pursue the matter in court.

By: Online Community Links Roundup 02/04/10 | Community Management | Blaise Grimes-Viort

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:20:48 +0000

[...] How to limit libel claims on your forums [...]

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:24:05 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Brett. Glad you enjoyed it!

Patrick

By: brett

brett — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:58:21 +0000

Jonathan,

Well written article with substantial facts to back it up. Thanks.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:05:27 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Maria. I’m glad that you enjoyed the article.

The gripe you mention about forums can be applied pretty evenly to most forms of public social interaction online, including blogs and “social networks.”

Thanks,

Patrick

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:46:00 +0000

As usual, an excellent post, Jonathan! This is good advice for any serious and responsible forum management team.

My big gripe about forums in general is the complete lack of responsible management. I’ve seen many forums populated by trolls that are just setting themselves up for all kinds of legal hassles. Your “Mitigating Disaster” section should be the basis for forums everywhere — not only to prevent legal problems, but to make them more usable to the folks who want a good, useful community.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:36:38 +0000

Thanks Liz! Glad to hear it.

Patrick