The legalities of running a forum?

manic111

manic111

manic111

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Along with a few friends, I am currently looking at setting up a website and attached forum; don't worry, it's nothing to do with computers (sport, if you must know!) and therefore not a competitor. :)

I was wondering if anybody had had any experience of running a forum, and if they know what the legalities are? Based on the little research that I've done, it seems that most of what goes on on forums comes under "freedom of speech", and therefore can't be classed as libellous.

If anyone could shed any light on this I'd really appreciate it :D
 
usually most forums come with a wee disclaimer which seems to have been written by lawyers for said forum makers.

Or do what I did and "borrow" and butcher to your needs a disclaimer from somewhere else that runs the same type of forum.
 
Putting a disclaimer along the lines of "This is a public forum and as such the views and opinions expressed on this forum do not reflect that of the owners..." or something like, it should cover you for most things I reckon. Lots of examples out there. :)
 
Yea that's not a bad shout; so the disclaimer effectively absolves you of any blame for what is written, and shifts it all onto whoever wrote it?
 
Aye copy other larger forums as they'll more than likely have recieved legal counsel (as they've grown).

You might have issues with it being to do with sports, i.e. injuries, treatment etc. This forum states that medical advice isn't to be given, however I do know some of similar size where the admins and mods have no issues. I'm not sure what to say on that.
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Aye copy other larger forums as they'll more than likely have recieved legal counsel (as they've grown).

You might have issues with it being to do with sports, i.e. injuries, treatment etc. This forum states that medical advice isn't to be given, however I do know some of similar size where the admins and mods have no issues. I'm not sure what to say on that.
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That's a good point actually, and one which we hadn't thought of. To be fair it's going to be a website which focusses on university sport, and the banter that goes with it, rather than on things like "how to play sport" etc in any great detail, and as such we can just rule out things like medical advice.

What are the laws on people providing things like fitness advice though? It goes on here quite a lot in the Sports and Fitness section, with people offering eating tips, advice on form when lifting, fitness routines etc. Are there any potential pitfalls if, for example, somebody offers up some lifting advice and another person takes this advice and pops their shoulder out or something?
 
If its attached to a university why don't you contact the law department? I'm sure one of the Masters/phd students would help out
 
manic111 said:
That's a good point actually, and one which we hadn't thought of. To be fair it's going to be a website which focusses on university sport, and the banter that goes with it, rather than on things like "how to play sport" etc in any great detail, and as such we can just rule out things like medical advice.

What are the laws on people providing things like fitness advice though? It goes on here quite a lot in the Sports and Fitness section, with people offering eating tips, advice on form when lifting, fitness routines etc. Are there any potential pitfalls if, for example, somebody offers up some lifting advice and another person takes this advice and pops their shoulder out or something?
Click to expand...

Just say, You take no responsibility with the advice given and that members should take caution...etc etc

Something along those lines should be ok.
 
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