[OT] Liability of Moderator

[Chris]

On Tuesday, 8 October 2013 at 15:42:25 UTC, Joseph Rushton 
Wakeling wrote:
> On 08/10/13 15:56, Chris wrote:
>> I see. A private person wouldn't possibly be able to moderate 
>> the forum all the
>> time. However, mailing lists (a forum via email) might be a 
>> different beast
>> altogether, because everyone is writing personal email 
>> messages that are not
>> public in the same way this forum is. So if someone writes "I 
>> think that Mr. XYZ
>> is a **** and a ****! **** you!", nobody could possibly sue 
>> the one who founded
>> the email forum for these comments?
>
> Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, get your own legal advice, etc. 
> etc.  (Should have written that in my previous email too.  See 
> what a minefield this international legal thing is?:-)
>
> Generally speaking it seems like the typical experience in the 
> UK is that if you have the means for people to report abusive 
> or libellous material posted on your forum, and you are 
> responsive to such reports, then it is very unlikely that any 
> legal suit will be coming your way.
>
> But that is "unlikely", not "impossible".  Someone who had a 
> bone to pick with you could probably still launch suit.  In 
> some circumstances I wouldn't bet against that happening if 
> somebody's goal was to shut down a website.

Well, well, it's a sad story.

"Bloggers are also affected. The Society of Homeopaths, for 
example, recently took offence at something written by Andy Lewis 
on his Quackometer website. Lewis was prepared to stand firm over 
his comments but, rather than sue him, the society instead 
threatened the web-hosting company, which promptly took down his 
blog."

http://www.digitalrights.ie/2010/02/28/irish-defamation-law-still-inadequate-for-internet/