Since I have had quite a bit of experience managing websites and forums over the past seven years I hope you dont mind passing on some advice. Get yourself casper, a simple disclaimer and privacy policy. As highlighted someplace else on your site, what people publish here could get you into trouble. I am printing below a copy of my Privacy policy. You are free to copy/amend or use it if you wish. It was checked by a solicitor.
Privacy Policy
If you publish something, assume that it will be retained forever. This includes comments, posts, discussions etc.,
If you only read or browse through articles on this website area, then no more information is collected than is typically collected in server logs by all web sites in general. Simply visiting us does not expose your identity publicly. Only the administrators of this website can access these logs.
If you are logged in to any area of [Name of website], for example our [name of] area, you could be releasing other personal information about yourself into the public domain. This may be your real name if you so choose, (or you may choose to publish under a pseudonym), your geographical location, email address etc., If you have not logged in, you will still be identified by your network IP address in our server logs. This is a series of four numbers which identifies the Internet address from which you are connecting to us. Depending on your connection, this number may be traceable only to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or specifically to your school, place of business, or home.
Should you find any article inaccurate, offensive or infringes any copyright then please make contact with us as soon as possible we will be happy to amend, or if requested to do so, remove the article. This will be done as soon as we have been made aware of the problem.
Disclaimer Policy
By using this website you are agreeing to accept our terms and conditions of use*.
Considering the complexity and real-time nature of this website it is impossible for us to review all articles or confirm the validity of the same. Therefore by contributing to any area of [Name of website] you understand that you are publishing every word publicly. You will remain entirely responsible for your article (legally or otherwise) and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless [Name of website], its administrators and any appointed moderators with respect to any claim, based upon transmission of your article.
*You will need to also highlight what are your terms and conditions of using your website/forum area.
Both of these need to be placed together on a single web page which is best placed on the front page and also on your forums area. A legal adviser told me that while placing these on your site does not entirely remove all legal responsibility that you have for publishing public information, it will deter alot of people from publishing defamatory and daft material that could get you in hot water.
There is one leagl case that I am aware of that a European Forum was sucesfully taken to court and sued because defamatory material was allowed to be published even though the site was moderated. The moderatoration process for whatever reason failed.
Hope this helps.
