Legal Threats

[Lorcan]

How do you guys deal with legal threats, one time I received a threat from a member saying that he would contact his solicitor if I did not remove all his posts from my forum, it was quite scary at the time, as the threat of legal action can be very expensive, however I researched it carefully, and was able to use part of my TOS to tell him that I was unable to delete his posts.

 

[Bass]

I've never had any legal threats sent to me, but I can imagine that being quite frightening.

 

[Shole]

I ignore it most of the time, since most of the time they are baseless claims. Also I make a good ToS so that I can't be sued for something small like deleting posts or not deleting posts. Also having everything on record so that if it happens I have evidence that I didn't do anything wrong.

 

[Arariel]

I've had a few legal threats over the years, but I always laugh in their face and tell them to try me. You tend to learn pretty quickly that most of the legal threats are from idiots who have no idea of the law, nor read the host's ToS.

 

[reddyash]

I never had any legal threats till now. If I get any in future I think its better to ignore them, as they cant really do any thing or just ask them to read the TOS first.

 

[Joshua Farrell]

If one's TOS was worded right, and the community rules helped back up the TOS, then typically one wouldn't have a problem.

Generally speaking, most people will use the ploy of saying they will contact a lawyer if you do not remove their stuff from your forum, but it almost always is a bluff, just to try to scare the admin into doing what they want to do. Most people do not have the money to hire a lawyer to do such. And as such, if they do manage to do so, one better have a good TOS, and a set of rules to show that the person doing such is in the wrong.

If I were to receive a threat like that, I would request that they get a lawyer, and have them submit a formal legal request, and to have that lawyer get all of the information needed to prove that the user was in the wrong. Though personally, I don't think they would be able to get far enough to do such, especially if the person was under the age of 18.

 

[Sharon]

I experienced this recently actually. Where does it cover in the TOS in regards to a member not being able to hold the forum/administrator responsible for not deleting his or her post (or another members' post for that matter?) If someone could quote it that would be awesome! Otherwise I guess I should hunt it down. The staff members and I simply decided to go ahead archive the entire thread simply because it was a topic that is asking for arguments any way. However, I think this would be something useful to know and be able to refer to in the future.

 

[Belthazar]

I'm an Admin on a million post promotion forum, and we get these almost daily. Most of them are absolute jokes, especially because they'd involve an international lawsuit in most cases, which are insanely expensive nowdays. The majority of the threats can be easily thrown out the window, and a lawyer would probably laugh their head off at the accuser because the threats generally are so stupid.

 

[Thomasss]

If one's TOS was worded right, and the community rules helped back up the TOS, then typically one wouldn't have a problem.

Generally speaking, most people will use the ploy of saying they will contact a lawyer if you do not remove their stuff from your forum, but it almost always is a bluff, just to try to scare the admin into doing what they want to do. Most people do not have the money to hire a lawyer to do such. And as such, if they do manage to do so, one better have a good TOS, and a set of rules to show that the person doing such is in the wrong.

If I were to receive a threat like that, I would request that they get a lawyer, and have them submit a formal legal request, and to have that lawyer get all of the information needed to prove that the user was in the wrong. Though personally, I don't think they would be able to get far enough to do such, especially if the person was under the age of 18.

This pretty much^^.

Writing a TOS is rather long and tedious, however judges here in the U.S have been more willing to hold the TOS to a contract level, whereas a few years ago it was pretty unheard of.

 

[xXInfectedXx]

Writing a TOS should help you. I would say go ahead, go down the legal route. I would just make sure that I am in the right and the community rules or other means of evidence supports what I am saying as proof.

 

[Friendly Survival]

As others mentioned referring to the TOS is usually enough to get them off your backs. Now if it persistence and/or escalates then I would take further actions.