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From: phil@titan.rice.edu (William LeFebvre)
Newsgroups: news.groups,news.admin
Subject: Re: A moderator's liability (was flack about rec.humor.funny)
Message-ID: <2559@kalliope.rice.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 89 19:17:53 GMT
References: <2730@looking.UUCP> <3850@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: usenet@rice.edu
Reply-To: phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre)
Organization: Rice University, Houston
Lines: 49

In article <3850@cbnews.ATT.COM> wbt@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes:
>This issue is bigger than rec.humor.funny alone.  My opinion is that every
>moderator on Usenet runs an risk of being sued for anything posted in his
>group.  Brad has come closer to this than any of us, so has the dubious
>honor of being our test case.  

As a moderator, this really has me worried.  It is something that I had
never thought of before, but this whole thing with Brad Templeton has
brought it to my attention.  If someone were to use the advice posted to,
say, comp.sys.sun, and as a result lose vast amounts of data (because the
advice was wrong, misleading or not appropriate for his environment),
could that person sue ME (the moderator of the group) and have a good
chance of winning?  Does he have a valid claim in saying that I was
negligent by not verifying the message's correctness?  You and I know how
impossible such a task would be, but would a judge/jury comprehend that?
This is really scary.

(Yes I know that anyone can sue anyone else at any time over anything.
I'm asking if it would stand up in court.)

>What steps *do* a moderator need to take to protect him/herself ?  What
>are the moderator's legal liabilities ?   Is the moderator liable for
>statements made by posters (for example, libel) ?

I would like to regularly post a very loud and clear disclaimer on
comp.sys.sun (and also attach one to every digest).  Something like:
"neither the authors nor the moderator assume any responsibility for any
actions taken as a result of the advice conveyed in this forum.
Everything distributed here is done so with the understanding that it may
or may not be correct or appropriate for anyone."  How does that sound?

Should all of us moderators start consulting attorneys?

After the typhoon of messages produced by Mr. Templeton's recent move, I
feel that I have to watch my step here.  Who knows what strange objections
some people might have!  (-:

>Whether the measures Brad is taking are appropriate remains to be 
>proven; but I'm not going to disagree with him without something
>stronger than "This violates the spirit of Usenet."

Let's face it:  Usenet is changing.  The original "spirit of Usenet" may
very easily get lost in the ocean of new subscribers.

			William LeFebvre
			Sun-Spots moderator
			Department of Computer Science
			Rice University
			<phil@Rice.edu>