[imported_silkroad]

If someone takes the time to contact you about content they find objectionable, especially if the content is about the person who contacted you, you should put your feet in the shoes of the other person and remove the offending post. Consider how you would feel if the situation was reversed. Legal fights and expensive fees to lawyers are a waste of time and energy, cause unnecessary stress, and are mostly ego driven.

As an example, we were recently contacted by a user who complained that one of the ads served (via a third party network) to our non-registered users was offensive and not suitable for work (a gaming ad with a woman in a sexy bikini). Personally, I did not find the graphic offensive. However, my thoughts was that if a user feels a graphic is not suitable for work (NSFW) and they are uncomfortable with it, and they take the time to contact us, and they present their views in a "nice way" (which they did), they I was more than happy to block those third party graphics.

At the end of the day, our team felt good we had helped someone at work, even though we disagreed with his NSFW assessment. Maybe his work environment was hypersensitive. And, the user felt good we had responded to his concerns. Legally, of course, we did not need to do it; but I think you will be much happier if you think less about what you can post "legally" versus what is offensive to users and the community.

It sounds like you have a busy forum and you have been contacted one time and asked to take down a post. Since that person took the time (or his lawyer) to contact you, why not simply say something like:

"Our forums do not have a policy of censorship and we do not feel the post is offensive. However, on a personal basis, we want you to be happy and as a personal favor, we will take down the post..."

It sounds like you used an approach similar to this, and I think, in the long run, you will be happy you did. Congrats on the right decision, in my opinion.