Libel Liability

[yinyang]

Well, I'm thinking about putting up another forum. This time, it will be a place to dish out info and give experiences on people others have worked with. However, this is where it gets tricky.

How liable are we if our members bash another person and give real names? I've heard conflicting preventitive measures and was wondering what you guys think?

1) If we prominently state that we do not "edit" and are not responsible for our posters content, does that do anything?

2) From what i read, it all boils down to a definition of Publisher and Distributor. I believe forums should be held as a "distributor", but since we have the ability to edit or delete, I think courts view us as more of a "publisher".

So, what if I prevent any editing or deleting in the forums, period. Will I add a layer of liability protection?

3) What else can be done?