Forum Insurance

Hello,
I am based in the UK and run a number of forums.

I have recently tried to get some sort of liability insurance cover for my company - which is the owner/operator of the forums and I am finding this very difficult.

I basically want a policy that would cover me for any legal costs for slander and libel which may occur as the forums grow.

I was wondering if other Big Board owners have insurance and if anyone can recommend any forum friendly insurers?

Thanks for any advice,
Bob

[Spank]

I would have thought the best thing to do is to consult a solicitor, they would probably be able to advise you better on what to do and what type of insurance (if any) is needed.

In my own opinion I think just a simple notice stating that opinions belong to the poster and don't necessarily reflect the views of your yourwebsite.com, would be enough.

[moveforward]

Pre-Moderating = accepting the consequences (you aproved the post)

Does that mean:
Post-Mod = No Liability

What about another moderator (not the owner) pre-modding. Is the liability with them? I ask as it was one of my mods that recieved a legal notice.

What about someone like me that scans all new posts for Spam. They are not pre-moderated but I have read them and left them on the forum???

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I am not a lawyer. I suggest you contact a lawyer to ask where to draw the line in your country.

[DivisionByZero]

I have three very expensive lawyers, and they all agree on one thing: Liability Insurance for businesses who provide no tangible goods is very expensive and quite complicated, and based solely on risk.

As for your concerns about slander and libel, most people are unwilling to comnense legal proceedings because of the high costs involved.

I guess it all depends on what kind of board you're running. Liability insurance for a board where people post sex videos of their ex girlfriends would be much more expensive than for a Website where people talk about religion.

[moveforward]

I am not a lawyer. I suggest you contact a lawyer to ask where to draw the line in your country.

Hi Marco,
I am currently talking to lawyers in the UK and I will post back when I get some sound information.

I guess it all depends on what kind of board you're running. Liability insurance for a board where people post sex videos of their ex girlfriends would be much more expensive than for a Website where people talk about religion.

Hi MisterPopularity,
My forum is about overseas property investment. Some of the richest companies in the world are being discussed with both positive and negative comments...I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get liability insurance and the advice I got from one of the UK's largest business insurers is that I would be better off closing the forum down!!!

Still trying,
Bob

[iogames]

Interesting but in my case the users will be youngsters, I need to be protected from Sexual Predators' actions

[DivisionByZero]

Originally Posted by moveforward

Hi MisterPopularity,
My forum is about overseas property investment. Some of the richest companies in the world are being discussed with both positive and negative comments...I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get liability insurance and the advice I got from one of the UK's largest business insurers is that I would be better off closing the forum down!!!

Still trying,
Bob

just state that the views and opinions expressed by users of your site don't reflect the opinions of your company and its officers.

You can't actually protect anybody but you... opinions of your members are not your responsability until you force your members to post these opinions...

like Mister said, just indicate that your members opinions are not reflecting your company's opinion, and that's it...

if this is not sufficient, you will have to close your board... you are the one responsible for the build of this community, and you focussed on topics that would bring opinions...

[SEOvB]

I wouldn't even worry about it to much.

To prove slander/libel they'll have to prove that, the content in question has some how directly hurt their business in one way or another. Good luck with that.

[Newtonhead1]

Originally Posted by mhackl

I don't know.

I believe that I've read somewhere that it has been established in a US court that the forum operator is not liable for content contributed by its forum members. This, if true, would make such a policy unnecessary at least in the USA.

I'll try and dig up the case info for anyone whose interested.

Greetings everyone,

Here's a link that provides some information on the subject that should be of some comfort to those who are concerned about their potential liability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section...ns_Decency_Act

Thanks,

NewtonHead1