We've had several people threatening this forum, the moderators and myself as the administrator with lawyers and law suits over the years, usually by people who got into some heated arguments in this forum or a business who didn't like a "customer feedback" comment from a forum member.
Just a few, very few, members got suspended (usually temporarily) for repeated offences against our simple and very liberal rules, mainly "no personal attacks on anybody in the public forums".
We've been online for almost ten years and have avoided ever being sued. I've usually been able to moderate the offended parties, often discussing it with them in person over a drink. But there are also numerous safeguards, legal and otherwise, in place to protect this forum and its members.
For example, when registering as a member of this forum, each new member has to agree in a legally binding manner to our standard Registration Agreement Terms, common to most Internet forums and formulated in legal terms, see:
http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum-OK/profile.php?mode=register Quoting from our standard Registration Agreement Terms:"While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.
You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions.
You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.
This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer.
These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure.
The e-mail address is used only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one). You will also receive an approx. biweekly Lamma-zine email with Lamma Island news which can be cancelled anytime. Your e-mail address will remain secret and not be used for any spam.
Plus our standard, but very comprehensive FAQ for this forum, linked from the top right of every forum page:http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum-OK/faq.phpQuoting:"Who owns what I post?"The forum does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post to the forum. After posting your Content, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose.
"By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the forum you hereby grant to the forum a worldwide, irrevocable, fully paid up licence to copy, publicly display, print, and publish the posts you make. This covers photos that members attach to their posts, but not members who use their own photo hosts, as the forum would only contain the link.)
"The forum may modify this agreement from time to time and such modification shall be effective upon posting. You agree to be bound to any changes to this when you use the forum after any such modification is posted. It is therefore important that you review this agreement regularly to ensure you are updated as to any changes."