Forum rules and disclaimer.

[photo123]

Hi All,

I am starting a new forum that provides some technical information, before opening the forum to public I would like to add the following:
Privacy Policy
Forum Rules "Should be a family friendly forum"
Disclaimer "i.e. the forum does not guarantee the authenticity of the content and not liable for any damages (Financial) caused by using the information"

is there any general resource that I can copy these from?, I do not want to copy / paste from other forums as it maybe a copyright issue ..

Thanks.

 

[engineer1964]

Hi All,

I am starting a new forum that provides some technical information, before opening the forum to public I would like to add the following:
Privacy Policy
Forum Rules "Should be a family friendly forum"
Disclaimer "i.e. the forum does not guarantee the authenticity of the content and not liable for any damages (Financial) caused by using the information"

is there any general resource that I can copy these from?, I do not want to copy / paste from other forums as it maybe a copyright issue ..

Thanks.

I think the general idea would be to copy one as an example and the edit it to what you need, adding or deleting parts you don't need.

End results a Policy/Rules page designed by you and for your forum and being nothing like the example you use you can happily say its your own

 

[Nev_Dull]

You could, as engineer1964 says, copy the text from another forum, but why? You seem to know what you want to say, so why not just say it?

I suspect you aren't a lawyer (even if you play one on TV), so don't try to sound like one. You'll only end up with something confusing. If you want to let people know it's a family friendly forum, just tell them to watch their language. If you want to say you aren't responsible for any images or content people post, just say so. Rules are only useful if they are written in language that your members can read and understand.

 

[photo123]

Thanks for the replies ..

I like the "keep it simple" approach, I think I will mix the two ideas, copy from other forums and simplify the rules.

any other replies appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[GeorgeB.]

Lawyer or not, your public policies need to be written properly. So I say have a qualified legal person look at it. Do it yourself sounds good in theory and is a nice sound bite but teh fact is, if your policies are full of holes then they are useless.

 

[photo123]

Thanks for the reply GeorgeB.

I do not live in USA, so it is not likely that I will be sued for the contents of my site, I will not have pirated stuff there so I do not think I will have issues with big companies that will track me down and sue me in my country, the most damage that can happen is that my site is shut down.

The main reason for disclaimer is to prevent some of the common arguments with some prospective users.

 

[Noles]

The main reason for disclaimer is to prevent some of the common arguments with some prospective users.

Prevent arguments?

 

[photo123]

Prevent arguments?

reduce arguments
example
x user says xyz because I deleted a post or gave a warning or he used some information from the site and lost few dollars, I ask him to refer to the rules.

if the rules are not comprehensive he / she can enter in an argument with mods and I do not enjoy that.

 

[rngrdanny22]

I have a pretty decent (or so I think) rules and privacy policy on my site. Please feel free to modify and make it your own...

Rules / User Guidelines

Privacy Policy

 

[Nev_Dull]

Lawyer or not, your public policies need to be written properly. So I say have a qualified legal person look at it. Do it yourself sounds good in theory and is a nice sound bite but teh fact is, if your policies are full of holes then they are useless.

If you plan on selling products on your forum or offering services for a fee, then I agree with GeorgeB about consulting a lawyer on your terms of service or terms of use. I'll also agree that if your writing skills are poor, you should have someone else proofread and edit your rules (good idea anyway). For most forums, however, if you write your rules in a simple, clear, direct way, everyone will be able to understand them. If you can, keep your rules to a grade 8 or 9 (Flesch-Kincaid) level.

I wouldn't worry about trying to make too many rules either. There's no way you can account for every way that someone will try to screw with you. It's much easier to adopt a simple set of rules that tell most of your members how to behave. For the other few, it's your site; do what you need to do to keep harmony.

 

[photo123]

I have a pretty decent (or so I think) rules and privacy policy on my site. Please feel free to modify and make it your own...

Rules / User Guidelines

Privacy Policy

Thanks for the offer and sorry it took me this long to respond.
Although your rules are solid they are a bit too long, as a member of an IT department I know that 99% of people will simply skip e-mails "reading the rules in this case". I will probably take some of the good pointers that you have and make shorter versions of them.

 

[engineer1964]

Thanks for the offer and sorry it took me this long to respond.
Although your rules are solid they are a bit too long, as a member of an IT department I know that 99% of people will simply skip e-mails "reading the rules in this case". I will probably take some of the good pointers that you have and make shorter versions of them.

If you want rules for a forum just say what you want from people write it down on word Short and sweet and then just copy to your site, no point in writing pages if no one will read

 

[ValSan]

reduce arguments
example
x user says xyz because I deleted a post or gave a warning or he used some information from the site and lost few dollars, I ask him to refer to the rules.

if the rules are not comprehensive he / she can enter in an argument with mods and I do not enjoy that.

One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes being explicit with your rules can have the opposite effect. Someone intent on causing trouble can look at them and then skate just beyond what's spelled out as unacceptable and yet still cause a boatload of issues. Then you've got yourself in a bind, as taking action results in an argument your rules don't cover but doing nothing ruins your forum.

My advice: rather than trying to preempt the argument with a large number of rules, instead simply make it clear that 1) the mods can edit, delete, etc for any reason, and 2) arguing with mods is not acceptable. Make sure to enforce that one. Many forums permit respectful discourse with mods over an infraction, but if anyone starts back talking or raising a stink then they aren't the kind of members you want to keep around, both for the sake of the forum and for the sake of your staff. Require members to agree upon registration to be respectful of moderators and their actions and then if they breech that it's on their heads.

That way the people who are there to contribute and build the community aren't bogged down by a long list of rules and the troublemakers are removed without extensive arguments of justification.