A thread has been removed due to potentially libellous comments in it.

Regards

Neil

 

Neil,

The point of the post was IMHO to identify to potential buyers the FACT with testiments that Caulders service is non existent as is their quality of vehicles ?

Now the purpose of a BBS is to keep the users upto date, how many folk are going to thank you if they spend £k on a runt from the offending company, only to find out that information was available BUT was removed from scoobynet ?
It won`t stand the BBS in good stead either would it ??

The case that the statements are backed up with FACTUAL experiences surely this removes the libellous content ? No ?
I`d be most appeciative of a reply on this.

Thanks

Pete

 

what happened to free speech?
are we not grown up? what if you buy a tub? who is going to pay up???????????????

 

Guys,

Just a quick reality check on what we are legally bound by.....

As SN are the medium hosts, it is SN that will be engaged with any legal issues. FACT

These legal issues involve SN paying for legal services. FACT

Whether SN win or lose, SN still incurs costs. FACT

For legal reasons I cannot obviously discuss past cases, but SN has been involved in proceedings.... so it does happen. FACT Further to say, SN has a clean record up to now (because of the way the board is so excellently moderated).... we want to keep it that way.

I don't think people realise the amount of time and money it takes to fight any potential legal cases. SN are by no means taking the easy option in this, infact as previously stated, we have up to now kept a clean record (with the outcome of any previous legal proceedings).

But with the law in this country, we can't risk the issue of closing down the BBS, if there is an issue we are not totally comfortable with.

I hope you understand the position we are in, as one too many legal proceedings may mean SN does not continue.

Freedon of speech is a wonderful thing, when you are not responsible for the time and costs.

Regards,
Shaun.

 

our law sucks...

u have to pay for the costs, even if u win ?

 

Shaun, I agree with everything you say, but all the comments on the thread were backed by personal experience.

I though the main point to any BBS was information sharing. Helping others to avoid potential pitfalls, whether it be which set of pads to use, to 'GOOD' dealers and service centres. Again backed by personal experiences, not hear'say. I was under the impression that it was the vague postings by people who hide their identity, that was the main cause for concern. Who have the max power mentality.

mmmm..pondering..still pondering...

...John

 

SCOS,
It's not just a case of the legal fees etc (which we would not be libel for, if we won), but there are all sorts of hidden cost elements (basically resulting from Simon/myself and any other moderators time spent).... which includes taking time off our PAID jobs when things get complicated.

EVO,
I was not party to the contents of the original post or decision, but I have just read through the thread and I standby totally what was done.

Some of the comments on there were dicey to say the least.

I fully appreciate what you are saying as regards to what the BBS should be allowed to publish, but like I said, our hands are tied by the law we are governed by.

We NEVER take a decision lightly to either edit posts or especially delete whole threads....... as you may notice, thread deletion happens very rarely. So our judgement is normally made on a)items that are blatantly going to cause us legal issues or b)items from experience, that have caused us legal wranglings in the past.

In an ideal world, community members should be able to post what they like...... but alas, the world is not so ideal.

Regards,
Shaun.

 

How come the thread was up for at least 24 hours before it got taken down then?
I reckon a lot of people would have read it by then

 

I did not see the thread so I am guessing here, but the reason it probably lasted so long was that it started off reasonably ok then degraded, it only takes one bad comment to bring a good thread down.

Also please remember that the mods can not spend every second staring at the forums (well I don't anyway) so sometimes it takes a while to action things.

Free speech only works fully in theory, despite the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, Scoobynet can be held libel for comments on here.

Stuart

 

from the bottom of the page.

Important - Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of ScoobyNet

can't see why there should be a problem, I think the mods are going ott these days.

edit to remove something that might have been seen as "stirring it".





[Edited by T-uk - 3/11/2003 8:41:45 PM]