Disclaimer, is it needed?
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Hello guys, I’m new to the whole blogging thing, so forgive the ignorance! Do blogs need a disclaimer? I don’t want to be held responsible for what others write in the comments section for example, would a disclaimer negate my responsibility for what others write? (That’s assuming I am responsible in the first place, I vaguely remember reading about a blogger being sued for a comment left behind on his blog by a third party) And is there anywhere i can get a simple template for a disclaimer?
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A disclaimer won’t protect you from what is legally your responsibility. Comments made by other people on a blog are increasingly interpreted by courts to be the responsibility of the commenter. That said, anyone can sue anyone for anything just by filing the papers; that doesn’t mean they can win.
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Ok, thanks for the reply. So as long as i don’t say anything libelous I should be fine? ;)
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I say libelous stuff all the time; it’s kind of my trademark. But I don’t recommend it to the non-confrontational.
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I think there was a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (that’s if you live in the U.S.) that said you cannot be held responsible for blog comments left by someone else. NOT SURE THOUGH. But even with that, I still sometimes edit what people write in comments because I feel it’s right. I edit out the real names of stars because it’s dangerous having their real names out. But I write in that I did edit it. The other week I lost it because someone was linking in my comments back to David Duke’s website. And I edited out anti-semetic cartoons too.
I’m surprised I haven’t been sued yet. I call someone a criminal every week and accuse so many of crimes they’ve committed. It depends on what kind of people you are dealing with. Do the people you write about want a brighter light shined on them?
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All WP.com blogs are hosted in the US and thus subject to US laws even if the blogger or poster lives elsewhere. If they do, they are ALSO subject to the laws of their country.
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Legal issues aside, please bear in mind that WordPress.com staff do consider moderating or editing comments to be the blog owner’s responsibility. We occasionally intervene when a blogger regularly allows comments to be posted that clearly break our terms of service.
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In that case, a commenter who was outraged at censorship would have to take it up with WP.com rather than the blog owner, I would imagine.
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Commenters are guests invited to the blog owner’s party. If the blog owner wants to evict a gatecrasher, the evictee can make their own blog on which to vent their outrage.
If your commenters annoy the neighbours, we might ask you to turn the music down.
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That goes for deletion, but editing is a different story, particularly as copyright is involved. I delete comments rather than edit them for that very reason. And editing forum posts is disallowed for very similar reasons.
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I’ve always considered the ability to edit other people’s comments one of the most questionable features of WP. I feel I don’t and I shouldn’t have the right to – I wouldn’t ever dream of doing it unless the commenter asks me to.
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When I edit comments, which is rare, I write {edited by Darrah] over what I edited. They mostly do this on purpose posting the real names of the girls. I tell them to stop because it’s no one’s business what their real names are. And they continue.
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