I have raised two issues before but this seems an appropriate place to post again:
1. Whilst everyone's sense of humour is different there have been two occasions recently where I have seen blatant racism in the 'jokes' thread. I am not talking about the type that people moan about 'the world becoming PC', simply 'I hate Muslims/foreigners/people of a different race' masquerading as 'humour'.
I find it staggering that people think it's acceptable to post this on a public forum, especially one which consists of many international members or people with diverse family backgrounds. It also drags the forum down and unfortunately it has soured my viewing here and my perception of some Morgan owners. People have worked hard to move away from negative stereotypes and this is from the dark ages.
In advance, to those that know who they are, please don't bother remonstrating with me, I grew up in the most multi-cultural city in the UK and wouldn't change it for the world.
2. People have posted verbatim quotes of various news stories without linking to the original source. While this on the face of it is completely innocuous this is breach of copyright. I have been on a forum that had no choice but to pay compensation after being legally challenged over exactly this. The alternative would have been expensive and ultimately pointless legal action. If you're going to post something, please fully reference it, because the legal responsibility is with the site owner not the person who posts.
Nick, regarding your points:
Point 1, I agree entirely and anything posted on this site, that contravenes the site rules, which everyone agrees to when they join, will be treated as a breech of these and the appropriate steps taken. Nevertheless, and as has been noted, this site survives on very low moderation. What we do rely on is members to point us toward threads that are not in the spirit of the forum break the rules of use. I have not been made aware of any posts that do so and if there is one, one of us should be made aware. I have to admit, I do not read the joke thread, in fact I have to skim over much of the site because I simply do not have the time to delve into every post, as well as answer emails from site users, do the admin and all the other elements (which includes dealing with posts like this).
Point 2, I agree and that should be done. I would also argue that unless TM is profiting from posted information - which it clearly does not - then I would imagine the process would be: owner of said post notify us to take the information down, we remove it, no problem. The issue would begin if we were posting information that was not our own and charging to access to it, or using it to attract people to a site which sold a product or service. I believe it highly unlikely that any reasonable person or company would seek compensation from TM when it could be proven the site is actually run at a significant loss. That is before we get into the element of the terms of use of the site and the fact your views are your own and unmoderated. If we were asked to take down an individuals post and were given clear and good reason, we would. The views of those posted are those and not of the site.
With all of that said, it is important to reference all sources.
