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The legal landscape has also changed. 20 years ago I helped run a web forum, but with today's legal landscape - DMCA in the US, various different laws in the E

The legal landscape has also changed. 20 years ago I helped run a web forum, but with today's legal landscape - DMCA in the US, various different laws in the EU and other countries - I would never do so. The amount of liability on the host for user-created content is far too high.

int_19h 9mo ago
DMCA was already a thing 20 years ago?
- pests 9mo ago
  he ran a forum 20 years ago, but today, with things like DMCA.....
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    DMCA was already a thing 20 years ago
    - pests 9mo ago
      Wow that seems like yesterday. Time really does fly. Yeah you are correct I didn't think of the actual dates.
- Manuel_D 9mo ago
  It's closer to 30 now, passed in 1998.
Bender 9mo ago
The legal landscape has also changed. It did change a lot but the biggest changes were the ToS/AuP of server/VM providers. What was not even taboo in the early 00's was becoming a problem keeping an account active on clear-web sites. Across the board many providers starting using the vague word "lewd" a word I had never heard of even after running porn sites for a long time. Many of us moved to .onion despite being incredibly slow at the time. We would keep an unpublished clear-web sub-domain active for the old time users so they had a fast connection. Eventually that was even problematic so many forum operators stopped accepting new users and made their forums private or semi-private. Some still exist and some got married, had kids and real life took too much time and energy to also run such sites.
direwolf20 9mo ago
You are shielded from liability if you respond to abuse reports.
- Arainach 9mo ago
  In the US, maybe. In Europe, not necessarily. The UK's OFCOM regulations are particularly concerning.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    Europe is more bureaucratic. You have to register with the government to say you host user content and respond to abuse reports, and then respond to abuse reports, and you're shielded.
    - Arainach 9mo ago
      No, the reality is far worse - and prohibitively expensive in time and money to any individual as opposed to large corporation. https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/ https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        seems like their complaints are in two areas: bureaucracy to register, and needing to respond to abuse reports. Which is what I said. They complain about hiring a moderation team to respond to abuse reports? How are they doing it now? Do they not respond?
        Arainach 9mo ago
        Compliance certification costs money - lots of it. The laws also require proactive scanning of uploaded material, not just responding to complaints, and require a person to be declared liable for mistakes. Gone are the says of paying a couple hundred a year for a host and a vBulletin license. The new costs are many thousands plus permanent liability, and no thanks - that's way more than I'm going to do for a group of enthusiasts online.

int_19h 9mo ago

DMCA was already a thing 20 years ago?

pests 9mo ago
he ran a forum 20 years ago, but today, with things like DMCA.....
- direwolf20 9mo ago
  DMCA was already a thing 20 years ago
  - pests 9mo ago
    Wow that seems like yesterday. Time really does fly. Yeah you are correct I didn't think of the actual dates.
Manuel_D 9mo ago
It's closer to 30 now, passed in 1998.

Bender 9mo ago

The legal landscape has also changed. It did change a lot but the biggest changes were the ToS/AuP of server/VM providers. What was not even taboo in the early 00's was becoming a problem keeping an account active on clear-web sites. Across the board many providers starting using the vague word "lewd" a word I had never heard of even after running porn sites for a long time. Many of us moved to .onion despite being incredibly slow at the time. We would keep an unpublished clear-web sub-domain active for the old time users so they had a fast connection. Eventually that was even problematic so many forum operators stopped accepting new users and made their forums private or semi-private. Some still exist and some got married, had kids and real life took too much time and energy to also run such sites.

direwolf20 9mo ago

You are shielded from liability if you respond to abuse reports.

Arainach 9mo ago
In the US, maybe. In Europe, not necessarily. The UK's OFCOM regulations are particularly concerning.
- direwolf20 9mo ago
  Europe is more bureaucratic. You have to register with the government to say you host user content and respond to abuse reports, and then respond to abuse reports, and you're shielded.
  - Arainach 9mo ago
    No, the reality is far worse - and prohibitively expensive in time and money to any individual as opposed to large corporation. https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/ https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      seems like their complaints are in two areas: bureaucracy to register, and needing to respond to abuse reports. Which is what I said. They complain about hiring a moderation team to respond to abuse reports? How are they doing it now? Do they not respond?
      - Arainach 9mo ago
        Compliance certification costs money - lots of it. The laws also require proactive scanning of uploaded material, not just responding to complaints, and require a person to be declared liable for mistakes. Gone are the says of paying a couple hundred a year for a host and a vBulletin license. The new costs are many thousands plus permanent liability, and no thanks - that's way more than I'm going to do for a group of enthusiasts online.