In the past weeks, we have received several requests to delete threads or posts that the people making the requests have deemed to be defamatory or otherwise damaging to them. Some of these requests have been accompanied with various demands and threats of legal action if the threads are not removed. Given the frequency of these requests over the past several weeks and similarities among some of them, they may be a concerted effort to harass, intimidate, or otherwise threaten CastleCops, its administration, and its volunteer staff.

Laws of the United States pertaining to interactive service providers, such as the forum service provided by CastleCops, as well as the laws of other nations have been designed to protect and encourage the growth of such interactive services. These laws provide protection from lawsuits, particularly those of a frivolous nature. Specifically, the laws of the United States deem that CastleCops is not the publisher of statements made in the forums and therefore cannot be held liable for any allegedly defamatory content. We would hasten to point out that the poster making defamatory or other statements for which a legal remedy is available may be liable under these laws.

Despite the fact that CastleCops cannot legally be held responsible as the publisher of the contents of posts in the forums, we recognize and accept the fact that our responsibility to our members, guests, the community of computer users, and society in general extends beyond the minimum standards established by law. Our Acceptable Use Policy, acceptance of which is required for registration and must be acknowledged each time a member signs on to CastleCops, prohibits posts that are “unlawful, harmful to minors, threatening, harassing, abusive, defamatory, vulgar, gratuitously violent, obscene, pornographic, libelous, invasive of another's privacy” among other things. Guests who post also agree to abide by the AUP.

Administrators, moderators, and other staff will always take appropriate actions when any post in violation of these or other rules or policies is brought to their attention. Such action may include removing the post, warning or even banning the poster, or both. We ask the cooperation of our members in calling attention to such offending posts so they may be dealt with appropriately. Requests to deal with offending posts can be easily made by “blue carding” them, i.e., clicking the blue button at the top right of every post.

However, requests to deal with offending posts, including possibly deleting them, must be made in a timely manner. The requests, demands, and threats referred to above have been in relation to posts that are at least a year old and in one instance two years old. CastleCops performs what we believe to be a valuable service to our members and guests. Staff resources are limited and cannot be taken away from providing this service to deal with stale posts, particularly when the person making the complaint refuses reasonable attempts to remedy the situation and instead resorts to threats of frivolous legal action or otherwise engages in harassing behavior.

We ask all our members and guests to cooperate with us in providing this service. We appreciate your efforts and we assure you that we will give our best to provide service in an honest and beneficial manner. We hope you will continue to recognize the good will with which we undertake these efforts. As for those who would engage in attempts to harass, threaten, or intimidate, we assure you that we will not be silenced.