Online Safety Act...........fairly important.

[River]

Alright *sigh*, these regulations are coming in over the coming months, they run much deeper than just illigal practices ( Which we obviously do not need to worry about ) but leads to other forms of abuse and the way people talk to each other online and how its moderated.

The UK's Online Safety Act applies to Small Tech too

Analysis: That niche forum running for 20 years – get ready, there's work to do

www.theregister.com

Time for tech firms to act: UK online safety regulation comes into force

People in the UK will be better protected from illegal harms online, as tech firms are now legally required to start taking action to tackle criminal activity on their platforms, and make them safer by design.

www.ofcom.org.uk

Ultimately, on a place like this it requires me to be a senior liablity, which I can't and won't be accepting as this place inparticular i visit once in a blue moon. This means if one of the mods don't get to something being spammed or there is an abuse report by some wetwipe, before a moderator deals with it...."potentially" I could be fined heavily or an investigation is raised. Probably would never happen, but its also something im not prepared to ensure the stress and/or time for.

This is already triggering alot of forums shutting down, I'm not saying thats the case and im waiting to see what help the software is going to be offering to help with these new regulations to prevent any nasties automatically or through better moderation. But it will almost certainly effect how the forum is or needs to be run.

I'm hoping its something with some added precautions added and maybe a tighter moderation style if needed but I honeslty don't know and havent read through everything yet myself, but this is just a heads up what we might need to make some changes over the coming months.

I'll update with more info if/when i get it or when we implement the changes and what needs to happen.

 

[Yid]

Understood boss...

At the end of the day if the internet changes for the better and we have to do the same it is what it is...

 

[River]

100% mate, I'm hoping the net they are casting for requirements doesnt include small places like this though, its not sustainable to build custom systems and do lengthy risk assessments to comply with something that isnt and never has been a problem for the majority of small discussion forums.

 

[ClemFandango]

I suppose we could potentially add one or two more moderators if need be ?. I think we've probably got it generally covered with everyone who's a mod now but might be worth considering.

But then could it also be a case, albeit an extreme one, of potentially closing off the forum to new members and even making it invite only ?.

I don't know. If the act makes the internet a better place for people then it's a good thing but it shouldn't be at the expense of smaller places like this.

Hopefully it won't cause you too much of a headache River.

 

[Ted the Yid]

I think we should be able to delete anything pretty quickly. Might be more concerning if the site was much busier.

 

[Yid]

Good idea to raise it with the forum about there being a legislative change that means the space needs to be monitored/moderated...

Not sure if it needs a debate... But I will need communicating if we (Riv) decides we need a change in anyway...

Agreed on the numbers thing there doesn't seem like a shit boat load of traffic right now but we go through peaks and troughs...

 

[Glenjamin]

That politics thread probs need to go I'd imagine!

 

[Style And Glory]

Interesting

 

[Sneeky]

Can a disclaimer on the landing screen be used ?
Or is it a waiting game for the feds to dream up something ..

 

[spurious]

Can a disclaimer on the landing screen be used ?
Or is it a waiting game for the feds to dream up something ..

I have in mind a very filthy statement, but I don't think it would be as effective as I'd hoped.