LisaB, we are about to release a new T&C that will provide legal and medical notices for end users to protect us from claims, and I agree with you totally that we need to include the qualifying statements like "It was the opinion of"... etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CliffARobinson

LisaB, we are about to release a new T&C that will provide legal and medical notices for end users to protect us from claims, and I agree with you totally that we need to include the qualifying statements like "It was the opinion of"... etc.

---

As long as the opinion language stays I'm OK with it.

BTW, having notices in the T&C will not protect you from claims. It will protect you from losing a lawsuit but it won't protect you from being sued. You'll still have to defend yourself.

I just realized the posts about the moderation of the site were going on in a public thread. All of the notifications I get, I thought this conversation over summaries was going on in the Summary post.

Please do not carry on moderation talk like this in public areas. I have made this thread for "members only" so it will not appear out front of the site.

Thanks,
Cliff

Tickle,

The Answer Summary Initiative was announced several weeks ago in Admin's Content Guidelines post below, and I asked for volunteers a few times and also PM'd some people about it.

Cliff


Reiterated Guidelines and New Features for Improving Quality

Improve Quality: Edit More Aggressively

Improve Quality: Summarize Answers

Lisa,

Cliff has changed the summary, but I do not believe you would have been liable for anything. You did not post the original summary, I did. Even though I took the summary from your post and even with the quotes, I was responsible for what the summary said.

I pointed you to the other thread because I felt this issue should not have been discussed in this thread, but since Cliff moved it we can talk about. The point is that this Answer summary thing is an experiment. Personally I don't think it has much of a chance, but I was willing to give it a try.

I apologize if you felt put upon or threatened in any way, but I still feel that what I took from what you said summarized the answer to the question Bella posted.

Scott, you of all people should recognize the difference between stating a fact and stating an opinion on a law board. I purposely wrote that answer the way I did because I was not positive and had not done research on it. When an outsider looks at the thread they see the Answer Summary and then they see the same words in the answer I gave. They don't see that ScottGem is the one who posted it. Yes, I know I would ultimately not be held responsible. But I would still have to defend myself.

If the best response in a thread has obviously not been researched, or if it's obviously an opinion, then the Answer Summary needs to include that. What happens if someone does a Google search on that issue and the Answer Summary comes up in the results? Someone may take it as fact and rely on it. Yes, this particular issue is not likely to cause a problem. But what about some of the other issues that come up on the law boards? There have been times that people relied on our answers, sometimes to their detriment. Neglecting to include the disclaimers and "my opinion is" language will only make it worse.

One more question... who is going to make the determination of what the best answer is?

Lisa, Again there is no attribute to the summary. That's why I specifically did not say who I was quoting from. Maybe it would have been better to leave off the quotes. But I fully believe that the summary cannot and will not be attributed to any one person. It is the responsibility of the site.

And I acted the way I did in this ONE instance. In another summary I stated something like; "the consensus is that...". Each summary will be different just as each thread is different.

I can't say this enough, when I posted the summary as I did it was with the full and complete belief that it would not be specifically attributed to any one person. I still hold that belief. But I assure you I would not have done so, if I believed you could be held responsible for it.