"No medical advice" "No legal advice" Other potentially dangerous advice ok

Doc Ruby

Wibbs wrote: »

UK laws are subtly different with regard to media law.

How so, specifically? Actually forget that, I'm not starting a legal practise at this stage of my life, I will say I had a good search and I couldn't find a single instance of a bushcraft site being sued for bad advice. If you can find one, I'd be interested to see it.

I mean look at this, a discussion about using flour to stop bleeding, which starts out in silly land but gets a lot more interesting and level headed as it goes on.

Its like saying the english and americans can handle it but not the Irish.

Wibbs wrote: »

You also forget the constitutional US right to free speech angle which contrary to popular belief is not applicable in the same way in this country and certainly not applicable to a private website.

Didn't imagine it was, but even in the US that provides zero protection for someone maliciously or even ignorantly handing out bad advice, see the famous yelling fire in a crowded theatre example.

Wibbs wrote: »

Informed by whom? Randomer on the interweb? How do I know your advice is correct? How do you know mine is? See the problem? I could go into any number of online forums and find really bogus even dangerous advice touted by unqualified and anonymous posters.

This is where a reasonable amount of support comes in. I mean wikipedia is chock full of semi qualified medical information, but if you can show where you're getting the information and aren't just drawing it from your nethers, and aren't claiming to be a professional, its caveat emptor.

Wibbs

Better question; would you "Doc Ruby" be prepared to lend your legal name and open yourself to the legal ramifications of any advice you were prepared to give? As it is the platform that is boards is primarily the one open to such legal action.

Doc Ruby

Wibbs wrote: »

Better question; would you "Doc Ruby" be prepared to lend your legal name and open yourself to the legal ramifications of any advice you were prepared to give? As it is the platform that is boards is primarily the one open to such legal action.

Why, I already have, since I'm a paying member and I've given advice on what to do in life or death situations.

Its the advice I can't give that annoys me, I did up a post about the wonders of birch bark, but was unable to say about birch tar

In Finland wood tar was once considered a panacea reputed to heal "even those cut in twain through their midriff". A Finnish proverb states that if sauna, vodka and tar won't help, the disease is fatal. Wood tar is used in traditional Finnish medicine because of its microbicidial properties.

Morag

Dedicated sites are going to have a different demographic then something the size of this site. There is a greater chance of someone googling or boards searching who has an ailment and then doing something daft then those who have to go and sign up for a private survivalist site.

Doc Ruby

Sharrow wrote: »

Dedicated sites are going to have a different demographic then something the size of this site. There is a greater chance of someone googling or boards searching who has an ailment and then doing something daft then those who have to go and sign up for a private survivalist site.

Nothing private about it, all these are publicly available. What you're saying here is that boards members are thicker than the average member of the public let loose on google?

Morag

Nope I am saying boards users are more likely to trust what a fellow boards member has posted then stuff that is found via google, that sort of thing works well with many topics
from cars, to cooking to photography to bouncy castles but there is a line drawn when it comes to possible harm to living beings, such as people and animals.

Wibbs

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Why, I already have, since I'm a paying member and I've given advice on what to do in life or death situations.

I didn't mean subscriptions. I meant unless Doc Ruby is on your driving licence you're not lending your legal name to any opinions you post. As the publisher, Boards is more open to legal action than you are. Plus the law will go were the money may lie, so again Boards is more in the firing line.

Doc Ruby

Sharrow wrote: »

there is a line drawn when it comes to possible harm to living beings, such as people and animals.

There ain't much in bushcraft that isn't potentially dangerous. Deliberately putting yourself outside of civilisation, roads, and Spar shops, and trying to not just exist but thrive out there where the telly doesn't work is inherently risky. Lethally so unless you know what you're doing, which is why the sharing of information in the bushcraft communities is so important.

Wibbs wrote: »

I didn't mean subscriptions. I meant unless Doc Ruby is on your driving licence you're not lending your legal name to any opinions you post. As the publisher, Boards is more open to legal action than you are. Plus the law will go were the money may lie, so again Boards is more in the firing line.

If you mean do I stand over everything I say, then yes I would say that I do.

I get what you're saying, and take it on board. All I'm responding with is that if there were a crowd of trigger happy weekend hikers out there, you'd have already seen a swathe of these discussion boards pulled down. Instead there isn't a single one in any kind of trouble.

I rest me case yer honours, that's my piece spoken.