We live in a world where people like to interact with other people through the Internet. We have instant messenger, text messaging and now the interactive portion on a number of web sites, message boards.
Every fan wants to share their opinion after the teams' big victory or be the first to call for the coach's head when they lose. Believe me, I had some furious postings after the Bucknell loss. People don't care what they say, but those who sponsor the message board do care. This can land a web site in hot water. While we would like to include a message board to attract our audience, we need to be aware of stepping into a problem that we could have avoided from the beginning.
After talking to several online production people at the Lawrence Journal-World, the one thing they repeatedly emphasized was developing a policy that would illustrate to readers what exactly the rules are for the message board and the consequences for breaking those rules. Some examples include the one used for the message board on kusports.com or the policies on lawrence.com . The kusports.com policy includes, "Any submissions you make may be edited, removed, modified, published or displayed by The World Company without prior notice at its sole discretion." This keeps them out of hot water and illustrates their point to what a member of the message board can expect when they post a questionable statement.
There is no doubt, if we want to add a message board to the sports section we need to sit down as a group along with Ted Fred or some legal expert, and see what we need to include in this policy and what things we can and cannot include.
Wilson Miner, online production manager for the Journal-World, said it is key to establishing a policy so that you don't arbitrarily make up the policy as you go along. Our visitors need to understand immediately the stance of the web site and what the consequences may include by posting such a message. The Journal-World has the policy of simply removing any message that the policy deems inappropriate. I think this is a policy we should adapt if we want to add a message board. We should reserve the right to remove any message that may be vulgar or derogative, instead of editing the post. Editing can put us in hot water because if we were to edit, then we would be held responsible for the rude comments that cause harm.
We don't want to be put in a situation where we can be held liable. Therefore, a policy that outlines these rules is a must so we cover our asses. We need to look at the policies of other web sites and discuss what we need to include. This needs serious consideration and as a group we must come together to establish the policy of the sports news web site.
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