Well I think all forum owners, admins, and moderators should understand the laws concerning publicly accessible websites. I took the time to do so, and found a very interesting law called the Communications Decency Act of 1996. In a nutshell, federal law protects all owners, admins, and moderators of publicly accessible message board systems from ANY liability for what someone else posts on the site. That includes not only allowing any such material to remain there, but also protects against liability for removing any material deemed inappropriate.
That one loose end here, however, is that if anyone other than the original author edits that post, then the editor can be considered as a co-author, and thereby legally liable for the post in it's entirety.
Of course, that being said, anyone can sue anyone else for just about any reason that want to. IF they have the money to pay an attorney to do it. Just because the legal action is not warranted, is not justified, or in some cases even illegal itself, doesn't mean it can't happen.
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