Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - A question regarding confidentiality

I want to know the official viewpoint on the following subject, please.

I believe that if a forum member gets shafted somehow or other by some big company, the forum is where he can get the word out to others so that they will not also get shafted in like manner.

Since emotions run hot during a real or imagined shafting, some/many/most people tend to exaggerate. Because this tendency is well-known, I tend to take "They done me wrong" posts with a grain of salt.

Consequently I think it's much better to post the actual email exchange(s) rather than relate them as hearsay.

However, the big company has posted a notice on all of their emails:

"This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us without delay and ensure that it is not copied or used for any purpose."

Well naturally they don't want the whole world to know that they're shafting the customers.

If I felt it was justified, I would go ahead and post the emails; as I don't believe there is any confidentiality involved in a legal sense. I think that going along with their confidentiality request would be a courtesy, not a binding restriction. But I'm not a lawyer and I could be wrong.

The forum, on the other hand, is in a different position than a lone, anonymous member. You are presumably looking for advertisers and don't want to displease anybody.

So tell me how you think I should handle this. Thanks.

Private content, PM or Email, remains private and confidential as a matter of policy here. Both parties must agree to disclosure, period.

Once it is sent to you, it is yours to do with as you please.

And forum policy is my only concern. You don't use the forums to disclose private communications. This isn't a "Public" forum, it's privately owned and we reserve the right to control content. You agree to these terms when you join the forum.

Thanks

Tom
Site Administrator

Clear and unambiguous. Thanks.

Not a problem, Clark. I'm much happier you asked rather than assumed, believe me! :D

By the way, we also will not remove valid criticism of a product, at advertiser pressure. We just won't allow republication of privileged or private communications. It's a credibility issue. Part of the reason for the privileged communications policy is simple respect for privacy, and the rest is that, while I'm pretty sure you wouldn't do it, since you are trying to be above board by asking first, a less ethical person might not post exactly what they received in the aforesaid private communication, and there is no way for us to guarantee the accuracy of the repost of the confidential communication. Since that's the case, we just don't allow it. We also don't allow publication of proprietary price lists, like dealers costs, etc, from various wholesalers, for another example.

Glad I asked, Thanks.