After receiving a lot of PMs about this subject, seeing a lot of reports of this kind and after one of the global mods PMed me with suggestions regarding this topic, I thought that I should cover it:
Possible (or real, not for me to judge) FUD, accusations or statements are not moderated.
Moderators don't moderate for truth. However, trolling isn't allowed. If a user is habitually posting obviously false nonsense just to stir up trouble, then it's considered trolling, which is prohibited. However, such cases should be thoroughly documented in the report (There are tons of reports that just say "trolling", but moderators don't have time to look through each user's post).
(Possible) slander and insults are also allowed as long as they contain any kind of constructive opinion, info or something else substantial and aren't off-topic. For example, posting something like "you are dumb" will be deleted as it contains no meaningful content. However, if the post is somehwere along the lines of "You are dumb. This is wrong because this website/thread/etc. has explained it's not right", it's in most cases accepted.
Scams aren't moderated either due to the fact that's it's extremely hard to make an unbiased decision on a limited amount of evidence and time. Moderators don't have time to be investigators
I've never seen slander so specifically addressed before. Is this your personal policy, or the policy of the forum? If the forum's policy, can you link me to a reference for it? If it's your policy, is your information available, or your lawyer's information? I'm aware of the forums free speech policy, so don't just use that a reference. Specifcally recognizing slander and saying it won't be removed is different from free speech, since slander is not covered under free speech laws. Did you get advice from a lawyer before posting this policy? Because you have probably opened yourself, and possibly the forum to legal liability depending on your answer to the first question.
Slander and insults are also allowed as long as they contain any kind of constructive opinion, info or something else substantial and aren't off-topic. For example, posting something like "you are dumb" will be deleted as it contains no meaningful content. However, if the post is somehwere along the lines of "You are dumb. This is wrong because this website/thread/etc. has explained it's not right", it's in most cases accepted.
Do you really mean slander? There could be legal implications, certainly there are slander (and libel for print and other media) laws here in UK, and I'm sure variations of the same in other countries. Completely agree (FWIW) that if a potentially contentious statement is made it must be backed up with evidence.
Cheers, Ngaio
As far as I understand most laws only have laws regarding the expression of slander as it can be censored as it isn't considered any kind of creative, scientific or otherwise constructive expression. Aside from that, all legal matters regarding slander fall on the person who expressed it, since it's his decision.
Edited the post to change it to a bit more mild meaning.
No, since this forum allows people to post anonymously via proxies such as tor, and it's impossible to track them down, it falls on the forum to moderate it.