honestly, i think the “official” distinction is getting in the way of organizing this community productively often enough that it should be reconsidered. i also don’t see how calling the fairphone forum “unofficial” gives them any liability protection: it’s still their website (under fairphone.com). all they say, anyways is " This user forum is not an official Fairphone support channel." and, really, this is how this forum works as well: quite often you are told to contact the official Framework support, and that’s not here.
Fairphone have no say on the content, unlike here where Framework do
And note this is by your first post is a comparison of this Framework to Fairphone.
Although there is a user option to buy and sell privately, Fairphone do not engage with such and so are not liable. It’s just users doing what they want.
I’d support a whole new category dedicated to buying/selling parts. I don’t think FW would be liable for trades but ultimately none of us are likely to be lawyers so lets not argue the law at this point since it varies from country to country.
regardless of the legality of it, people are currently doing this in the forum, just not in a dedicated section. so unless the moderators want to start hunting down those posts and taking them out, why not give them a proper place?
if anything, legal compliance would be easier that way as you could put a much bigger disclaimer on a specific topic than if those posts are spread all over the place…
If it’s a moderator who is just a user and individuals just put adds for wants and to sell then it can be clear in the Category as clear format can be insisted upon.
If however Framework have any oversight, as in they create the category, then that is active encouragement and route to liability.
On the Fairphone forum the mods have a free hand. On this forum Framework has an override, which they would have to let go of.
They could not, nor instruct a moderator to ban talking about anything.
@amoun respectfully, are you a lawyer? If not, then your opinion carries about as much weight as mine. Which is to say, none. Add in the fact that I know you are in the UK and FW is a US company beholden to different laws and we have a recipe for users to say one thing without knowing anything. It would be useful to have such a category for User buying and selling AND it is on FW’s stated roadmap to have such a marketplace. That alone gives weight to the idea.
I said it once and I’ll say it again. It is highly likely that nobody on this forum can speak credibly on the subject of liability. I could argue why I would think it doesn’t make FW liable but it would be a waste of time…because I’m not a lawyer.
I have worked on law as a private citizen in property cases and one of my daughters is a lawyer, albeit covering humans rights.
It seems simple from here a person who has control over sales is liable, one who doesn’t isn’t, but as you point out this is UK perspective and not an interpretation others have to follow.
If I open a shop and control the products on offer then I am liable.
If I let the shop to someone else who decides what to sell I am not liable but am liable for the premises
If there is no contract and no conditions and no fee to use the shop then I an not liable unless I know criminal activity is carried on.
It will be nice to see how Framework go about this
