On 4-May-2005, "Matt" wrote:

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

No doubt all true. However...
Speaking hypothetically suppose some idiot did follow your advice and
shorted the mains and for arguments sake let's say they lived. Then let's
say they sued you for giving them this advice to begin with. It's not
likely they really have a case but they do have the right to sue I believe
(I'm not sure, not an attorney).

So ok, you make your above point and you do probably win the case.

Do you think that the judge or civil adjutant or whoever is just going to
say very good carry on? I think that you would most like have a discussion
with someone in authority about the wisdom of giving life threatening advice
in any forum.

If the person following your advice died I think that while you still might
legally prevail that discussion would be a tad more serious. And some
prosecutor somewhere might make it their business to hit you with some
charge and they might just make it stick.

Not a good idea giving out life threatening advice even if it's obviously a
joke. Just too dangerous.
ml