Currently, the private Facebook group has 52.7k members. Created back in August of 2020, the community recently celebrated its second birthday.
In that time, ‘Warnings and disclaimers that were clearly the result of a lawsuit’ has created a truly impressive digital archive of some of the funniest warnings to ever grace the real world.
According to the founder and administrator of ‘Warnings and disclaimers that were clearly the result of a lawsuit,’ the idea to create the group first came about after seeing two warnings that she came across.
“The first was a warning on a toddler-sized sit-on car that said ‘Not to be used in traffic’ and the second was a children's ball pit that came with the perplexing warning ‘Do not use for shelter in a thunderstorm!’ From then on, I just started spotting warnings everywhere! I started sharing the tag group in public spaces on Facebook, and it slowly snowballed from there.”
The administrator shared some of her insights with Bored Panda about the continuing success of the group. “I think the content resonates with a large number of people because we have all come across these kinds of warnings in our everyday lives,” she said.
“I think also, there is so much misinformation out there that some warnings, while appearing utterly bizarre to most of us, serve an important purpose for a minority of individuals who may be susceptible to hoaxes and conspiracies,” she noted that these disclaimers are actually useful for some people.
“For example, many of the various ‘home remedies’ for covid were ineffective at best, outright dangerous at worst, and so there was an interesting slew of government-issued warnings through the epidemic.”
As for the future of the Facebook group itself, the admin hopes to keep it growing. “The Facebook algorithm recently started bringing thousands of new people to us, so I don't have to promote the group at all anymore. It's become self-sustaining! I might need to take on some new admin though to help me cope!”
The founder of the group said that being the sole administrator of such a big group is a challenge. In real life, she works a very challenging job with long hours, and she cannot be ‘on call’ at all times. “The group has to wait for lunch breaks and weekends!” she quipped.
“Also, as with most large groups, the biggest issue are trolls and spammers. We don't get too many trolls, but the members are usually very quick at bringing them to my attention. I have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. so have no problem with booting people who threaten to make the group toxic,” the founder told Bored Panda.
“The huge new influx of members has meant that there are more spammers, but I have a system of keyword alerts which flags them up instantly and I can ban them quickly. However, spammers and trolls are issues that all large Facebook groups have to contend with.”
The administrator revealed to us what the biggest issue specific to ‘Warnings and disclaimers that were clearly the result of a lawsuit’ is. It’s people posting in reference to a famous lawsuit.
“Most people have probably heard about the woman who sued McDonald's after she burned herself on hot coffee, leading to the warning on all cups, ‘Warning, contents may be hot,’ and people often like to make jokes at the expense of the victim. It's often held up as the epitome of a frivolous lawsuit. However, when you actually read the case details, it's shocking how criminally negligent McDonald's were in that case, and how justified the victim's lawsuit actually was,” the admin explained.
“Therefore, one rule in our group is that you do not make jokes at the expense of the victim in the McDonald's lawsuit. There is a pinned post that explains the reasoning, and actually, loads of people have commented that they had no idea of the true story before they joined our group. I like to think I'm helping in some small way to undo the very effective slander campaign that McDonald's waged against an innocent woman.”
If you plan on being a member of the group, you’ve got to adhere to the community’s rules. Respect for others is a key part of that. “Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required,” the Facebook group’s team writes.
“Make sure that everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn't allowed, and degrading comments about things such as race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated.”
The team also asks its members to “give more to this group than you take.” In other words, don’t do any self-promotion and avoid spamming the page. “Being part of this group requires mutual trust. Authentic, expressive discussions make groups great, but may also be sensitive and private. What's shared in the group should stay in the group.”
#18
There’s got to be a couple of very interesting and painful stories behind the window with the sign that says ‘NOT A DOOR,’ as well as the warning not to stick your fingers in the fish and turtle tank. Some stores and companies really don’t put in enough effort when it comes to safety: some people actually do end up getting hurt, which leads to warnings and disclaimers to protect folks in the future.
And while some signs are indications that something very serious happened, others are there due to temporary lapses of common sense.
