Seeding forum

Getting the talk started

[bsterz]

Hi all.

I just started a new forum and would like to pull in some threads from other forums to sort of get the talk started..

Is this legal, acceptable, healthy?

Anyone have any tips to help get this off the ground?

Thanks,

Bill

[Marketing Guy]

Sounds like a bit of a copyright issue there to be honest - I'd check with a lawyer about that.

There's no reason you can't quote from other forums (within reason) and start a discussion based on that discussion.

[bsterz]

Thanks mg - the only reason I ask is that I see so many of the same threads on different forums - I was wondering if there is a standard for siphoning off posts or if these are just scrapes..

b

[rogerd]

>>these are just scrapes

Unless the forums have the same ownership, this is almost certainly the case. Forums generate a lot of content, and are tempting targets for scrapers. (See Attack of the Robots, Spiders, Crawlers, etc. [webmasterworld.com]).

Most forums post copyright notices, and even if they don't their content is still protected by copyright laws. If you need to seed your forum, enlist some helpers and start the conversations yourself. (See also [webmasterworld.com...] and other articles in the Library.) Good luck!

[linear]

There are some usenet gateway mods for various boards. These may be worth looking at.