I want to set up a web site which shows information from a bunch of different forums on one page.
From each forum there will be subjects of new posts and beginning of its content when you point a cursor to it. Then user can click on the subject and open the website. So it means I am not going to publish 100% of forums content, just subjects as links to original forum plus a little bit of posts content to give reader an idea what this post is about.

There are some news sites that use similar approach to aggregate news from different sites/blogs.

It will be also profitable for the forums that I am going to use because they will have additional traffic for free.

I am wondering about legal side of this idea.

Thanks,
Michael

I don't really consider myself as an expert on forum posting but I don't see anything illegal about what you are planning to do. I think you should go for it!

I think its a great idea. Get permission from the forum moderators and administrators first.

Originally Posted by Brisbaneman

I think its a great idea. Get permission from the forum moderators and administrators first.

Brisbaneman, how can I get permisson? Would it be enaugh just an email from them?

Thanks

Yes or you can email also the webmasters.

It's not illegal but do ask permission first as thats just polite.

If they really get bothered by you they could always just block your server from getting the feed. I can't see why they'd be bothered unless you started straining their servers by constantly requesting the feed when you didn't need to.

It is in fact a great idea, but the first thing is that you got to seek permission from every single of those admins of the forums.

based on the limited info you provided, I don't find anything illegal about it. But it might be best to consult an SME, too.