[97fan]

[quote author=Steven Durrett link=topic=9374.msg81434#msg81434 date=1389470697]It's not a copyright issue. People who have access behind a "paywall" have usually agreed not to to repost information they get from that site. The promise isn't really enforceable, but a lot of people feel a moral obligation to honor their commitments.

At a more practical level, those who like a site enough to pay for it usually want it to survive. Keeping the info that the site provides private helps to accomplish that.

Sure, but I'd argue that posting said information with "You can find this information at foo.com, along with much more awesome Stanford stuff!" would be vastly more effective in both of those goals than dancing around the issue.
[/quote]

Are members of those sites signing a gag order with respect to even the content that's posted by other members on the sites' message boards, or only the information generated by the sites' employees? Either way, Rivals and Scout have got a nice little racket going.

[97fan]

[quote author=Steven Durrett link=topic=9374.msg81434#msg81434 date=1389470697]It's not a copyright issue. People who have access behind a "paywall" have usually agreed not to to repost information they get from that site. The promise isn't really enforceable, but a lot of people feel a moral obligation to honor their commitments.

At a more practical level, those who like a site enough to pay for it usually want it to survive. Keeping the info that the site provides private helps to accomplish that.

Sure, but I'd argue that posting said information with "You can find this information at foo.com, along with much more awesome Stanford stuff!" would be vastly more effective in both of those goals than dancing around the issue.
[/quote]

Are members of those sites signing a gag order with respect to even the content that's posted by other members on the sites' message boards, or only the information generated by the sites' employees? Either way, Rivals and Scout have got a nice little racket going.