TOS of several ad-driven forums specify that they, the forum provider, owns the content. Is this the reason for setting up your own forum on your own website?
One of them. Second is that I dont like not to have full control over my forum. You never know what might happen to a free service........ And well, then there is the URL. If you have a domain and hosting dont bother to go with those services.
It is best to write something in the footer that states that all material posted on your website becomes the property of you. Spell it out clearly and there should never be a problem with your forum users.
This is going to be difficult. If the forum owner does not share revenue from my contribution, I will stop participating in his forum. If my contribution is significant, then the forum will suffer.
I always thought the author/creator ie whoever posted it owns the content. But i guess if its part of the "contract" when joining that the site owns it then its binding. Trouble is then the website is legally responsible for anything thats said.
Google just spent a lot of money getting the courts to rule that it didn't own anything posted on Blogger. Why? Because if you own it, you are responsible for it. If I find something from my blog copied into one of your forums, and you the owner have assumed copyright, then you, the owner are the one I am going to sue. If someone posts something illegal, you are responsible, not the poster. I don't see why you would want to own the posts. That's not protection, it's the assumption of risk.
I use a 'licensing' TOS on my forums...the content is copyrighted to the poster...but I am free to use it however I want, and the legal responsibilty remains with the original poster (hopefully...lol)