Duplicate content on forums?

[sseibel]

I am creating a forum.  I am concerned that when I create the forum, users will copy content from other places to post onto my forum.

How negative/bad is this in terms of google eyes?

I am concerned when people copy press releases and re-post it to the forum.

Should I make a rule that all content must be typed and not copied?

Or is a little copying okay?

[KaneJamison]

You should have a policy of requesting that they quote material from other sources, and include a link back to the source. Aside from that, just be happy you have an engaged and active userbase.

For stuff like press releases, have a no PR policy except in specific subforums.

I wouldn't worry a ton about the duplicate content factor unless you expect this to be a huge amount of your content. Even then, if the community is producing lots of other original content, especially in the same thread as the duplicate content, then a certain amount of this type of content should be OK in my opinion.