Exapno_Mapcase:
There are so many “ifs” here that’s it’s hard to give a good answer.
First, conversations are not copyrightable. Copyright is fixed expression. Only once you put it down in writing or record it on media do the words, sounds, or images enter into copyright. So you can recreate any conversation with impunity.
In addition, conversation is a poor analogy to message board writing. Conversation is spontaneous. Some messages are obviously the process of words to fingers on keyboard without a brain involved but others are composed and thought through and revised, as this message is. This is more like a piece of text from a book than a spoken utterance.
But the real stumbling block to an answer is that there’s no way of telling what you think “recreates” means. How would you recreate this post of mine? If you completely rewrite it, not using any of my words, then of course you can claim it as something new. If you merely excerpt it, then the amount that you excerpt becomes subject to the fair use exemption, which is in court “I know it when I see it” without any rules or guidelines. If you do some sort of mixture of excerpting and rewriting, then again you fall into a gray area.
And that’s just for one post. If you try to reproduce a whole thread, then the more you take from the original the higher the bar goes for you to claim originality. The Harry Potter encyclopedia website case fell on this issue. Rowling claimed that the website took so many original pieces of her work that it became infringement and the court sided with her.
Somewhere between a small sample rewritten recreation and a direct copying of a thread is a line, well, not a line but a thick gray bar. Somewhere in that thick bar is the point past which you’re headed for trouble. Nobody can predict where that is in advance and only a court can say so after the fact.
Thanks for that well-thought out answer. My intent is not to steal anyone’s intellectual property (but this line of your’s is tempting;) Some messages are obviously the process of words to fingers on keyboard without a brain) but to relate the inanity of some postings. I’m more concerned about someone claiming that I quoted them without their permission (just to maybe get some $ out of it) rather than I stole their idea. Trust me, their ideas are not worth stealing:D