Fetch blocks of text from other URLs?

Hi all
Is there a neat way of fetching blocks of text from other sites to insert into my product descriptions? I figure if i can link directly to the publishers site i can save time creating and updating pages.
Thanks,
Steve

Not a good plan as you then depend upon other sites NOT changing their link structure - - something that you can not control

Hi
I agree that's a risk, but the source-site I have in mind exists as a reference work for all the products published since 19## and unless they overhaul it entirely it's highly unlikely there'll be a change.
Thanks, Steve

Also not a good idea in today's climate of intellectual property. Unless, of course, you receive express permission.

...the text is the publisher's description of the product that you'll find on similar sites with the same product across the web.

Can this be done?

Anybody?
: )

(am trying to keep this thread alive here)

sjk1000:

Anybody?
: )

(am trying to keep this thread alive here)

If you need to "bump" a post for some reason, please post something useful, such as the things you've tried in order to attempt coming up with answers via your own research. Please click the "About Posting" link in the title bar of the forum for details on forum etiquette.

As to your original question, I must point out that your "question" does not explain the "why" behind it at all. It's as though you've jumped to some conclusion about the right way to do something based on a certain amount of information/logic/thinking. And you're asking us to tell you how to do that "conclusion". Thus, you're getting feedback telling you that your "conclusion" is ill-advised, mainly because what you're asking for is how to steal ... and you won't get that sort of thing around here.
You'd be better off explaining what problem you're encountering and needing to solve. Then you might find some creative and legally-acceptable solutions.

Nevertheless, if you believe that stealing content from another site/publisher is what you must do, then the first criteria is exactly what the others have been telling you: Unless you have express permission to steal content from another site, you best not do it.
Assuming you've got permission, you'll have to write custom code to go and scrape the content from that other website's pages. Or get their webmaster to "give" you the content.
If you don't possess the skills to do the custom coding yourself, feel free to post in the Commercial Help Wanted area of the forum to hire someone to do a full needs assessment and write the required code.

sjk1000:

Can this be done?

It can be done. It has a few drawbacks and obstacles though. For example, you would need your product descriptions to accept php code. As DrByte suggested, you should exhaust other alternatives first as it’s not good practice, even with permission.