I think the mechanism is a bit different than what you described... if it's a user who wants to answer a question, why would http://www.mahalo.com/answers/education/does-anyone-have-any... have no answers?
From the same page: Did you ask this question via Twitter? We create a Mahalo account for everyone who asks a question via Twitter.
So yes, the tone of the blog makes it sound like Mahalo is scraping from the web, because Mahalo's pages make it sound like they're scraping from the web.
It's really not an issue about copyright as it is about plagiarism.
Re:An open letter to Jason Calacanis
by aaronblohowiak on Tuesday June 02, 2009 @04:02AM
(#637506)
They are scraping from the web and removing links in the scrape.
You've got to be kidding me. The tone of the blog post makes it sound like Mahalo is scraping the web looking for questions to steal (which is itself kind of laughable), but what it sounds like they're actually doing is just allowing users to select questions from public Twitter and answer them, including a link to where it was found on Twitter. How the fuck is that a problem? If you don't want users doing that, don't post your shit to Twitter.
This now just strikes me as whining from people looking for attention. Well done, you got some free PR. And I now have zero interest in using your product.