This is a good way to use JSP, and helps encourage a separation between the data model and the presentation.
As for your worry about loading large database result sets. You are right to worry, but the solution is not some kludge to connect to the database direct from the JSP, but instead to spend a little time thinking about
why you have large amounts of results, and how to reduce them.
Web application users need precise, targetted information, and rarely have
any use for mile-long screens full of stuff (imagine if this bulletin board were just one huge list of thousands and thousands of posts
). A query which returns so many results is usually due to a mistake or an inflexible query system. Study the users' needs more, find out how they would refine the query, and offer them that option.