[WikiEN-l] Re: About copyright violations

David Grant david.grant at telus.net
Thu Jul 31 05:29:18 UTC 2003


[This is David Grant's recent HTML post, redone in plain text.
 -- Toby Bartels]

Toby Bartels wrote:

>David Grant wrote in part:

>>I would like the template for every article to be altered, to include
>>something similar to the following: "This is licensed under GFDL...if
>>you with to copy this article, go ahead...but you are required to
>>provide a link to the GFDL... and you are required to link back to the
>>original article..."  That is essence of what needs to be added to the
>>template for every Wikipedia article.  This is in order to stop the
>>ripping of Wikipedia articles without full copyright/license compliance.

>But they are /not/ required to link back to Wikipedia!
>They're required to list up to 5 authors,
>and linking back to Wikipedia is the easiest way to do that.

Yes, this is the tricky thing though.  However, my opinion is that this
needs to be explicit on every Wikipedia article so that all people who
"rip" an article, have a "fighting chance" of seeing it at the
bottom/top of the page.  It should perhaps say, "You are required to
provide a link back to the original wikipedia article, or a link to up
to 5 authors."  The part where it says authors, can be a link to the
Page history.  But you are

>To avoid making people stop believing us, we must separate:
>* You /must/ release your version under the GFDL; and
>* We /advise/ you to link back to the original Wikipedia article.

Shouldn't we say "MUST" link back OR "MUST" give names of 5 authors?  I
don't think using "advise" is a smart thing to do...

>More comments on the meta page (possibly, if I get to it),
>about ideal wording and the like.  I do agree with you in general.

Thanks for your comments.

>
>-- Toby
>



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