[Wikipedia-l] attribution policy

Wed Nov 14 01:12:45 UTC 2001

Has a final decision been made on exactly how Wikipedia content must
be attributed when used in derivative works? I am the collection
editor for the Linux Documentation Project, and I would like to write
some scripts that will pull selected documents out of Wikipedia to be
installed on users' machines along with the LDP documents. It
shouldn't be too hard of a job with perl or python, although polishing
it up might take some finesse, like removing links that go to
documents that aren't being included.

Eventually, when the Linux documentation database, ScrollKeeper,
supports online document registration, I will instead link directly to
Wikipedia. I will install the initial set but use the online version
if a network connection is available.

I would ask that you please do not require an html table but a plain
attribution. LDP documents are formatted so they display in a console
web browser (e.g., lynx and links). People who install server machines
often don't install a GUI, and lynx doesn't support tables.

What I would like to do ideally is format the document similar to
the way we credit FOLDOC on Wikipedia:

---EXAMPLE---
Foo                              
Wikipedia.com

Foo (19xx - 19xx) was a bar bazzer especially noted for his skill in
xyxxy. Blah blah. :-)

----

This document was created by Wikipedia.com
---EXAMPLE---

So Wikipedia.com is credited as the "author".

On top or at the bottom, I'm not sure how it will lay out until I
get to doing it and looking at it. If we think that's good enough for
crediting FOLDOC then we shouldn't ask more of *our* downstream users.
If I weren't a Wikipedia fan, I would probably want it at the bottom,
but I happen to know how powerful the community effort is. I want very
much to send Linux users to Wikipedia to help improve our
documentation by building that community.

Wikipedia.com would be a "live" link, of course.

Is there any particular reason you want to require a table? Just
because it looks nice?

-- 
Dr. David C. Merrill                     http://www.lupercalia.net
Linux Documentation Project                   david at lupercalia.net
Collection Editor & Coordinator            http://www.linuxdoc.org

There won't be anything we won't say to people to try and convince them that
our way is the way to go.
	--Bill Gates