[Foundation-l] WMF as publisher as in GFDL

Tue Dec 7 01:01:01 UTC 2004

I would like a few things to be decided/ clarified regarding GFDL, 
partly because I received some complaint by another Wikipedian that GFDL 
is so difficult to understand that there needs to be an unofficial 
guide to how to use Wikimedia contents in compliance with GFDL. 

1. Is Wikimedia Foundation the "Publisher" as in GFDL of Wikimedia contents? 

2. When people modify documents, one of the requirements is to change the title, 
as in 4-A. The publisher of the original version may permit the licensee to 
use the same title. Does Wikimedia Foundation permit that? 

3. Another requirement is 4-J, the preservation of network locations of 
previous versions. Does Wikimedia Foundation give permission not to preserve 
the network locations? 

My understanding is that answers to all three questions are yes. But I am 
a bit unsure about the last one. 

People tend to think link to the live article is important, as I understand. 
Some people, based on American law, think this is a good substitute for 
the requirement 4-I, the preservation of History section. That aside, 
link back to individual articles are important for us to keep google rank. 

I personally think this is not the part of contract, because the live article 
is not necessarily the "previous version." But Wikimedia Foundation's 
enforcement policy would be that if live articles are linked back from 
individual pages, and some other important conditions are met, WMF does not 
make a big noise about violation of 4-I.

In other words, my understanding is that WMF does not change the terms of GFDL, 
but simply has some policy as a publisher regarding what type of violations are 
bad enough for WMF to take actions. 

I am not a lawyer, so my guesses and assumptions could well be wrong. I 
appreciate your comments and clarifications. 

Thanks, 

Tomos