[Foundation-l] Let's switch to CC-BY-SA

Mon Sep 10 06:15:26 UTC 2007

Despite all legal objections raised to Axels proposal  I do sympathize with
his intentions.

This summer I tried to write a hiking route, illustrated with pix of the
plants en route. Most photos I could provide from my own walk along those
trails, but for some I tried to find some on commons. Inclusion of 1 or 2
photos from commons would force me to publish the entire 3 page description
under GFDL, instead of CC-BY-SA, <stress>and</stress> include a n-page
complete GFDL text. Very unpracticle. Note that GFDL has no provision for
these practical problems. The newer "simple GFDL" and GFDL3 seem to have the
same requirements. They are as contagious as GFDL. (something probably
considered an advantage by many hardcore adherents on this list).

I gladly read Eric Moeller statements that this issue has the attention of
the foundation.

I would like to suggest one way for a gradula change here. Make a list of
all "free licenses":
For all new article, started from some to be dertermined date in the future,
all articles are releases under all this new licenses.
Yes, this appraoch had problems too, especially with merging articles. But
if the growth of wikipedia continues, the new multilicensed articles will in
a few years time outnumber and probably dwarf the old "GFDL only" articles.

Imho multilicensing our texts and media provides users with the greatest
freedom.

i wish you health and happiness,
teun spaans

On 9/10/07, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> On 9/10/07, Axel Boldt <axelboldt at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > The Wikimedia projects should switch from the GFDL to the CC-BY-SA
> > license.
>
> I'm going to have to quickly kill this discussion.
>
> The Foundation is in ongoing discussions with the FSF & CC about
> resolving issues with the GFDL & ensuring better compatibility between
> licenses. We will likely present one or multiple decision paths to the
> community soon for further discussion. This is not one of them, as we
> do not have to resort to a legally risky move if a newer version of
> the GFDL is released which meets our needs.
>
> Please have a little more patience; we've been working on this issue
> for many months & we've been making significant progress.
> --
> Toward Peace, Love & Progress:
> Erik
>
> DISCLAIMER: This message does not represent an official position of
> the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>