[Foundation-l] New wiki creation moratorium

Wed Apr 16 23:35:49 UTC 2008

Simetrical wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 6:52 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  "require" seems unlikely. What difference is there between a project
>>  created today and one created a year ago from a legal standpoint? Do
>>  you mean to say it's more convenient to wait?
> 
> I vaguely recall something I'd heard in the past, either from a draft
> of the FDL 1.3 or a rumor or something.  There was to be a new clause
> that went something like this:
> 
> "If the covered work was created principally by public collaboration
> on a website editable by anyone, which was created before the date
> June 25, 2005 [pulling that date out of nowhere], the licensee may
> choose to use the work under the terms of the GNU Wiki License instead
> of this license."
> 
> The provision was, obviously, meant more or less to target Wikipedia
> and offshoots of it, with the understanding that at the time they had
> no better options but that now they should move to a better license.
> But on the other hand, the date was presumably added because the idea
> would be new wikis should skip the GFDL altogether and move to the
> wiki license: this was meant to be a transition clause only.
> 
> I'm not on any committees and have no special standing or knowledge
> and have not signed any nondisclosure agreements, so the above may be
> nonsense.  But if the issue is something along those lines, it would
> make a considerable amount of sense as a reason not to start any new
> wikis for a few months if necessary, if there was reluctance from the
> other participants to move up the date too much.  It's not really a
> big price to pay.

I think it makes no sense at all. Anyone who thinks it's easier to change 
the world than to change the transition date in a secret draft license 
needs their head examined.

I can only assume group dynamics is to blame. I can easily imagine myself 
agreeing to such a nonsensical course of action in order to end a long 
argument with an incredibly stubborn person.

So, assuming that's the case, I give my sympathy to those involved, and 
wish them best of luck.

-- Tim Starling