[WikiEN-l] Our content gets *everywhere*

[Anthony]

> > I have always maintained that Wikipedia editors should be implicitly
> > appointing WMF as their non-exclusive agent whenever they edit.
On 8/20/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> That's as may be, but the fact of the matter is that the WMF is *not*
> a non-exclusive agent. In fact, the WMF didn't even exist when many of
> the edits were made. It is far too late to change the way copyright of
> Wikipedia content works. It is released under the GDFL and only the
> GDFL and will only ever be released under the GDFL. Accept it.
>
This was brought up a few years ago and I was in the group who opposed
giving the WMF enforcement power over violations of our copyright(s).
While I may technically release my writing under the GFDL I am
actually *much* more lenient on what rights I care to enforce.

Even if it weren't too late, it'd still be a bad idea.

"Wikipedia is released under the GDFL and not released to the public
domain for a reason. If we aren't willing to enforce the terms of the
GDFL, we should just release it to the public domain. We don't do that
because people like to be credited for their work and very few people
would contribute if people could just do whatever they like with it."

The reason I don't release my writing into the public domain has
nothing to do with attribution and everything to do with copyleft.  If
I had a choice I'd use Sharealike 1.0, not the GFDL.  We all have
different rights we want to enforce.  Wikipedia is released under the
GFDL (not the GDFL) due to historical accident more than anything
else.  From what I understand it was chosen mainly to shut Stallman
up.