I'm sure many of you noticed the mention of the Internet Book List on slashdot (at http://www.iblist.com/ , a new database intended to be for books was imdb.com is for movies). I'm excited about the project and sent an email with many questions to Patrick Roos. In that email, I asked what the copyright terms were of the site and if Roose knew about the FDL. He did not. I referred him to the official GNU FDL page.
I'm not very familiar with the FDL, though I recognize it as a Good Thing (tm). I have several questions:
1) if the IBL is put under the FDL, what would be required if they wanted to use e.g. a wikipedia biography of [[Stephen King]]--a linkback, and nothing else? I ask this question because I'm sure each article is under the FDL (else Encarta could rip them off), but I hope that each article is not considered a separate "Document" under the FDL terms. (if they were, they would all need a new title--"let's file Stephen King under [[Barnaby Jones]]") ;-) The "Document" is the entire 'pedia, right?
2) would it be better for the project, if they consider adopting the FDL, to link to the wikipedia articles rather than forking them? (mostly a rhetorical question, though I'm aware I don't usually think of *all* possibilities).
3) what considerations would you encourage Roos et al. to make before committing (or not committing) to the FDL?
4) anything else you'd say?
best wishes,
kq