On Jan 24, 2008 2:07 PM, Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote:
so the only true attribution for the current state of
an
article at any particular time is to the "Wikipedia community" not
"Editor So And So, Who Wrote Two Paragraphs 5 Years Ago."
You would certainly have to work out who deserves to be credited and
whether somebody still deserves to be credited after what he
originally wrote was substantially changed, but that does not mean
that those who deserve to be credited should not be credited.
Many times it will obvious who deserves credit. I am not proposing an
automated system for credit, although it might me be possible to make
one. I am proposing a policy change that would require a section at
the end of any good article that credits the significant authors of
the article in a way similar to that of footnotes and references. If
there are contentious issues about who should be credited that would
be worked out on the talk page just like other contentious issues are.
Regards,
Ezra