On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 12:53 PM, Nikola Smolenski smolensk@eunet.yu wrote:
On Sunday 01 February 2009 10:22:23 Gerard Meijssen wrote:
No, we want to create a free encyclopaedia. The restrictions imposed for narcissistic reasons do get in the way of making the encyclopaedia Free.
No, they don't. Please, show how they do.
By way of example, I am currently working on a short (8 slide), clean presentation, to be licensed under a free license. It contains a slide with 8 thumbnail photos of generic pictures (a house, a building, a government chamber, a few racks in a datacenter, etc.) and a few samples of text. It also contains a picture of one of the original google racks which would be less easy to replace. Some of the photos have been transformed by others so there are multiple authors.
By imposing the attribution requirements (indeed even linking to individual articles rather than Wikipedia itself) you are making it significantly more difficult for me to make use of the work and more likely that I will 'take my business elsewhere'. That damages the community and thus the (apparently egotistical) needs of the few threaten to impose on the needs of many (both within our community and the general public as a whole).
This type of piecemeal reuse/'remixing' is typical to that of an encyclopedia - for example in your average school project. The authors each contributed a small part to individual works which eventually became even smaller parts of a larger work. Their contribution at the end of the day is negligible and if they feel the need to have school kids quoting their name to teachers and the like then I suggest they would be better served by the various communities that cater for this 'need'.
Sam