Lee Pilich wrote:
... This is perhaps a little off-topic, but is there a quick and easy explanation of why the Wikipedia is released under the GFDL and not into the public domain? Somebody asked me the other day, and I realised that I didn't actually know.
So that Britannica, Encarta or another proprietary encyclopedia doesn't cannibalize the project by incorporating our material and not making their modifications available under a free license. That would break the chain of positive feedback that has gotten us so far.
Who would read or continue to contribute to Wikipedia if a proprietary version was always snatching up the best parts? I wouldn't - what would be the point? Any time we do something better than a proprietary encyclopedia all they have to do is copy what we did. Then there is a proprietary fork. Forks are bad and proprietary ones are really bad because they tend to tear appart the non-proprietary communities. We would never be able to rise above the proprietary crowd in quality and contributors will drift away. We would never be able to beat Britannica because we would be assimilated into Britannica, piece by piece.
Short answer: The GNU FDL encourages people to share and discourages people to be selfish.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)