[Foundation-l] Free license templates

[White Cat]

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 11:19 PM, Pedro Sanchez <pdsanchez at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 2:55 PM, White Cat
> <wikipedia.kawaii.neko at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  > White Cat wrote:
> >  > > Local projects should try to be as commons compatible as possible.
> >  > Different
> >  > > names for free licenses should be discouraged. I can provide bot
> >  > assistance
> >  > > to make the necesary changes.
> >  > >
> >  > > I do not feel it is not feasible to ask commons to continuously
> clean up
> >  > > after wikis. Thats a constant waste of time. We can solve the issue
> as
> >  > early
> >  > > as the upload.
> >  > >
> >  > > It is not too late to make such a change. However if fewer and
> fewer
> >  > wikis
> >  > > agree to use a standarised template name the problem will become
> >  > > increasingly difficult.
> >  > >
> >  > While I don't disagree that we should try to facilitate working
> across
> >  > multiple projects, two observations:
> >  >
> >  > 1. Ultimately, Commons exists to serve the remaining projects, not
> the
> >  > other way round.
> >  > 2. Ultimately, the purpose of content (including templates) is to
> make
> >  > things intelligible to humans, not bots.
> >  >
> >  > --Michael Snow
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > _______________________________________________
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> >  >
> >
> >  You are absolutely right. But this can work both ways. Helping commons
> >  better serve is of benefit to every wiki.
> >
> >  I really think dealing with over two million media and over 5,000 daily
> >  uploads, commons people have their hands full as it is. People working
> in
> >  commons aren't machines and making their job more difficult than it
> already
> >  is is of no benefit to anybody.
> >
> >  All wikis (except de.wikipedia which adds a bild- infront of template
> names)
> >  as far as I can see use the same template name for creative commons
> >  licensing. We can use similar naming conventions (abbreviations) for
> other
> >  free licenses such as GFDL or Public Domain (PD). On English wikipedia
> as
> >  well as others when people refer to a policy they tend to use
> abbreviations.
> >  Same practice can be applied to license templates.
> >
> >  The template name no matter how well or long worded it may be will mean
> >  little to a human. The human should be reading the content of the
> template,
> >  not its name in wiki code. Template names are for the most part read by
> >  machines not humans. Humans read what is transcluded by the template.
> >
> >     - White Cat
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
> I don't think this is something the foundation or the board can lay down.
> And this list is cetainly not the way to reach the different wikis.
> Now language is going to be a barrier. Yes, CC tempaltes are easily
> standarized (as they are now) but that's "the good case". Y "PD"
> (public domain) doesn't necessarily is obvious to, say,  a thai user
> with no english knowledge.
>
> I know enlgih culture is extended, but it's against the wiki
> mutlilingual spirit to force all free images to use english markup
>
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The tone of your response is not in the spirit of what I am trying to do
here. I find it a bit repulsive. I would encourage you to tone it down.

I am not asking for an English naming. "PD" is an abbreviation like "UN".
What you say isn't necessarily true. Japanese wikipedia for example uses
commons compatible names for their license templates.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F%E3%81%AE%E8%91%97%E4%BD%9C%E6%A8%A9%E8%A1%A8%E7%A4%BA%E3%83%86%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88

It is obviously more than workable.

I think Thai people can easily read the content of the template even if they
completely fail to read the templates name (say "{{GFDL}}") in the code.
People who edit wikipedia will figure out what such abbreviation mean in a
very short period of time. People who do not edit wikipedia will never see
these template names.

     - White Cat