[Foundation-l] What's appropriate attribution?

[Robert Rohde]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 1:31 PM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
<cimonavaro at gmail.com> wrote:
> Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
>> Robert Rohde wrote:
<snip>
>>> So, by extension, perhaps the goal should be finding a way to codify
>>> this scheme in a way that works both for us and for reusers.  Namely,
>>> making the requirements for redistribution of Wikipedia content to
>>> simply be:
>>>
>>> 1) A link or reference to the article's history
>>> 2) A statement acknowledging the free content license
>>> 3) A link or reference to the text of that license
>>>
>>> That's very simple and practical.  One can add some details regarding
>>> new versions and modifications, but even there I think you accomplish
>>> more by keeping it simple.
>>>
>
> This is completely false and misleading. You simply can not
> practically link from a fixed media to the internets. You can
> tell people what to type into the browser, which will bring
> you the right history etc. Sure, technically that is one form
> of compliance, but that is going the route of "small print"
> stuff that one employs, when one is not too particular about
> the ethics of what is doing. That does not work for people
> who actually do the editing in chief of articles. This approach
> would really give them the shaft.
<snip>

I am saying that a printed URL address in dead tree media to a site
that contains the appropriate information would be fine by me.
Perhaps you believe that it is totally unreasonable to draw a
connection between printed material and the web, but as the world
becomes increasingly connected, I see no fundemental problem with
this.  You are of course entitled to your opinion, but you seem to be
broadly generalizing that this approach would be unethical and unfair
to editors, and as an editor I'd have to firmly disagree with you.

Also, keep in mind that we are discussing how licensing and
attribution might work.  Obviously, any attempt to faithfully apply
the GFDL as currently constructed will be more cumbersome.  But we
can't possibly get a better GFDL in the future unless we are willing
to discuss what we might want from it.

-Robert Rohde