[Foundation-l] RfC: License update proposal

[Sam Johnston]

On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 12:53 PM, Nikola Smolenski <smolensk at 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