Hey everyone,
I would like the template for every article to be altered, to include something similar to the following: "This is licensed under GFDL...if you with to copy this article, go ahead...but you are required to provide a link to the GFDL... and you are required to link back to the original article..." That is essence of what needs to be added to the template for every Wikipedia article. This is in order to stop the ripping of Wikipedia articles without full copyright/license compliance.
I posted this today on the http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sites_that_use_Wikipedia_for_content page.
"Jesus, there are two many websites out there in non-compliance. The template for all pages needs to say explicitly what people are to do if they wish to copy the text. I mean, here we are advertising "Wikipedia: The Free Encylopedia" everywhere, and there is a link to GFDL at the bottom of every wikipedia article. What is the average person to think??? Of course they will assume they can just rip off the content. If they have any knowledge of GFDL or GPL, they might think that they can use it and modify it as long as they put it under the same license. But how are they supposed to know that they have to link back to the original article? We should stop the problem at the source and put explicit instruction on EVERY SINGLE wikipedia article at the bottom or top of the page so that when people are clicking and dragging their mouse across the page they will see it. Or if they save the HTML, they will also see it when they edit that hopefully. Who to talk to about this? Just my two cents. I'll continue to help out sending letters and such though, because I think it's a worthy cause. dave http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dgrant 23:28, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)"
Please CC to david.grant@telus.net, or reply all...