On 6/10/07, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com wrote:
On 6/10/07, the wub thewub.wiki@googlemail.com wrote:
Some users license their contributions by placing a statement on their user page. However they still have to release them under the GFDL also, see [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing]]. For example I release my edits into the public domain: [[User:The wub#Licensing]]. I'd say that such a positive statement counts as a release, however a misunderstanding of our copyright when submitting an edit probably wouldn't.
There is something I've been wondering about this whole multi-licensing thing, and now seems as good a time as any to ask: how can you multi-license your edits when the previous edits that you are modifying specifically states that you have to license your edits under the GFDL? I mean, if I edit a page that has previously been edited under the GFDL, I'm making a derivative work and then I'm not allowed to release my contributions into the public domain because the GFDL specifically says that you have to use it for derived works. If I were allowed to multi-license my own content that's based on others work, I would in effect be making their content more free, even though I don't hold the copyright to it.
Obviously this doesn't apply when you write an article from scratch or rewrite an article completely, but those edits are in the minority.
I just don't see how this whole multi-licensing thing is legal. [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing]] doesn't really address this directly, so could one of the smart legal minds on this list please enlighten me?
--Oskar
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An author can license his work to as many people under as many licenses as possible. Nonrevokable just means you cant take away the GFDL licensed version you gave wikipedia. You can have a all rights reserved copy you give someone else, they are also just free to use the GFDL copy if they prefer to. And you can also give wikipedia a CC copy, and/or PD copy, all with one submit click.