[Wikimedia-l] Is the capability to delete usernames compatible with the CCBYSA license?

[Andre Engels]

On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 10:45 AM, Strainu <strainu10 at gmail.com> wrote:


> > Same argument in
> > different wording: None of the creativity that goes into the vandalizing
> > from version A to version B is present in version C. Thus, version C does
> > not fall under the copyright of the vandal. Which means that there is
> also
> > no obligation to honor their licensing restrictions, only those of the
> > authors who are actually partly responsible for the final document.
>
> If we go this way, then none of the authors who added legitimate
> content in the past but had it deleted later should be credited. We
> would need a tool like "git blame" [1] to generate the author list.
>

Not necessary - "need not be credited" does not imply "should not be
credited".


> >
> > Going further, say that someone with an offensive username (or even
> >> just an username unaccepted on wikipedia, such as a company name)
> >> actually makes a valid edit, which is not reverted, but the name is
> >> removed from the history. Is it fine to ignore the license just
> >> because we find some usernames offensive? Shouldn't we instead credit
> >> the user *at least* with a pseudonym?
> >>
> >
> > Is it usual to remove names from history without replacing them with
> > another pseudonym? I know of no such case.
>
> Is this even possible? I only have the rights to do this on ro.wp and
> I see no option to replace the name with a pseudonym. I just select
> "Delete the username or IP address" and add a reason and the history
> shows the text "username deleted" crossed. And on the pdf export, I'm
> positive there is no pseudonym used.
>

I think changing the username has the desired effect, I am not 100% sure
though.

-- 
André Engels, andreengels at gmail.com