--- Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
Why not? Will it suddenly become 'uncool' to be a Wikipedian once the word enters public usage?
It's a question of trade mark protection. Kleenex is a trademark, but now people often use it to refer to any facial tissue. Same thing for Xerox (Can I make a xerox of that?), and several others I can't think of at the moment. If we don't take steps to protect our trademark, then we can lose it.
We are not a wikipedia. We are _the Wikipedia_.
I would love for the name Wikipedia to be on everyone's tongue. But only as a brand name, _the_ Wikipedia, referring to one specific (set of) on-line encyclopedia(s). Not as a generic term for any encyclopedia-type on-line resource using wiki software.
If what Collins is doing does not jeopardize our trademark, great! But we need to watch to make sure.
-Rich Holton (en.wikipedia:User:Rholton)
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