(urth) Wiki

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes danldo at gmail.com
Mon Jul 3 12:15:19 PDT 2006


> On Monday 03 July 2006 11:16, Adam Stephanides wrote:
> > I'm not thrilled with the idea of all my posts being thrust willy-nilly into
> > the public domain. I'm even less thrilled with the idea that anybody
> > would be able to edit my posts.

On 7/3/06, Daniel D Jones <ddjones at riddlemaster.org> wrote:

> It's been pointed out that you would need permission to copy anyone's
> post. If you're not comfortable with your writing being posted under
> whatever license is in effect, then don't contribute to the wiki.  If
> someone else decides to copy your statements over, then point it out
> and it will be quickly removed.

Yes; or, by the nature of wikis he could remove it himself.

But here's the thing. This puts the burden of monitoring the wiki --
the whole thing, or at least every article about a subject he's ever
posted about -- to see if someone's quoted one of his posts, because
if they do and he _doesn't_ protest promptly, he's lost protection of
his copyright -- especially given that, since the project has been
announced to him in this forum, he's been put on notice that his
posts _might_ be copied to said Wiki.

This is (to my mind as someone who, on the one hand, cares a
great deal about the copyright of my own work, but on the other,
has contributed significantly to several Wikiim on the Web) _not_
an acceptable approach.

When I create content for a Wiki, it is with the explicit understanding
that it falls under whatever sort of creative-commons policy that
Wiki has established. But Adam and I and many others (I suspect
this would include some very significant posters no longer active
on the forum, like Alice/Alga and Michael/Mantis) wrote our posts
with the understanding that the would be placed in a searchable,
but not editable, archive. To port them to an editable form such as
a Wiki is, I think, a violation of our rights.

If I may suggest a compromise?

I would be willing for anything I have posted to this forum to be
placed on such a Wiki, provided that it was done so in a protected
form, with my name clearly attached to my words, and said words
put in place substantively unchanged (i.e., I wouldn't mind fixes to
typoes and grammar, nor slight edits to clarify context).

In other words: there would have to be a template for porting
text from the Moonmilk archives, that would _not_ permit
editing once it was included and approved.

I would be willing to hazard that most people in my position
would agree -- Adam, how do you feel about this proposal?

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
"Shovels are essential to the fantasy genre.
However, they are primarily used by the authors rather than the
characters." -- Stephen R. Donaldson



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