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| − | All contributions to Wikipedia must be licensed by the author under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights Wikipedia Copyrights] accessed April 7, 2007</ref> This allows other people to edit and distribute that contribution, even for commercial gain, but there are restrictions that they must provide attribution and cannot distribute the author's text or derived works under a different license. As copyright holder, authors may in addition license their text under other terms. | + | All contributions to Wikipedia must be licensed by the author under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights Wikipedia Copyrights] accessed April 7, 2007</ref> While called "free", this license actually imposes burdensome obligations that interfere with the reuse of this material, even for teaching purposes. Authors always remain free to copy their own work, but cannot copy work that has been edited by others unless there is full compliance with the requirements of the GFDL. |
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| − | Wikipedia imposes numerous requirements on the reuse of its material, even reuse by one of the authors of pages edited by many people. Here are some of the requirements of the Wikipedia license:<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License Text of the GNU Free Documentation License] accessed April 7, 2007</ref>
| + | Here are a few of the complex requirements of the Wikipedia license:<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License Text of the GNU Free Documentation License] accessed April 7, 2007</ref> |
| | * any derivative work must be licensed under the same conditions | | * any derivative work must be licensed under the same conditions |
| − | * imposing 15 different conditions with respect to distributing modified copies | + | * there are 15 different conditions with respect to distributing modified copies |
| − | * requiring attribution of principal authors | + | * there must be attribution of principal authors |
| − | * there is no exception for specific purposes | + | * there is no exception for teaching or other non-profit uses |
| − | * including a copy of the GFDL in many cases | + | * there must be inclusion of a copy of the lengthy GFDL in many cases |
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| − | For Conservapedia's less restrictive copyright, see [[Conservapedia:Copyright]]. | + | For Conservapedia's less restrictive and easier-to-use copyright, see [[Conservapedia:Copyright]]. |
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| | == References == | | == References == |
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| | <references/> | | <references/> |