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Forums: Village pump → Attribution of content from Wowpedia on WoWWiki

Over on WoWWiki I created a new Attribution template for tagging content that is obviously stolen from Wowpedia.

If you see something like that, just add the following tag:

{{Attribution|<Most of/Selections of/Some of> the content below was taken from [[File:Wowpedia icon stamp.png|22px]] [http://wowpedia.org Wowpedia.org].}}

<Most of/Selections of/Some of> are just some suggested words to use.

I used the Attribution tag at Tripping the Rifts as an example for the content taken from  [Tripping the Rifts]. Also see my explanation for needing attribution. -- Fandyllic (talk · contribs) 3:08 AM PST 12 Nov 2010

Do we need/have the reverse too? From what this site takes from WoWWiki, if anything?--SWM2448 18:00, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

To be honest, the only constructive edits I've seen on wowwiki, were ones made by users double posting on both wowwiki & wowpedia. Most edits on wowwiki are to servers, guilds, and PC pages. And then theres the outright vandalism. Might be an idea however to have a template ready just in case? Ressy (talk) 18:04, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

I forgot - I saw some edits to API pages on wowwiki sometime this week. Looking at them now, last updated in 2007 on wowpedia, updated on the 10th on wowwiki. Might be a good idea for that template after all if we want to bring over some of that stuff?Ressy (talk) 18:08, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Doesn't all of the content technically come from WoWWiki ? --Bellocois (talk) 18:15, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Previous to the fork, yes. However ALL revisions were brought into wowpedia under the user's name via xml dumps, which is what really matters. Post fork (ie October 22nd), we have to note where something was taken from if we want to use it. Ressy (talk) 18:35, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

It is possible, and even preferable, to use the edit summary to say where the freely licensed content came from. In particular, for importing CC-licensed content from wikis, it can be as easy as linking to the history link in the summary. It is obviously a better idea to link to the specific diff which you are importing.

I think it should be obvious why this is preferable to having any sort of banner or tag on the page in question… --Sky (talk) 19:40, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Crediting a source in the edit summary seems fine, but what do you do when no credit is given? Make a dummy edit giving credit in the edit summary? That seems awkward. I suppose you could put banners on the talk page instead of the page itself. -- Fandyllic (talk · contribs) 9:24 PM PST 12 Nov 2010

Why not? I'd rather awkward and hidden away in the page history than not-awkward and in a forward-viewing place. Either way you need to make what is essentially a dummy edit. :P --Sky (talk) 04:47, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Well some of us want to at least try to adhere to the spirit of the licenses even though they are nearly unenforceable. If a majority of the content of a page is taken from another source that isn't obvious, a feeble note in an edit summary doesn't really give the attribution justice. We might as well do that ridiculous image attribution thing Wikia has decided to do which is both misleading and likely violates the licenses regularly just by its existence. -- Fandyllic (talk · contribs) 9:51 PM PST 12 Nov 2010

That is the spirit of the license: attribution has been given under compatible licenses. That said, I was strictly speaking about what we do on this wiki, as I can't tell which wiki you're talking about. :^) --Sky (talk) 04:55, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I'm talking about both WoWWiki and Wowpedia. If what you suggest is the spirit of the licenses, then they are sad indeed. -- Fandyllic (talk · contribs) 10:14 PM PST 12 Nov 2010

Personally, I don't see anything that would be worth taking from WoWWiki that we didn't fork with... But if some wikis in the past have used tags at the top of articles, WoWWiki should do the same when content is taken from here I suppose... especially when its obvious. Sssssssssssssssssssssssss For Pony! (^Sssss/_Slithered) 06:01, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Until wowwiki create an official policy page on what they want to happen in this situation, then it really is at the discretion of the editor isnt it, aslong as they do it in a way that is helpful to the end user? Which, to add to that - can we also make a policy page for when something like this happens to us, and our users copy/paste content from somewhere else? something like "more than 50% of page must be attributed by a banner at the top, and a small section must be attributed in the edit summery?" Loremaster Mosios ( ) 08:13, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

You mean like WP:COPY#Using Wowpedia content on other sites? --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!•C207,729 contributions and counting) 13:09, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I meant content copy and pasted content FROM [with the same license] other sites [such as other wiki's] TO wowpedia. Loremaster Mosios ( ) 14:27, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Then see above on the same page. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!•C207,729 contributions and counting) 14:30, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Is it listed anywhere official though? How many new users will see this page, next week? or next month? Honestly, i can see wowwiki copying most of the edits and then using clever wording to imply they created it [or the opposite, someone here doing it to them] thats all. Loremaster Mosios ( ) 14:34, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

WP:COPY is an official policy, as official as it gets. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!•C207,729 contributions and counting) 14:36, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Aka, an edit summary doesn't really cut it. Thanks, Pcj. I forgot it was spelled out more clearly on a policy page. -- Fandyllic (talk · contribs) 10:08 AM PST 13 Nov 2010

Sorry Pcj, must have read the page wrong last night, looks complete. [Note to self: Dont go on wowpedia when your half asleep] Loremaster Mosios ( ) 07:36, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Question

Is there some way to change the licensing to prevent Wikia from stealing your work? I know Wikipedia changed their license at one point. It seems like the problem would be solved if you had clause by the next content patch or expansion that says „No Wikia reuse“ but it's probably not that simple. Nidaleena (talk) 05:59, 4 January 2011 (UTC)