Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/September 2010/Editorials

Editorial

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue LV (September 2010)

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What we can do about copyright violation, by Moonriddengirl

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In Part 1, I talked about how copyright problems are defined on Wikipedia and why we should care. This time, I'll be focusing on the practical aspects of how to address it.

To miminize damage to the project, we should do everything we can to prevent copyright problems in the first place, but when they do creep in we need to get them out of here as quickly as possible. Doing so not only protects copyright holders and reusers, but is also a great courtesy to other Wikipedia contributors. My heart sinks when I'm cleaning copyright problems and encounter an article that shows considerable time and effort from other contributors. When they are building on the base of a copyright infringement, their work must frequently be eliminated, too, as a derivative work of the original. Not only are those immediate man hours lost, but I can't but worry that the contributor might be lost as well. How many times does this have to happen before our post-copyright contributor begins to wonder if it's worth it?

To clean copyright problems, we have to be able to recognize them and to know what processes are best when we do. We need to give appropriate notice to the person who created the problem, beginning with the assumption that they meant well but did not understand the requirements or know how to comply.^[1] And we need to remain conscious of the fact that a person who creates one copyright problem may have created others and that sometimes additional review will be required.

^ This is often true. We have contributors from all over the world and from many walks of life. Some may come from cultures where copying from others is openly accepted and practiced even at the governmental level. Some—even native English speakers—have not yet developed the necessary skills to rewrite content from scratch. Many people misunderstand how comprehensively they must rewrite to avoid creating a derivative work.

[1] This is often true. We have contributors from all over the world and from many walks of life. Some may come from cultures where copying from others is openly accepted and practiced even at the governmental level. Some—even native English speakers—have not yet developed the necessary skills to rewrite content from scratch. Many people misunderstand how comprehensively they must rewrite to avoid creating a derivative work.

[1]