forðunga · global

A free software enthusiast and a wikimedian.

Licensing

Regardless of the license(s) I’ve agreed to release my original work under by contributing to a Wikimedia Foundation project, I also hereby release my original contributions, both past and (until further notice) future ones, under the CC BY-SA 3.0 or later license.

Of course, this does not cover the cases where I merely move the text authored by others around, which I generally mark as such in the summary (but it wouldn’t harm to double-check as I can let it slip at times.) Also, when my contribution is a derivative of someone’s else work (say, an edit to an image), the license of the original work may preclude you from enjoying the benefits of the license above until (and unless) the original author rereleases his or her work under a compatible license. (Or the copyright expires.)

Selected contributions

(Roughly in the order of diminishing importance. As I perceive it, anyway.)

No good deed

The Paid contributions amendment, effective as of June, 2014 reads: you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation.

I believe that this amendment is harmful for at least the following reasons.

Gladly, several projects’ communities understood the potential harm and effectively got out of the reach of this prohibition (see m:Alternative paid contribution disclosure policies#Does not require any disclosure.) And if you truly care about a Wikimedia project which didn’t as of yet effected a similar alternative paid contribution disclosure policy – I urge you to start the respective discussion at the appropriate project forum.

Personally, I’ve decided to try to refrain from participating in any and all Wikimedia Foundation projects that haven’t yet adopted a relaxed policy in place of the Foundation’s default one.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for your understanding.