[wp-docs] Copyright and a new stub.

[Scott Merrill]

Michael E. Hancock wrote:
> Why the 'uproar'?  Isn't GPL good enough?  Podz, you've proved that anyone,
> anytime, can just make a copy of the Codex info.  If someone doesn't want to
> copy from Codex then they can copy from your files...
> 
> If someone takes Codex and makes a book, that can only be great for
> WordPress!  In fact, that effort probably should be encouraged rather than
> discouraged.

There's an uproar when someone appropriates the WordPress name. [1]
There's an uproar when someone releases non-free plugins [2] or themes [3].

These are all justifiable, because the contributions of many are being 
used without attribution, and oftentimes without making the source of 
the new theme or plugin available, as required by the terms of the GPL.

Yet the attitude coming from many regarding the Codex -- many who have 
not contributed as much to the Codex -- seems to be "sure, take it, we 
don't care."

Podz is defending the position that we _DO_ care.  Writing docs is hard. 
  A lot of effort went into making the Codex the resource that it is. 
The contributors deserve every bit as much credit as the person who 
submits an elegant piece of code to solve some problem inside WordPress.

Further, it would be a real slap in the face to all the volunteer effort 
if someone distilled the Codex, published a book, and provided no links 
to the Codex, nor made the contents of the book available free of charge 
to others for further improvement (or for integration back into the Codex).

If someone takes the time and effort to distill the Codex into a book, I 
say bully for them!  I've thought about it.  It's not an easy task, but 
it's also not impossible.  But how can WordPress and the Codex 
contributors effectively assert the copyright of their work if there is 
no explicit copyright statement on the Codex?  What if, instead of 
distilling the Codex, someone made an exact copy and sold it, with no 
indication that the contents were in fact authored by someone else, or 
that the same content is available free at the Codex?

This all gets a little murky, just as it does for the code. We want to 
share the information; but we want to make sure we're not making 
Herculean efforts just so someone else can waltz in and profit from our 
work.

The idea was raised recently (the last #meetup, I think?) that the docs 
should be licensed under the same terms as WordPress itself.  But since 
we're not actually bundling the Codex with the WordPress source, I 
question that mandate.  I'm personally not keen on the GFDL [4], because 
it's not exactly free; but the GFDL is probably better suited to written 
texts that may live as dead-tree books (which is the complaint against 
GPL for books: how does one properly release the "source"?).

Given the problems of the GFDL, and the ambiguity of the GPL for things 
that aren't programs, we might want to consider a CC license, like 
CC-NC-SA.  We can't reasonaly use CC-BY because we'd then require 
everyone using the Codex elsewhere to include a complete list of 
copyright holders, which may be impractical.  A NC-SA license can be 
used in commercial activities if permission is granted from the 
copyright holders.  I think it's reasonable to ask someone to contact 
all the copyright holders for a given page (as defined by its edit 
history) if the contents of that page are to be used in a commercial 
endeavour.

Or, again, transfer the copyright to WordPress, Inc. (or the Free 
Software Foundation), so that that entity can grant exceptions to the NC 
clause, as they see fit.



1: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/44452
2: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/38024
3: http://comox.textdrive.com/pipermail/wp-hackers/2005-July/001836.html
4: http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.html
   but see also
http://zed1.com/journalized/archives/2003/04/20/debian-gnulinux-to-declare-gnu-gfdl-non-free/

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