WikiMac:Notes for Wikipedians
From WikiMac, Everyone's Mac Knowledgebase
If you are arriving from Wikipedia, or another website which uses the GFDL licence...
Please take note in rejoicing that WikiMac is "yet another" website on which the GFDL is valid in its entirety! Loosely speaking, content can be transferred transparently from Wikipedia to WikiMac (unlike Wikipedia → Wikitravel, which has two different licences -- one GFDL and one Creative Commons).
The exact same GFDL applies on WikiMac as does on Wikipedia and any other wiki/site that uses GFDL -- our site does not add any additional provisions to the licence.
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[edit] Attribution
If you are a Wikipedian and are merely moving your content into WikiMac, there is nothing you need to do. Copy and paste away.
If you are copying something that isn't yours but is on the Wikipedia servers, however, things are more complex. Wikipedia states:
- If you want to use Wikipedia materials in your own books/articles/web sites or other publications, you can do so, but you have to follow the GFDL. If you are simply duplicating the Wikipedia article, you must follow section 2 of the GFDL on verbatim copying, as discussed at wikipedia:verbatim copying.
- If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, this entails the following:
- your materials in turn have to be licensed under the GFDL,
- you must acknowledge the authorship of the article (section 4B, GFDL), and
- you must provide access to the "transparent copy" of the material (section 4J). (The "transparent copy" of a Wikipedia article is its wiki text.)
- You may be able to partially fulfill the latter two obligations by providing a conspicuous direct link back to the Wikipedia article hosted on this website. You also need to provide access to a transparent copy of the new text. However, please note that the Wikimedia Foundation makes no guarantee to retain authorship information and a transparent copy of articles. Therefore, you are encouraged to provide this authorship information and a transparent copy with your derived works.
The even bigger question is how do you copy an article that both you and another Wikipedian have written? Simple. Follow the same procedures as an article you didn't write.
This, by the way, applies to all sites using the GFDL.
[edit] Linking back to the Wikipedia article
User:Moverton has perfected the {{Template:WikipediaDirectLink}} template item. Previously, it only worked for articles which were were one word long (including InterCapped words). Now, however, it works for all articles, regardless of spacing.
Items which incorporate text from Wikipedia (except verbatim text which you wrote) must have a link back to Wikipedia. Type the following at the end of an article (in "Sources and References"):
* {{WikipediaDirectLink}}
(By the way, you create the "Sources and References" section, if there isn't any already on the article, by starting a new line (two returns) and typing ==Sources and References==. Merge any possible "Sources" or "References" sections into "Sources and References".)
A link to this page appears as well, to describe more about Wikipedia, WikiMac, and the GFDL, as well as other Wikipedia-related information.
If we use it on this page, it will link to a page on the English Wikipedia named "Notes for Wikipedians". (Please don't create that page. If you must, only click to try out the link.)
- Wikipedia: Notes for Wikipedians
(See also WikiMac's Notes for Wikipedians for information on the GFDL, WikiMac, and the Wikipedia.)
[edit] De-wikifying your text
Wikipedia is a complete encyclopaedia. It knows more than Macs; it knows stuff we don't know about (like human geneaology, unrecognised nations, micronations, mechanics, Einstein, etc...). Therefore, items that aren't Mac-related should have their wiki links removed.
For example:
- Using Mac OS X, one can run software focusing on stem cell research.
- → Using Mac OS X, one can run software focusing on stem cell research.
Note that the non-Mac related word "stem cell research" has been de-wikified.
[edit] De-reddifying your text
At least in our earlier stages, WikiMac will show hundreds, thousands, if not millions of red links. Those are articles with no content. If you know something about them, dive in and fill them out; if you don't know much about them, create (responsibly!) a stub.
[edit] Wikipedia and WikiMac policies
WikiMac applies some, although not all, policies that are in place at Wikipedia. This list shows if this policy is in force at WikiMac:
- Neutral point of view:
Valid with minor modifications. See: WikiMac:Neutral point of view - No legal threats:
Has not been applied yet, although likely to be valid - No original research:
Invalid - No personal attacks:
Valid - Blocking policy:
Has not yet been applied yet, although likely to be valid, with some modifications - Subpages:
Has not been applied in detail yet, although a variation may apply. Subpages are now used only in the WikiMac namespace (project namespace) - Three-revert rule:
Has not been applied yet, although not likely to apply in the form which applies at Wikipedia - Protection policy:
Such a policy will apply at WikiMac, yet with somewhat different principles than the Wikipedian version - Vanity page:
Officially declared invalid at WikiMac, yet a policy which is remotely related applies. See: WikiMac:Promotion of organisations and individuals - Sock puppet:
Not called "sock puppets", but "different identities"; likely that a variant may apply at WikiMac, but with major policy differences
[edit] WikiMac: We're About Macs
Macintosh knowledge rules supreme at WikiMac. The depth, therefore, of Mac-related items, will be far greater (at least as it stands now) at WikiMac than at the Wikipedia. It's true that the Wikipedia may use our content at WikiMac to build up their Mac area. That's something we've nothing against.
[edit] The Upshot
Wikipedians are more than welcome to move their works, or copy them, into WikiMac. Neither site should be construed as anyone's replacement. WikiMac exists solely as a centralized Macintosh knowledge/information database.
