Re: Many references to wikipedia

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Gunnar wrote:

> Hello.
> I'm thinking about  writing a book and perhaps use wikipedia for that.
> And I have some questions about GFDL.
> If I make a reference list at the end of the book, should I make references
> to each single URL at wikipedia.org I have visited, or can I make a single
> reference to wikipedia.org ?
>
> Sometimes perhaps I really should make explicit references when it's
> important that you can find the original text.
>
> If you have any other advices for an author, please tell me.

There are three possibilities:
1. Your book is under the GNU/FDL as a whole

In case 1, I would say the best thing to do would be to find a few 'main'
authors of the parts you use, and mention them together with your own name.
You have to include the text of the GNU/FDL as well, but specific reference
is not necessary, although it might be nice.

2. The book as a whole is not GNU/FDL, but you make extensive use of pages
   from Wikipedia

In this case, the chapters where you use them have to be GNU/FDL at least.
They have to contain specific reference, and be clearly denoted as such.
Also, remember that under the GNU/FDL you have an obligation to make a
machine-readable version of the text freely available as well. If you use
the Wikipedia text unmodified, linking to the timed version of the article
would do, if you modified it you will have to do it yourself.

3. You are just using Wikipedia as a source for information, or for short
   fair-use citations.

In this case, a single reference and separate references seem both ok. I
would opt for an in-between form, where you give a single reference, but
mention separate page names in the reference.

Andre engels