Template talk:PD-link

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I hope people think this is a good idea and not a redundant image tag. The idea is to allow those of us who want people to credit Wikipedia as a useful source of free images to do so without imposing legal obligations on them. It's simply a polite request to link back to Wikipedia if the user finds it convenient. I wouldn't advise putting such a request on public domain images not created by you, as (for example) NASA images don't originally come from Wikipedia and it would be wrong to ask people to link to us if they reproduce them. Don't get me wrong: I like the idea of things like the Creative Commons licenses, but some of us might like to occasionally base our conditions on asking people to comply with them where appropriate, but allowing them to be waived where not. I would be interested in other Wikipedians' thoughts on the matter. — Trilobite (Talk)

I think it's a great idea. When an author releases his work into the PD, he or she relinquishes their legal ability — granted by copyright law — to control how others use their work. However, I believe that the author still has the right to request how others use their work, and this request, while not legally binding, still carries some force ethically. That is, it would be polite or honourable to comply with the wishes of the creator, if appropriate.

See also User:Matt Crypto/PD, which I cobbled together yesterday. — Matt Crypto 10:53, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Couldn't have put it better myself! I've always thought it's all very well releasing work under nice free licences, but some people who want to reproduce content won't understand all that and get intimidated by the lawyer-speak, thinking if they're not careful they'll get sued for not conforming to the author's precise terms. This defeats the object of free licences. Sometimes it's better to make a simple request with no legal force behind it, so people can comply with the spirit of free content without being bound by the letter. Plenty of people seem to be using this tag anyway. — Trilobite (Talk) 08:49, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

For the Wikipedia URL, I think en might be more appropriate than www, because each language edition has separate databases and images. 119 19:21, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I like it. I also agree with 119's suggestion. Neutrality^talk 06:11, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)