Upcoming Projects and Copyright Issues
From Zelda Wiki.org
Upcoming Projects and Copyright Issues --Jase 12:36, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
There are always things to do on ZW.org, and right now the owners are gathering together (or attempting to ;) ) to discuss how to better the wiki. Along the way we ran into some trouble with old friends, and we realized that we weren't properly attributing the sources of our images or the Copyright holders of those images. In light of this, I and Adam have set up three Image Templates that everyone should begin using immediately. These three templates can do the following:
- Attribute the source of the image,
- Attribute Nintendo as the Copyright holder of the image,
- Or state that the source of the image is unknown.
If the image depicts anything from Nintendo or The Legend of Zelda, then obviously Nintendo is the rightful copyright owner. However, we must credit the person whose site originally hosted the image. For example, ZW.org has the benefit of using many images now known to be from Zelda Elements. They're wonderful images, but because nobody seemed to know that they were from Zelda Elements, the images got tossed around and ended up under the GNU Free Doc license (which meant that nobody really owned them, which was false). The problem there? The images weren't actually under the GNU.
By putting these image templates onto images, you help support the hard working webmasters that edited Nintendo's original imagery, and you help identify Nintendo as the true owner of everything Zelda. In the long run, this saves ZW.org a lot of trouble in justifying its extensive image gallery, and will prevent people from using imagery from other websites not part of the Zelda Wiki.org collaboration. Naturally, if the image comes from one of the seven sites listed on the left navigation menu, all the images from those sites are open and available for everybody under the GNU.
That said, we're doing several things. First, we're looking into a way to bring back the Zelda news by linking the Wiki's main page with RSS feeds on each of our respective websites. That way, all of you guys get an aggregated feed of Zelda news right on the front of the wiki without having to visit all seven of our websites.
Second, we're looking for more websites to join the Zelda Wiki.org movement and keep the momentum of the site going strong. While the site continues to grow more popular, the number of sites sharing in the collaborative spirit has not - and we implore all Zelda fan sites that deeply enjoy the free and open spirit of the wiki to request ownership and join the seven current sites in what's been a great collaboration that's only now starting to get even better. If you're a webmaster of a Zelda site, all you need to do is drop me an e-mail at jason [at] zeldauniverse.net requesting to be a part of the project.
As a closing note, I'd like to formally congratulate Ando, our newest sysop!
