Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks/DEF

< Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.176.142.34 (talk) at 17:34, 15 June 2005 (Added mirror). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mirrors and Forks : (Numbers) ABC - DEF - GHI - JKL - MNO - PQR - STU - VWXYZ - All - Archive

D

Dutch wiki freeler

  • Site: http://static.machine.freeler.nl/cgi-bin/wiki.pl
  • Mentions the dutch wiki and freeler are partners
  • No link from freelerhomepage, so not yet in production
  • They (as yet) have not yet contacted the dutch wiki
  • They have a simple perl script directly querying the wiki servers, it is NO MIRROR. They are using wiki bandwidth, cpu and memory.
  • With the complete database of course also comes the GNU/FDL.
  • site unreachable on morning fr Jan 9, possibly in reaction to discussions on dutch wikitech.
Appears to be gone now. [ alerante 02:16, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC) ]

Dictionary of Everything

Site: Dictionary of Everything - (dictionaryofeverything.com)

  • Articles from wikipedia link to original article at en.wikipedia.com
  • Articles link to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • Articles link to wikipedia main page
  • Example: American arbor-vitae from American arbor-vitae
Addendum - uses multiple domains to sort info on various topics: explore-dictionary.com, explore-art.com, explore-biography.com, explore-business.com, explore-design.com, explore-health.com, explore-fun.com, explore-society.com, explore-technology.com, explore-places.com. \Rexruff

Disease-Reference.com

  • Site: Disease-Reference.com
  • Mentions GNU FDL license and links to a local copy of it
  • Acknowledges Wikipedia authorship, links to Wikipedia
  • Includes disclaimer releasing Wikipedia of any medical liability
  • No link to original article
  • Example: [1] from Autoimmune disorder

Dr. Damerow

  • Links to the articles
  • Links to GFDL on gnu.org
Not a verbatim copy: embedding failure - text inserted between title ("Cold War") and start of Wikipedia text ("The Cold War (September 2, 1945 - December 25, 1991) was"). Either needs the inserted text placed above the header (to make it a verbatim copy) or it needs to comply with the stricter rules on derivative works.
The French Wars of Religion article is a combination of two Wikipedia articles. There are rules on how you can do this, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.


Din Cyclopedia

  • Site: Din Cyclopedia
  • Contains a number of pages of Wikipedia, with all links. The links point to the local copy if it is there, otherwise to the current Wikipedia article
  • Links to both edit page and current page on Wikipedia.
  • GFDL link Links to Wikipedia's article on GNU Free Documentation License
  • "Find out how you can help support Wikipedia's phenomenal growth." present
Update - Not much there at all anymore. \Rexruff

DomainsAreFree.com

  • Site: DomainsAreFree.com
  • Commercial ___domain registration site using a subset of technical Wikipedia articles
  • Removed "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia"
  • Links removed, lightly edited
  • Footer provides links to respective article on Wikipedia and contains link to gnu.org copy of GFDL

downbound.com

  • Site: downbound.com
  • Appears to be using the Wikipedia article on vegetarianism and others without credit
  • Example pages: [2], [3]
  • GFDL notice is on some pages (eg. one of the above)

DuranDuranFans.com

  • Site: DuranDuranFans.com
  • Non-commercial fansite, uses articles on Duran Duran and its five members - see Duran Duran
  • Removed "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia"
  • Links removed, lightly edited
  • Pictures added -- looks like professional promo pics, probably copyrighted
  • Footer provides links to current articles and contains link to gnu.org copy of GFDL

DuranDuranTimeline.com

  • Site: History of Duran Duran: The Duran Duran Timeline
  • Non-commercial fansite (displaying Google ads), verbatim copy of Duran Duran article, inc. fair use pictures.
  • Links removed, years link to Timeline site pages
  • "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia" retained
  • Header and footer provide link to current article and to Wikipedia copy of GFDL (and an invitation to translate the article for Wikipedia!)

E

e-paranoids.com

eBook 2u (ebook2u dot com)

The web site now appears to have a link to Wikipedia and the GFDL. Should this entry be moved to another page? --Chessphoon 03:30, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Moved from Low Compliance page. Need to doublecheck there are no other attribution oversights. chocolateboy 12:52, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

ebroadcast.com

Copyright in the material on this web site is owned by eBroadcast Australia unless otherwise indicated. All content is published for viewing from the eBroadcast website or eBroadcast email only. eBroadcast Australia strictly prohibits you to copy or use (including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, acquisition ("grabbing") or replication of the content) for commercial or non-commercial (private) use.
No mention on the copyright page of GFDL or Wikipedia. Each article page does say Encyclopedia facts courtesy Wikipedia.org with a link to our main page.

Current Status: Low Compliance. -Rholton 17:10, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

  • Sent standard letter via e-mail. -Rholton 17:22, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Egenas Encyclopedia

  • Site: Egenas Encyclopedia
  • Example page: Hypnosis
  • States, "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License".
  • Links to Wikipedia's GNU license


ElResearch

encyclopaedic.net

encyclopedia.com

  • Site: [5]
  • Reproduces Wikipedia material without mentioning Wikipedia or the GFDL. Claims the copyright belongs to Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2005.:
  • example page: [6]
This is word for word the same as the wikipedia article except one (1) phrase is omitted. Note that I have not verified the wikipedia article has not be plucked from www.encyclodia.com.
I'm afraid our article ammonium sulfate appears to be a copyright violation. It was submitted by a new user in February. These things happen.. Rhobite 18:03, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

encyclopedia.worldsearch.com

©2004-2005.§/Newave. All rights reserved
  • Terms of Use page says, among other things:
How You Can Use the Services
You may use the Services on E.WS and the Newave Sites for your personal, non-commercial use. You may make a single copy of the individual screens you see when you use the Services, but only for your personal use. You cannot distribute or transfer the copies to others in exchange for money or other consideration. You may not-and agree not to-modify, reformat, copy, display, distribute, transmit, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer or sell any information, products or services obtained from the Services, except as set forth below. This means that you may not mirror the home page or results pages of E.WS or any Newave Site on your own Web site or Web page.
No License Granted
Except for allowing you to use E.WS for your personal use as set forth in the paragraph above, when you use E.WS, you are not receiving a license or any other rights from us, including intellectual property or other proprietary rights of Newave or other companies with which we are affiliated.
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO THE SERVICES OR ANY OTHER NEWAVE PROPERTY EXCEPT AS WE INDICATE IN THESE TERMS.

--Calton 00:59, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

eurofreehost.com

  • Site: eurofreehost.com
  • plus they do some dirtyness to boost their google rating. Kim Bruning 14:27, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Mentions GFDL (with no link). Does not mention Wikipedia. - Evil saltine 09:37, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Below moved from main page... Davelane 21:39, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The site http://www.eurofreehost.com/ appears to be a mirror of Wikipedia; each page claims to be under the GFDL but I found no link to Wikipedia on either a random article (http://www.eurofreehost.com/co/Compulsator.html) or the main page. Also, no Wiki source seems to be available, specifically violating the intent of the GFDL as I see it. Finally, the pages have no link to the text of the GFDL. I've sent a more-or-less standard complaint letter (although I didn't claim to be delighted to see another out-of-date broken mirror of Wikipedia) but it was taken before I made any major contributions, so if someone with more seniority would like to take over, that'd be great. Andrew 04:00, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC) (Update: mail to webmaster@www.eurofreehost.com bounced; I'll leave this for now, awaiting comment from others. Andrew 04:08, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC))

That site now has the standard disclaimer (as @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights#Example_notice)

Confirmed. High compliance. -Rholton 03:20, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

www.earth-history.com

  • Site: www.earth-history.com
  • It claims that the page presents copyrighted material under fair use doctorine of the U.S. copyright law. The publisher seems to be a Dutch.
  • Mention that the article is from Wikipedia but without link to Wikipedia, GFDL, or the individual aritcle.
  • The extent of their use is not investigated. It may be just one article.
  • Example: http://www.earth-history.com/Publ-___domain.htm

Tomos 06:39, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Elexi.de

  • Example mathematics
  • States that the article is from Wikipedia.
  • Links to GFDL.
  • The problem is that even the articles from English Wikipedia are explained as taken from de.wikipedia, and link back goes to de.wikipedia's URL, and its accompanying history page.
  • Confirm status (I guess). We probably need the help of someone who can read/write the language. -Rholton 23:10, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Encyclopedia of Sexuality

  • Only four entries. It was listed elsewhere as Creative Commons content, but there seems to be no license notice (either that of GFDL or CCPL).
  • Some content (only 4 articles as of now - July 8, 2004) seems to be similar to Wikipedia's corresponding articles.
  • Now seems dead. -Rholton 23:27, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

exsudo.com - Konwledge Base

  • Site: exsudo.com - Konwledge Base
  • almost complete mirror of English Wikipedia
  • links to original article
  • links to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • does not link to wikipedia main page

exsudo.dk - Konwledge Base

  • Site: exsudo.dk - Konwledge Base
  • almost complete mirror of Danish Wikipedia
  • links to original article
  • links to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • does not link to wikipedia main page
  • license text in English, not Danish... not sure if this is in agreement on GNU/FDL?

exsudo.se - Konwledge Base

  • Site: exsudo.se - Konwledge Base
  • almost complete mirror of Swedish Wikipedia
  • links to original article
  • links to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • does not link to wikipedia main page
  • license text in English, not Swedish... not sure if this is in agreement on GNU/FDL?

exsudo.de - Wissen und mehr

  • Site: exsudo.de - Wissen und mehr
  • indicates Wikipedia as source
  • links to original article
  • links to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • links to german wikipedia main page
  • links to article edit page
  • links to article history
  • license text in German now

EncycloZine

Many articles, sometimes older versions, for example see Artzia/Law EncycloZine is organized into subsites which include: Artzia.com, Eluzions.com DiXionary.com Kosmoi.com and possibly others, all very liberally plastered with links to books available on Amazon. Wikipedia articles are most likely to be met with on Artzia.com and Kosmoi.com

  • Not always link to current version of article
  • Not always link to GFDL

eurovisionarchive

Year Pages for Eurovision takes from wikipedia for example see: http://eurovisionarchive.members.beeb.net/Years/1969.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1969 (they have added the interval sections witch i amn finsihing at the moment and its not exactly the same).
  • No mention of Wikipedia
  • No mention of GNU FDL
    • If there is any its not on each page.
      • Standard letter sent by Angela, 11 November 2003 via the feedback form on their site.
        • They now have a link with "From Wikipedia, licensed under the GFDL", but they link to the main page, not to the specific article. Angela 01:56, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
          • The link and mention of Wikipedia has now disapeard. - fonzy
            • Most of the site seems to not be working now. Maybe they are in the process of doing something with it and will add the links back in. I can't access any pages used to have Wikipedia content on them. Angela. 23:36, Jan 13, 2004 (UTC)
          • The site seems to be working and seems to be hosted by beeb.net, which has a no illegal acts policy for its end users. A polite email to abuse at beeb.net would probably take care of the matter. May want to give their customer another reminder first, since it appears to be an individual's effort and individuals do take time to get things done. Perhaps give three months to do it and say we'll ask the BBC to take care of it if not fixed by then? Jamesday 21:21, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

ExplainPlease.com

The website is of three parts. The "The Directory" part has got the articles. They claim "Writers from all over the world contribute to explainplease.com ...". Jay 08:14, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)

    • Standard letter sent by mav 10:34, 4 Jan 2004 (UTC)
    • Received this reply: Thank you for the heads up, I will get on it when I get back home next week. --mav 18:29, 5 Jan 2004 (UTC)
      • Two weeks elapsed since last contact. Just checked, and they haven't changed a thing. →Raul654 05:06, Jan 18, 2004 (UTC)
      • Still no change. Perhaps mav (to keep the contact-person consistent) should send the standard follow-up letter? --Delirium 02:51, Feb 8, 2004 (UTC)

Received this reply:

"Everything should be in order for compliance. Please upgrade my site from low compliance, or let me know what else I need to do."
"I added the contributed by and link to wikipedia on every page that uses articles from wiki. I added the GNU license and a link to the GNU license on every page that uses articles from wiki."

I upgraded the status and sent a reply that the only outstanding item is the direct article linkbacks. --mav 22:05, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Encyclopedia 4U

  • Site: Encyclopedia 4U
  • Removed "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia"
  • Link to original article with title, although through a slow redirect page
  • Idem link to GNU/FDL at gnu.org
  • Mentions Wikipedia as "It uses material from Wikipedia article..."
  • Claims copyright, but reserves no right and mentions GNU/FDL
  • Example: George W. Bush

Everything Preschool

  • Site: Everything Preschool
  • Uses Wikipedia content
  • Can't find any source information
  • No links to Wikipedia or the GFDL
  • Plenty ads

[[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 07:40, Oct 15, 2004 (UTC)

  • Example: Whales is a verbatim copy of the Wikipedia article. - Mark Dingemanse (talk) 20:31, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)
  • Each page now includes (at the very bottom of the page) the following text:
These fast facts are based off of several sources (including External Research, Journals, Personal Knowledge, & wikipedia articles) and are released under the GNU FDL. Feel free to print them and share them with anyone you wish. We would appreciate you mentioning you got them from EverythingPreschool.com. Also please use the suggestions box above to provide us with additional information to include on the Fast Facts Pages.
The word "wikipedia" links to www.wikipedia.com, and "GNU FLD" links to a local copy of the license at http://www.everythingpreschool.com/GNU.php
Issues:
    • "wikipedia" should be capitalized. Right now it reads like a generic source, expecially when the other "sources" are capitalized.
    • link should be to www.wikipedia.org (not .com)
    • No link back to the source Wikipedia article; no mention of authorship
    • "Feel free to print them and share them..." makes no mention of GFDL obligations.
Conclusion: Low compliance.
Action: Standard email sent. -Rholton 02:21, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Enlightenweb

  • Site: Enlightenweb
  • Example: Astronomy
  • Javascript links to original Wikipedia article
  • Javascript links to Wikipedia copy of GFDL
  • Javascript links to Wikipedia.
  • Unhelpfully turns up in "-wikipedia" searches
    • but also provides a link from each page to a dynamic HTML page (www.websitings.com/enlighten-html.cfm) which provides HTML source code with HTML links designed for copying by third parties

explanation-guide

(Taken from low degree of compliance to show how a site can be pushed into improving. See Gbe-languages for example at bottom of page and after clicking on image.)

  • Mirror site
  • No mention of GFDL
  • Links to Wikipedia says "Some material used on this site derives from the Wikipedia project" and other links back to here
  • Claims "Are you subject to US Copyright Law?

No. We believe in fair use and freedom of speech. We do however also strongly believe in the rights of copyright holders and do our best to preserve copyright and will not knowingly publish materials without permission."

  • Contact: feedback-1607@explanation-guide.info given as contact details

Moved from top page where it said "They link back to Wikipedia, but in an unreadably small font." however i can't see this in the page source 12/9/04

In impossibly small blue font at the bottom of an article, it says "copyright information". Only if you click this does a miniscule popup window appear telling you this is GNUFDL from Wikipedia. I don't know if that's compliant -- I don't know GFDL well enough. Also, they use all our images without a link....maybe do they think acknowledging the article gives them the right to use the images? I'd contact them, but I need to figure out how our license works first, I suppose. :-) Jwrosenzweig 22:36, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC) Davelane 12:37, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
It uses javascript, not just to popup the link to the original wikipedia article, but also to avoid using the word "Wikipedia" in the HTML source code. However there is now a www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html link on the page. --Henrygb 17:16, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Looks like they are there now: line near the bottom (for Red) looks a bit like

Licensing information: This article uses material from Wikipedia (credits) and is made available under the terms of the GNU FDL - Henrygb 18:18, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)
But not every article has that line. Gbe languages for example has no copyright information at all (as of today). - Mark Dingemanse 15:29, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Follow up. Since explanation-guide (EG) did not give attribution for the image at Gbe languages which I created and released under CC-by-2.0, I thought I'd send an email. Below I paste the contents of my first mail, the answer of mr. Lawrence Smith of EG, and my response. I sent my mail to feedback-1607@explanation-guide.info and to info@explanation-guide.info and I got an answer from info@explanation-guide.info. I will be posting further results soon. - Mark Dingemanse (talk) 21:49, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Dear Sir/Madam,
As creator of the images used on http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/Gbe-languages.html, http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/African-languages.html, and http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/Nilo-Saharan-languages.html (all copies of the Wikipedia articles of the same title) I object to your use of them.
The images are released under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0). Explanation-Guide, unlike Wikipedia, does not give the required attribution, thereby violating the license.
I trust that you resolve this issue soon, either by not using the images or by giving proper attribution to the creator.
Thank you,
Mark Dingemanse
Dear Mr. Dingemanse,
Please accept my apologies: I was not aware that the images are licensed separately to the texts. Thankyou for pointing this out.
As a short-term solution we have linked each image to an information page which links to the relevant page at Wikipedia. I hope this established attribution. We will try and add a more user-friendly and informative solution in the near future.
Yours sincerely
Lawrence Smith
Dear Mr. Smith,
thank you for your quick response. However, the short-term solution you propose does not work at present for the images I mentioned. The problem is that the respective Wikipedia articles contain scaled down versions of the original images. In the Wikipedia articles, this scaled down version is linked to the original image and to the attribution information, thereby fulfilling the license requirements. On explanation-guide, this link is lost, the scaled down version is copied, and the information page instead refers to a non-existent page on Wikipedia. Which leaves the issue unresolved.
I do trust that you will find a solution soon.
Thank you,
Mark Dingemanse
Dear Mr. Dingemanse,
Once again my apologies. The links now take into account scaling issues and link to the correct Wikipedia page.
Yours sincerely
Lawrence Smith
  • Looks OK now; they responded to my question (see above correspondence). But can anyone doublecheck if this site is compliant or not? - Mark Dingemanse (talk) 07:23, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I think you have done well, as clicking on the image leads to a short page saying "Copyright and licensing information for this image, including author attribution, is available at the following Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gbe_languages.png ". --Henrygb 18:47, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

explore-*.com

  • Site: explore-dictionary.com
  • Copies nearly all of the article namespace. Does not seem to have copied nay other namespaces.
  • Includes mention of Wikipedia, and the GFDL, and link to original article and GFDL text.
  • However: The link to the Wikipedia article is sent through a redirect (thereby not providing a link to Wikipedia). This should be corected.
  • The site is divided into many web domains based on category, with a complicated category system that seems to have been made by the site owners.
  • As of 05:13, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

ezResult.com

  • Site: ezResult.com
  • Keeps "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia"
  • Links to original Wikipedia article
  • No other mention of Wikipedia
  • Link to local copy of the GNU/FDL
  • However (reason to put it at medim compliance): Apply the GNU/FDL only to the original page, not to their version of it.
  • Says "Layout Copyright 2003 ezResult.com Open Search Engine."
  • Example: Lake Tanganyika
  • First email sent with a proposal for improvement. Andre Engels 00:03, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)
    • Reaction: "We will take up your suggestion during our next database/site update." Andre Engels 10:37, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)
    • This has been updated. (ezresult webmaster) 10:37, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

F

Factdex - the fact index

  • Mainpages: Has two: a coverpage at http://factdex.com/ with links to Wiki articles with conventional main page at Factdex.
  • Sample article: Australia - http://factdex.com/Australia
  • Software: A wiki using Wikimedia software
  • Content: Data dump from late August, 2004
  • Linkback: None
  • References to Wikipedia remain in place (not changed to Factdex).

Fact-Index

  • Site: Fact-Index
  • Sample article: Albania - http://www.fact-index.com/a/al/albania_1.html
  • Frequently appears higher in Google results than Wikipedia itself.
  • * Donated $2500 to Wikipedia. Says in small print, "Fact-index.com financially supports the Wikimedia Foundation. Displaying this page does not burden Wikipedia hardware resources. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License." (As of 06:29, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC))
  • Did not previously link back to Wikipedia, but now has a prominent link to the corresponding article and a small-print link to the Main Page (As of Oct 20, 2004).

FactSite.co.uk

  • Site: FactSite.co.uk
  • Content: static copies of en: (Sept 2004) and cy: (March 2005) Wikipedia
  • Linkback: each article links back to current version on wikipedia.org

Fixed reference

Fanzinepedia

  • Site: http://www.fanzine.pl/wikipedia
  • Complete copy of Polish Wikipedia from some time ago, not updated
  • Links to Wikipedia main page
  • Links to GFDL at GNU website
  • Uses the name Wikipedia in page title and in url

Fastload.org


copying Wikipedia without mentioning us. I can't find them on any of the pages about various degrees of compliance, so I don't know if anyone is giving them heat yet. --Fritzlein 06:24, 5 Jul 2004 (UTC)

fastload.org does link back to Wikipedia - at least it does now. At the bottom of each page it says "to view or edit this article on Wikipedia, click this link." ←Hob 23:48, 2004 Sep 2 (UTC)

Moved from main page --Davelane 14:51, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

"Mandelbrot fractal" at fractalmovies.com

  • To be investigated
  • Moved from main page Davelane 21:34, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

fablis

  • Site: fablis
  • I don't know if this web site has already been recorded somewhere. It seems to be an exact copy of the English Wikipedia, including our Main page! <KF> 21:11, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)
  • Now includes copyright information along the bottom of the article pages.

famous.tc

  • Site: www.famous.tc
  • Uses Wikipedia articles. Seems to have the lot (though their index only shows a small selection biographical articles).
  • No mention of GFDL
  • No mention of Wikipedia, though they don't seem to specifically filter it out of articles (see [8] from Main Page). Wikipedia namespace articles are redirected back here.
  • Examples: [9] from Louisa May Alcott, [10] from United States Department of State (complete with broken interwiki links at the bottom).

Famous-astrophysicists.com

  • Standard follow-up sent by mav 10:53, 4 Jan 2004 (UTC)

FIDE

  • Site: FIDE
  • Edited version of the World Chess Championship article (this is on the official site of the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship, and is quite a high-profile page)
  • No mention of Wikipedia
  • No mention of GFDL (FIDE claims copyright)
  • Slightly altered standard letter sent June 18, 2004 by Camembert

FirstCarHire.com

  • Site: FirstCarHire.com
  • Uses Wikipedia articles - text from country / city articles used to pad out car-hire listings for respective locations.
  • No mention of GFDL
    • now has link to GFDL
  • No mention of Wikipedia
    • now has text wikipedia content based (about - copyrights) on bottom of respective pages, links to Wikipedia:About and Copyrights. --Ianb 08:57, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Examples: [13] from United States. See [14] for more.

Fitness pills

  • Site: Fitness pills
  • Copied Hangover article (after adding his own ad to the bottom!)
  • Claims copyright, no link to GFDL
  • (Moved up from "Obsolete Section" 24 March 2004)
  • All of the above still exists on the current date --Kasperl 19:35, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Copies most of article (with minor rewording). Could not find the terms "wiki", "FDL", or "doc" on the page. Standard letter sent. --Astronouth7303 00:01, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)
  • No action taken on part of website. Still claims copyright to article. No mention of Wikipedia anywhere. EagleFalconn 20:34, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

http://www.freeglossary.com/Ragnar_Lodbrok (for example)

  • Uses old copies of Wikipedia
  • no back link to Wikipedia
  • append their own ads to bottom of page
  • assert the right to modify terms and conditions of use
  • No GFDL acknowledgement
  • However the About Us link contains the following: freeglossary.com is powered by PHP, mySQL and Wikipedia each linked to local articles, and the Wikipedia article links to http://www.wikipedia.org
  • Violation letter sent October 21 2004 Sjc 09:01, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)
  • No change, still in violation. Sjc 19:48, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
    • Now there's an "About this article" link in bold at the bottom of the page, which acknowledges GFDL, links to the current version of the article, to the discussion page and to the version history. I think it should be in the main article, though. It's also always in English, even for mirrored versions of other language Wikipedias. Ausir

Free definition

  • Links to original Wikipedia article
  • Links to original article history
  • Links to GFDL in each article (to gnu.org site)
  • Mentions wikipedia in each article
  • Says "based on Wikipedia" on the "info" page.

TheFreeDictionary.com

  • Only mentions wikipedia in JavaScript
  • Link to GFDL only works with JS enabled
  • Claim copyright with JS Disabled
  • Abuses HTML tags such as <span> to impede copying Guanaco

Therefore i'm moving this to Medium Compliance --Davelane 22:39, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

More discussion here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_free_dictionary and on the talk page --Davelane 22:57, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

  • Credit to Wikipedia with links is given at the bottom of each page.
  • Not any more. See this example http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Separation%20axiom. The letters "wiki" appear nowhere in this document. However, the bottom of the page states "Copyright © 2004 Farlex, Inc.". That is false; in fact, I wrote almost all of the material on that web page. -- Toby Bartels 05:41, 3 Jun 2004
  • Ah, I see what's going on! The word "wiki" does appear twice in the docment source, once in the URL (local to their site) of an image (also made by me), and once in directive to Javascript. If I turn on Javascript, then I see the Wikipedia link (albeit much less prominently than the copyright notice); if Javascript is off, then it goes away again. This is, of course, not good enough; but it's more likely that they mean well and a note will fix things. -- Toby Bartels 05:49, 3 Jun 2004 (UTC)
  • This is what their Javascript pops up (for that example): "This article was derived fully or in part from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License." Note that while the first link is to the article on our site, the second link is to their copy of our article GNU Free Documentation License -- which is still one click away from the licence itself, which they don't appear to have on their site. -- Toby Bartels 06:15, 3 Jun 2004 (UTC)
  • I don't think this fragile and subtle JavaScript copyright notice is sufficient at all. -- Julian Mehnle 10:14, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)
  • An important consecuence of putting the link in a JavaScript is that Google won't see it. This means that Wikipedia doesn't get the inbound link count it deserves, allowing TheFreeDictionary.com to beat Wikipedia's PageRank on many articles. -- PeR 09:32, 10 Jul 2004 (UTC)
  • Which is probably why they did it. Doing say, a google search on "cow encyclopedia" has "the free dictionary"'s copied page at the top with wikipedia's 4 down. Although wikipedia is public ___domain, it can benefit from more readers, as if a reader sees somthing wrong they can simply change it. However, if they are on the mirror site they cannot and wikipedia is less exact because of it. Has anyone sent out emails etc? I personnally don't know about wikipedias policy on it, but it certaintly seems quite wrong when the actual quality of the information is possibly damaged. I have to admit the formatting is nice.DivisionByZero 08:41, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)


  • I doubt they are GFDL compliant. Although I'm not lawyer, look at this:
    • "By printing, downloading, or using the content on the freedictionary.com, including general dictionary, medical dictionary, computing dictionary, legal dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, encyclopedia, and any reference data you agree to our full terms. All content on thefreedictionary.com, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional."
    • and the mention of Wikipedia is in the font smaller then article text and their copyright notice.
    • it's written to be (c) farlex
    • 'link to GFDL' on their pages is really link to local copy of Wikipedia article about gfdl, and from there there is broken link to gfdl text on www.gnu.org
*http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Alexander%20Stirling%20Calder thefreedictionary.com
    • I have sent them an email threatening legal action if they don't give Wikipedia, and by extension, me, proper (not half-baked) credit as one of the authors of only three articles I've made major contributions to. Johnleemk | Talk 05:31, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I sent an email to these folks saying that they had not given me recognition as the photographer, since they had lifted [is this mirrored] the whole article including the pictures. They did give wikipedia recognition. I think that I will send them a little stronger message, but not time to mention my cousin Vinny, the lawyer yet. Carptrash 15:10, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC) .

- Okay, well I sent off another, slightly stronger worded message. We shall see. Carptrash 15:18, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I received a reply from them stating that the photo credits [or lack of them] would be fixed by the technical department. Which is good. However it has not happened yet. Carptrash 14:47, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)


  • Moved from High Davelane 22:33, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)
    • Shouldn't they be in Low instead? Ambi 03:41, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)
      • No the reason being they do acknowledge Wikipedia and the GFDL _however_ not in a correct manner -- we should work out what we want changed and email them AFAIK --Davelane 13:15, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The Free Dictionary seems to have come around. On the bottom of every page taken from Wikipedia -- that being all of them -- they have this notice: "This article was derived fully or in part from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License." albeit in text that is about 1/2 the size of all the other text on their page. They're also working off an old backup, but other than that their ok. They have direct links to articles, mention Wikipedia.org and no longer hiding links in java scripts. Looks ok to me, anyone else wanna doublecheck and then put the "they're ok" stamp on them? EagleFalconn 21:07, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The text and links you quote is still being inserted via javascript. Try turning it off, then reloading a page. No change from before. iMeowbot 13:22, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
  • I believe they may be in violation of §4 of the GFDL by not posting author and history information. In my reading of the GFDL, simply attributing articles to "Wikipedia" is not sufficient, as Wikipedia is not the author of the articles they have duplicated. Here is a continuing log of my correspondence with them:
From: Tristan Miller <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com>
To: "Farlex, Inc." <support@farlex.com>
Subject: GFDL enforcement in TheFreeDictionary.com
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 22:49:35 +0100

Greetings.

I recently came across your online encyclopedia at 
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/>.  This encyclopedia contains a great 
deal of modified text which I had originally written and released under 
the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL).  I am pleased to see that my 
contributions are being republished and made available on your website.  
However, I am unable to find any section or link on the articles asserting 
my authorship and the history of modifications (if any) as required by 
§4.I of the GFDL.  Perhaps I have overlooked it, in which case I would 
appreciate your pointing it out to me on the following example page (of 
which I am the primary author):

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Colin%20Thatcher

Kind regards,
Tristan Miller

From: "Steve.Boymel" <steve.boymel@farlex.com>
To: "'Tristan Miller'" <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com>
Subject: RE: GFDL enforcement in TheFreeDictionary.com
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 17:34:15 -0500

Dear Tristan,

As indicated on our website, most of the encyclopedia articles come from
wikipedia.org, the site edited and maintained by online user community. Our
site mirrors this content with an addition of some original navigation and
linking features.
 
We do not edit the content and do not check the facts. The best way to fix
any incorrect information is to follow the link to the wikipedia article at
the bottom of the page and then on the wikipedia site click the "edit this
page" link and update the article. Our system will pick up the change during
the next scheduled update that usually happens every 4-6 weeks. 
 
Sincerely,
Steve Boymel,
Farlex, Inc.
http://www.farlex.com

From: Tristan Miller <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com>
Organization: http://www.nothingisreal.com/
To: "Steve.Boymel" <steve.boymel@farlex.com>
Subject: Re: GFDL enforcement in TheFreeDictionary.com
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 11:43:20 +0100

Greetings.

On Wednesday 02 March 2005 23:34, you wrote:
> As indicated on our website, most of the encyclopedia articles come from
> wikipedia.org, the site edited and maintained by online user community.
> Our site mirrors this content with an addition of some original
> navigation and linking features.

Thanks for your prompt response to my query.  I understand that your 
encyclopedia mirrors the content of Wikipedia, whose material is covered 
under the GFDL.  However, my understanding of the GFDL is that the 
original authors and copyright notices must remain in any distributed 
copies, as well as a section titled "History" which lists the history of 
changes to the document and who made these changes.  I did not find this 
information on your website, and I question the legitimacy of simply 
referring people to Wikipedia to obtain this information.

Don't get me wrong -- I am pleased to see information written by me and 
others receiving exposure on your website.  But I think that it would only 
be fair that the original authors of this material have their work 
distributed according to the conditions under which it was licensed.  I 
think that since your software automatically fetches the main text of the 
articles from Wikipedia, it would be easy to modify it to include the 
"History" section as well.

Kind regards,
Tristan Miller

—Psychonaut 10:49, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

freedownloadsoft.com

  • Site: freedownloadsoft.com.
  • Sample article: Catenary.
  • Link to GFDL (This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.).
  • Link to Wikipedia article (It uses material from the Wikipedia article (name of article).).
  • Claims copyright of content (© 2005, freedownloadsoft.com).
  • Poor copy, does not show templates or images (see for example, the copy of our Main Page).
  • Outdated copy of articles.
  • Does not list contact information anywhere.

-Fibonacci 03:21, 11 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Freeglossary.com

  • Site: Freeglossary.com
  • The site's "About us" page links to the Wikipedia main page
  • Each article has a link to "About this article"
    • "About this article" links to the Wikipedia article
    • "About this article" links to the article's discussion page
    • "About this article" links to the article's edit page
    • "About this article" links to the article's version history
    • "About this article" links to GNU Free Documentation License
  • Each article's source code does not have wor "wikipedia", so it will turn up in many searchs even with -wikipedia.
  • http://www.freeglossary.com/Ragnar_Lodbrok (for example)
  • Uses old copies of Wikipedia
  • no back link to Wikipedia
  • append their own ads to bottom of page
  • assert the right to modify terms and conditions of use
  • No GFDL acknowledgement
  • However the About Us link contains the following: freeglossary.com is powered by PHP, mySQL and Wikipedia each linked to local articles, and the Wikipedia article links to http://www.wikipedia.org
  • Violation letter sent October 21 2004 Sjc 09:01, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Filmbug

  • Site: Filmbug
  • Uses ca. 240 Wikipedia articles, see [15] eg, Elia Kazan
  • Links removed
  • Provides links to current articles
  • Contains links to local copy of GFDL
  • Removed "From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia"

They say "Copyright © 1998-2003 Misja.com", but they don't say "All Rights Reserved" or similar, so that's fine.

FactBook.org

freepedia.org

All the articles seems to be linked back to us and the are explicitely stated as GFDL. The disclaimer notice seems to present the work as an original one.

-- Looxix 21:28, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)
  • I've moved this from the main page to here as:
  • Their main page has a disclaimer which makes no sense and doesn't mention GFDL or wikipedia
  • They also seem to have a logo which is Googlelike so they need watching
  • Articles link back to wikipedia & local GFDL which is fine

--Davelane 21:46, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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