FIRSTwiki: Why haven't you helped out?

[akaria]

can i put papers and such corisponding to the subjuect of the links on there? i'm just trying to get a feel for waht to post, i would like to help get this thing going though, it seems like the ideal archive for information.

[mtrawls]

Originally Posted by akaria

can i put papers and such corisponding to the subjuect of the links on there? i'm just trying to get a feel for waht to post, i would like to help get this thing going though, it seems like the ideal archive for information.

Yes. If I understand you. If you see a link that is red, it means that page does not yet exist, but that we would like someone to create it. If you have some information corresponding to another link that does exist, you are free to edit that page and add any additional information you would like.

If you don't know if you should post the content, it doesn't hurt to put it up there (within reason, of course), and on the talk page ask everyone there if they think it is appropriate. Remember, be bold in updating pages.

So far as topics, we would like to cover the spectrum of FIRST related material. We want pages on programming the FRC, creating interrupts and other howto guides ... all the way to what it means to fundraise and possible ideas, to spirit and all sorts of other goodness. Or if you have some insight on Dean Kamen, or some other FIRST celebrity, put it there. Most anything FIRST related is appropriate ...

[Joe Ross]

I'm a bit worried about about the fact that the GFDL is being used, although I don't think it will be a big issue in the long run.

The main issue is invariant sections. I could write a 2 sentance page about programming and include an invariant section in which I claim that all I learned about programming was from my dog. I could then go on for 3 screens about my dog.

Because it is marked as an invariant section, it couldn't be removed or edited, even if my contribution to the page was later deleted.

[mtrawls]

I don't think anybody's got around to writing up a copyright page for us ... but wikipedia says this:

If you contribute material to Wikipedia, you thereby license it to the public under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).

In order to be as free as possible (see free content), Wikipedia contains no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, no Back-Cover Texts, no Endorsements, no Acknowledgements, and no Dedications. Therefore, sections 4-G and 4-L, 4-M, and 4-N and any other section dealing with these items in the GNU FDL does not apply to the use of our content. This does not prevent you from exercising your right to add Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts, and/or Back-Cover Texts to versions of our pages that you copy and modify.

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

I'm a bit worried about about the fact that the GFDL is being used, although I don't think it will be a big issue in the long run.

The main issue is invariant sections. I could write a 2 sentance page about programming and include an invariant section in which I claim that all I learned about programming was from my dog. I could then go on for 3 screens about my dog.

Because it is marked as an invariant section, it couldn't be removed or edited, even if my contribution to the page was later deleted.

He's right. Liscenses be *ed, I'll move the bit about your dog to your user page and put in your talk that you're full of rubbish. The community would probably be better off not knowing about your dog.

[Joe Ross]

Mtrawls, I think I misread that (the wikipedia copyright page) the first time. The first time I read it I though it was talking about the pages that wikipedia wrote (ie that copyright page), but that any new page could be under the full GFDL. Now I see it as an external source can use the pages under the full GFDL, and add invarient sections.

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

He's right. Liscenses be *ed, I'll move the bit about your dog to your user page and put in your talk that you're full of rubbish. The community would probably be better off not knowing about your dog.

If that's the way you want to treat things, you could require that everything be public domain (as opposed to GFDL), but then you lose even the ability to use stuff from the wikipedia. If you really want this to become popular, you can't just ignore legal issues like that.

[Astronouth7303]

I'm a little over-zealous about that sort of thing.