Scott Robbins wrote: > On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 04:40:53PM -0400, Phil Schaffner wrote: >> A question on authorship and attribution policy for the Wiki. I >> originally credited Alan Bartlett for the page content on >> HowTos/ConfigureNewVideoCard, but he was not comfortable with that and >> the reference got removed in the edit process. I generally do not >> include my name on Wiki pages I create, but it is fairly common >> practice. Should there be a statement in the Guidelines covering this >> area? > > It might be a good idea. I don't recollect seeing anything in the > guidelines. It seems that the last person to edit a page is shown at > the end of an article, implying they're the original author. I remember > making a very very trivial edit to the FreeNX article after running > into, and solving, a minor issue, and later getting an email from > someone who thought that I was the primary author--simply because my > name was at the end of the article. > > Personally, I would think it preferable that communications be openly directed to this list rather than the original author/maintainer of a given page, although I understand the instinct for a user to contact the perceived author. I have no strong personal preference either way as to individual authors signing their work if they so wish. For me the important thing is that they've taken the time to contribute something to the community by way of sharing their knowledge. My guess is that if we have a policy on this, it will upset/deter (some) people one way or the other regardless of whether the policy be all work must be signed, or no work should be signed. Hence FWIW, my vote would be for no enforced policy.
