YWAMKnowledgeBase:Copyright

Copyright is an important issue when so many people are working together on a writing project like this.

This article explains what licence we are using and why.

Our Copyright licence
We have chosen the Creative Commons (By Attribution, Share Alike) licence as it is very compatible with the previous Gnu Free Documentation License (GFDL), but better suited to our needs.

The purpose of this KnowledgeBase to make a lasting resource that will be "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure all YWAMers and everyone else the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the YWAM and all individuals involved in the creating of the KnowledgeBase a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. To this aim we publish the material under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (by-sa) licence. http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/2.0/be/88x31.png

Creative Commons, By Attribution, Share Alike
The most suitable licence for the Wiki is the Creative Commons, By Attribution, Share Alike (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) which gives the freedom:

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (by-sa) licence.

So note that even if you contribute your knowledge to YWAM KB, you are still the copyright-holder to it. Practically speaking, if a publisher asks for a different license (i.e. without attribution or for commercial use), all users that edited the article(s) have to agree. Without their consent, however, these articles can be used as long as the copyright of the published work conforms to the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike licence.

License compatibility
As explained in the CC FAQ, only works licensed under Creative-Commons Attribution (cc-by) or Creative-Commons Attribution Share-Alike (cc-by-sa) can be used in our wiki.

Other Licences
Some articles or images may be licensed under different licences, if denoted as such.

Historical note
The KnowledgeBase began as a GFDL licenced wiki. We started a process to migrate the copyright, and following a year without dissension it was changed on 14 May 2009.

The only exception is any page that explicitly states a different copyright agreement.

The advantage was that the new licence is more compatible with other creative licences. (The GFDL is designed for computer software manuals)