Wootabega

Re:Tempting Tragedy page Deletion

Hi. If the band wrote their own bio on their webpage or gave permission for it to be used on Wikipedia, there is a procedure that the contributor has to follow to ensure that it's legally OK to use the copyrighted material. This is because anything that is put on Wikipedia automatically becomes licenced to the public under the GNU Free Documentation License. Basically anyone will be able to use it for any purpose (as long as they also licence it under GNU and acknowledge Wikipedia). What this means is that the original copyright is weakened if not obliterated. The requirement is there to protect the original copyright holder as well as Wikipedia.

In most cases it's better for everyone if the Wikipedia article is written in new words.

But if you still want to use the copyrighted text word-for-word, and it comes from the band's web page, they would have to place this on the external website (i.e., where the text is coming from):

I, (name), am the author of this text, (page name), and I release its content under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and later.

If this is not possible, you can get the original copyright holder to give permission to Wikipedia to reuse the content under the GFDL. See WP:COPYREQ for the steps.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any other questions you can leave a note on my talk page. ... discospinster _talk 19:55, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

No problem, glad to help. ... discospinster _talk 17:30, 15 May 2008 (UTC)