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This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia is "Free" as in Free Software and Free Culture, not just "free beer". |
The subtitle of Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
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The other meanings of "Free"
Some people misunderstand the subtitle "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit", often because of the different meanings of the word "free". Some of them happen to apply to Wikipedia in whole or in part, but they do not necessarily reflect the intention of Wikipedia's existence and must be precisely understood.
"Free Encyclopedia" does not mean "zero price encyclopedia"
In practice, any person who has access the World Wide Web may read the content of Wikipedia on the website wikipedia.org without paying any money. This, however, does not mean that Wikipedia content is fully non-commercial. Copies of Wikipedia content can be sold. The GFDL allows distribution of content that it covers for money. Indeed, parts of Wikipedia were copied to optical media (such as DVD) and printed on paper, and these copies were distributed commercially.
Furthermore, it is forbidden to upload to Wikipedia any content whose copyright terms allow only non-commercial use, as this is not compatible with the meaning of "free" as defined by the GFDL.
"Free Encyclopedia" does not mean "anyone can edit it however they like"
"An encyclopedia that anyone can edit" does not refer to the right of any editor to contribute content supporting their own point of view. Some editors understand the "anyone can edit" part of "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" as an extension of the word "free". This is wrong, as the sentence encompasses two separate concepts. "Free" refers to licensing, as explained above; "anyone can edit" refers to the fact that Wikipedia is a wiki, a website which nearly anyone with access to the web can edit without asking for permission. However, Wikipedia strives to be a reliable encyclopedia that presents to the reader verifiable information written from a neutral point of view. Anyone can boldly edit Wikipedia as long as they do it in line with these goals, but edit actions that contradict these rules will be reverted and in extreme cases editors who perform them may be blocked.
"Free Encyclopedia" does not necessarily refer to "free speech"
A common definition of free content (and free software) is that it is "free as in free speech, not free beer". But yet again, this refers to the licensing of Wikipedia. Wikipedia respects the Freedom of speech, but it is not a content policy. For more on this, see Wikipedia:Free speech.
Quotes
[W]e probably run into the problem of the word 'free' in English, which means both "gratis" (free of charge) and "libre" (liberty). We mean primarily the 2nd meaning, but it will depend on the particular language as to whether "libre access" is a concept which can be smoothly expressed. Since we also mean "gratis" as a secondary meaning, that can be used.
See also
- About Wikipedia
- What Wikipedia is not
- Copyrights in Wikipedia
- Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License - the legal license as it applies to Wikipedia
- GNU Free Documentation License, an encyclopedic article about the history of the license and the related movements of Free software and Free content
- Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
External links
- The Free Software Definition by the Free Software Foundation
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 15 November 2008, at 23:00.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia".
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