Wikipedia:Citing sources/Perspectives about use of public domain text in Wikipedia

This article describes Facts and perspectives about use of public domain text in Wikipedia that have been expressed.

This article is intended:

To identify factual descriptive information
To facilitate understanding of other points of view.
To document various points of view that have been expressed. In documenting that a point of view has been expressed, it must be noted that people change their views, and a point of view once expressed should not be unduly associated with any one person
To provide objective commentary about various points of view that clarifies what those points of view are and are not.

What this article is NOT:

This is NOT the place to argue for or against any particular point of view
This is NOT an essay, although essays could be written about the topic
This is NOT a poll, although polls could be conducted about the topic
This is NOT about the use of public domain photographs or other images in Wikipedia
This is NOT about the use of Wikipedia text elsewhere

Where points of view on this topic have appeared[edit]

The general topic was discussed, with many points of view expressed, in

It is intended that this article shall state the principle points of view expressed in the above discussions.

Other discussions include:

Definitions of terms[edit]

Public domain text[edit]

Copyrighted text[edit]

Incorporating public domain text[edit]

Copyright violation[edit]

Effective plagiarism[edit]

Facts[edit]

Public domain material has been incorporated into wikipedia articles[edit]

Certainly wikipedia

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (wikilink)
Jewish Encyclopedia (wikilink)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (wikilink)
(list those covered in recent review of John Broughton's book)

(Provide some numbers of articles and other facts about extent)

Public domain material has been used as source, without incorporating, in wikipedia articles[edit]

Points of view[edit]

Wikipedia should incorporate public domain text in order to preserve it[edit]

(insert sufficient documentation of this point of view being expressed)

Commentary[edit]

There are other projects, such as Project Gutenberg, ___, and ___ which address this purpose. It has been extensively discussed (link to where?) that pasting public domain text does not preserve it, but rather opens it up to being edited, so wikipedia is, in general, not the place for this.

Public domain text should be treated just like copyrighted text[edit]

(insert sufficient documentation of this point of view being expressed)

Commentary[edit]

One distinction is that the use of copyrighted material in wikipedia is limited by fair use restrictions. One may quote from copyrighted material in order to criticize it, for example, but the quantity of material quoted cannot be very large. For public domain text, no fair use arguments need to be made, and very large passages may be quoted.

Public domain text can be used by anyone for any purpose[edit]

The article public domain (better to link to a particular version of the article) expresses this.

Commentary[edit]

What we do in wikipedia is incorporate public domain text[edit]

(insert sufficient documentation of this point of view being expressed)

Commentary[edit]

The statement is overly broad. Some groups of editors in some WikiProjects of wikipedia seem to specialize in developing articles, notably some in WP:SHIPS creating Navboxes and articles on American military vessels. However, there are plenty of other editors, and entire WikiProjects, which eschew the incorporation of public domain material. Also there are plenty of wikipedia editors, newly arrived and older editors included, who do not understand and react with some repugnance to finding material copied into articles. So "what we do" needs to be qualified by who the "we" is, and it certainly does not include all wikipedia editors, past present and future.