User:Anton

The problem with personal attribution is that on a wiki the articles are owned/editable by everyone, this means that its very important no article looks like it "belongs" to anyone (if you are worried that and article isn't neutral then add a comment like "this article's neutrality is disputed" near the top). Also, if people want to see what you have contributed then they can use find your user contributions page. If you think your views are very controversial then you might want to consider putting them into another article (eg. Alternative views on the Renaissance) or on another site and then linking to the from the relevant article on Cunnan.

Most_common_Cunnan_faux_pas has a few short notes on why things such as personal attribution will be edited out of articles.

Hope this clears up my reasons for making the changes I did, Tobin

Tobin,

Accountability and recognition for written work is a die-in-a-ditch issue for me.

I have no objection to other people editing work, or correcting mistaken facts or typos, or adding a section at the bottom that says 'This was the view for a long time, but recent work has shown yadda yadda', but I have a moral right to be identified as the author of what I write.

This is both positive and negative ; if I get caught making shit up to support a point, all my future work deserves to be tainted by that. On the other hand, if people like what I write, I believe that they should be able to go 'I've read his work on the Wiki. He knows lots of cool shit. I'll go ask him about <issue X>'.

Also, readers have a moral right to know who wrote what they are reading. I have people I trust automatically, because their other writings have earned that respect. Most people dont get that, until I've cross-checked enough of what they've written to make trust the default for them (bibliographies and footnotes are my high road to trust, people).

Thirdly, without explicit recognition of authors, how are people going to go 'Person X should be publicly recognised for their learning and contribution to Lochac through the Wiki' ? While I personally like the AoA I got in the reign of Val and Rowena, I'm not motivated by awards, but I know people who are, and I think on balance awards are a good thing. Without recognbition of authors, how can Their Magesties learn who to reward ?

Finally, you quote a BSD-like licence for the Wiki ; you will note author attribution all throughtout all OSS projects. It is there to provide accountability ; if I write crap, then people know it's my crap. If I write good clean code, then people know it's my good, clean code.

In short, recognition of authorship both morally correct, and is essential for me to contribute.

Anton de Stoc Politokopolis V Novembre