Should I use wikipedia content on my website?
Wikipedia is a great resource of information. I would like to use some Wikipedia content and images on my website. What is the best way to do so? Is there any licensing issue involved?
You can use Wikipedia content by giving the content source wherever you use that content. I know there are few area where only Wikipedia content is the only best source of information. You can read their content copyrighting terms and use it
Emphatically, NOOOOOOOOOO! It can be so easily altered. One minute there may be one thing written, and the next something else. We were forbidden from using Wikipedia for college class papers. Do your due diligence and do research from creditable sources. And when you use, them, give 'em credit. I talk about this at length in my blog, here:
http://www.cpcwebsite.com/borrowing-ideas-people-blog-give-em-credit/
Depends on your purpose. If you're something like an encyclopedia, read this so you can do it properly: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reusing_Wikipedia_content. If you're nothing like an encyclopedia, the best way is to rewrite it to fit your context. Your words. Your style. Your voice.
Defination and statements are not follow copy write but all other materials obey copy write rule,so if you want to use Wikipedia matetial then rewrite it,and if you use its pictures,then mention resource.
I agree with Nathan. Wikipedia can be edited by anybody and the "facts" may be merely an opinion. If you believe in the accuracy of an article, you could always give a quote with credit to the author/page and a link to the full article.
I honestly don't recommend using Wikipedia because anybody can edit articles on the site. Thus, the information may be inaccurate or biased. Since Wikipedia is typically the top search result for a variety of topics, your website's readers might think that you haven't spent any time on research. A better idea is to review the sources cited in a Wikipedia article and reference them directly. No matter what, always cite your sources carefully and completely. If you plagiarize, someone will notice. Trust me as an academic. Good luck with your website!
I DO but I use it as a cite and attribute it back...I try to only use little bits for my articles as the quoted source and debates as not to infringe to heavily or truspass to deeply. If need be I will also canonical so that section is left as the authoritive index of record.
Well Wikipedia content can generally be copied elsewhere but why not be original for a change? Far better in terms of audience respect and value. Anyone can go to Wikipedia and read up on virtually any subject these days so why should they read your content? The other point is that the search engines, particularly Google, know when content from anoither site, such as Wikipedia, has been copied and this does not help your website in the rankings by any strech of the imagination. i believe they actually penalise copied content.
If one wants content from Wikipedia, for your website,I would suggest it is rewritten and presented in a more interesting way than the dry dishing out on Wikipedia. If it is written severely enough then it will not be seen as copied material. One can give a reference to Wikipedia for the information of course.
Only with attribution (you could even go back to their source) and with about 3-5 times more of your own content as a wrapper.
Shubhada, generally, the short answer is that Wikipedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed if and only if the copied version is made available on the same terms to others and acknowledgment of the authors of the Wikipedia article used is included (a link back to the article is generally thought to satisfy the attribution requirement.) A longer more detailed response is given at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights. - The Pragmatic Web Designer
Thanks Larry.