Page:Shrinking the Commons.djvu/28

 Some Creative Commons-licensed projects have adopted additional explanatory language that tends to emphasize the purportedly permanent and irrevocable character of the rights granted under the license. The massive online encyclopedia supplies a prominent example. Since Wikipedia’s inception in 2001, user contributions have been licensed under the GFDL. The same characteristics that make the GFDL problematic for content other than software manuals, however, meant that the license never fit perfectly with the rapidly evolving content of Wikipedia. In 2008, in response to a request from the (“WMF”), a new “relicensing” section was added to the GFDL permitting some GFDL-licensed works to be relicensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license. Following a strongly favorable vote by the WMF user community, WMF passed a resolution allowing dual licensing of WMF content (including Wikipedia) under both the GFDL and the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license. Today, visiting any editable Wikipedia page and clicking the “Edit this Page” button brings up the following warning at the bottom of the page: “You irrevocably agree to release your contributions under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 and the GFDL.”