Wikipedia copyright

Wikipedia uses a burdensome and complex system of copyrights, including statements like "any page which does not incorporate text that is exclusively available under the CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike) license or a CC-BY-SA-compatible license is also available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License" (GFDL). Wikipedia uses a byzantine system of rules -- as one might expect from its predominantly liberal editors. Authors always remain free to copy their own work, but cannot copy the contributions of others unless they comply fully with the requirements of CC-BY-SA.

The basic requirements of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license are the following:

• The work must attribute the authors in a specified manner (but not in a way that suggests endorsement)
• If the work is "alter[ed], transform[ed], or [built] upon," it must be distributed under "the same or similar license"

A lengthier, 3000-word legal document describes the terms of the license in more detail.

Though pretending to a source of free knowledge, Wikipedia's licensing restrictions make no exceptions for teaching or other non-profit uses. Conservapedia, in contrast, applies no restrictions on uses of its material for teaching.

Conservapedia's copyright conditions are generally less restrictive and easier-to-use than Wikipedia's. Moreover, unlike Wikipedia, the terms of Conservapedia's policy has not changed since July 2007. For details, see Conservapedia:Copyright.