Am I too lazy??

Question

I found this well written biography online, and as the site gives permission I copy/pasted it. I did add some inline citations and will try to find more sources to add to the profile.

May I ask for help obtaining death record and will in Canada/USA, marriage record in Italy and birth record of wife in Scotland.

Answer 1

No you not being too lazy, but Wikitree also doesn't encourage copying and pasting from other websites.

The best option if you find a really good biography on another free site, is to  add some basic details to the Wikitree bio and then have a link to the other bio with something like For further details about the life of ______ please see _______

This is not to say you can't use the biography as a source for the Wikitree bio with appropriate citations etc.

Comments

I agree that WT doesn't encourage copying as a general rule, but this site gives permission to use their text unaltered for non commercial online publications. If I were to rewrite it, then it would not be unaltered.

As for the comments below, the article has sources cited, and I included a link to the sites terms of use where the permission to use is written, and I used their own citation for the article itself.

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Juha, I wasn't suggesting you rewrite it, but in writing a basic biography, you might use their bio as well as other sources.  Remembering that we are a genealogical website so the main interest for us would be dates and any ancestors/descendants.

The other issue is - what is their definition of non-commercial?  Wikitree is free to join but it is actually a commercial enterprise.

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You may be right about the commerciality. I'll take a new effort with a different kind of biography after I get a couple of hours sleep. Thanks for the advice.

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What will be seen as commercial and non-commercial is indeed often problematic, which often is a good reason to avoid material that is shared with a "non-commercial" license. But another problem here is what you say about "unaltered". The biography you enter here can be further improved later by others, so we should also avoid copying material spread with a "noderivates" license.

Answer 2

If the bio was well written and you got permission, well, all I can say is go for it. (Just make sure you credit it, with the permission - I’d copy and paste it - and date of such, url, etc. That way you’re covered.)

Lazy? No! We all rely on each others’ work here. One Tree, remember?

Just my thoughts. (Hope I’m right!)

Comments

I'd add a PS to Pip's advice. Make certain that the facts in the biography are indeed facts(if you've been adding sources and are searching for more, then you're already following that procedure.) Good luck in finding the documentation you've asked for help with.

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Sorry Pip but on this occasion you aren't quite right.  Wikitree doesn't encourage copying and pasting from other websites. Have a look at the Style guide, copying text for some good reasons why it isn't encouraged.

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Thanks, John, for the clarification. I was the one being lazy, no?