Talk:Joseph Farey

Joseph Farey, contested deletion
This page should not be speedy deleted as an unambiguous copyright infringement, because I wrote the original Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers article and this piece has been condensed from it. This piece is perhaps less than a 1/4 of the orginal. Also later edits have removed my name as the author of the BDCE piece in the references. Apwoolrich (talk) 15:24, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Since the entire text of the BDCE can be freely read on Google books, I suggest it must be in the Public Domain, tho I can't see what licensing regime applies. Apwoolrich (talk) 15:35, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi. This came up for reviewing at the copyright problems board, and this puts us in a bit of a pickle. :/ We can't assume that it is public domain, since it is possible that Google has simply licensed the content and there's nothing that I can find to verify that it is public domain. On the contrary, it has a clear copyright reservation to ICE and Thomas Telford Limited. We also are not allowed to assume that you are actually the AP Woolrich who contributed to the book, though I don't doubt that you are. It has long been established practice here to verify identifies so that we avoid any potential liability down the road.


 * Is there any way that we can verify that you are the AP Woolrich whose byline appears in that book? This would mean you are solely taking responsibility for reuse of that content and that if you have relinquished rights to your publisher, we will not be held accountable. (We actually had an incident once where a publisher had not given permission to the author and we had to pull the man's own words as a copyright violation!) Do you have an official website anywhere or is there any way we can verify your connection through the Institution of Civil Engineers? I would be very happy to help with this, so that you can continue to use your own words as you like on Wikipedia. :)


 * If we can't verify your connection, our policy is to treat the words you've published elsewhere as any other copyrighted content, which could put you in the curious position of having to paraphrase or quote yourself. :/ --Moonriddengirl (talk) 14:36, 29 April 2012 (UTC)


 * How odd. You can look at my User Page, where it clearly states that I am a contributor to the BDCE and also the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This has been on WP since 2004! If you look at the references to John Farey, jr you will see listed all the papers I have published about the Farey family, which has been a project of mine for many years. If that does not work I shall be happy to email the Civils and see what they say. Kind regards. Apwoolrich (talk) 14:53, 29 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you much. :) I know it's nuts, but we don't have any way to confirm identity on account creation. I myself believe you, fully, but copyright is a legal matter so there's red tape to go through. If you're willing to put up with it, you'll be able to use as much of your own words as you like. :D I hope the Civils will be able to just verify that you are the same fellow. That's all it will take. I will be happy to help process the letter, if so, through the email address for the Foundation at info-en@undefinedwikimedia.org. Please just let me know! --Moonriddengirl (talk) 15:02, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

Ultimately, Apwoolrich, this was a question of who owns the copyright to release your work, since publishers generally have a say in the matter. They have released the work, as noted below, so we're free to work on the article with your content. Keegan (talk) 07:14, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Permission for text granted
The text for the article "Joseph Farey", as authored by Apwoolrich for the Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers and relevant text uploaded to Wikipedia has be released under Creative Commons Share-by-ShareAlike 3.0 and is free to be reinstated into the article. Keegan (talk) 07:04, 19 May 2012 (UTC)