Admin Forum:Using multiple imported pages from other wikis

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So, when you have a brand new wiki with really nothing on it yet, is it against the rules to import a large number of pages directly from other wikis into your wiki? Or does that fall under like copyright infringement/plagiarism or something to that effect?

EVOLDEMORT 08:41, November 25, 2011 (UTC)
 * Absolutely, however you need to attribute the edits to the people who made them from the other wiki. The easiest way to do this is with the export tool (Special:Export at the wiki you want to export pages from), and the import tool on your new wiki (Special:Import) - this way the edit history will remain intact. You may also want to place a small template on the pages you imported linking back to the original wiki, where appropiate. The licence is fine with you copying work (it is in fact designed for that) - but claming that you did it (for example, by copying/pasting) - isn't --  Random Time  08:49, November 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * Okay, so basically what you're telling me is that if I put something like the example text that is seen here on the top of any pages I import to my wiki (is there actually already a template for that somewhere, or should I just create one of my own along the lines of that example?), it's allowed for me to import as many wiki pages as I want from wherever I want? So then, if I wanted to make other changes to the articles after I import them (like: changing the color of templates as needed to match the theme of my wiki, possibly fixing minor spelling/grammar errors if I find any, removing red links to articles that I won't import because they would not fit at all with the topic of my wiki, possibly changing part or all of the title of some articles as needed, possibly changing the quote if there is one or adding one if there's not, or taking all the information in any templates specific to any various article and putting it in my own self-created template(s) based off of multiple template criteria from the different yet similar templates on different wikis to achieve a greater understanding of the article subject as a whole), would that be allowed at all?


 * EVOLDEMORT 13:40, December 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * You really should abide the maximum to copy wiki pages. I think it was somewhere in the order of 200 trillion or so, but if you get to that point, you really should consider not copying anymore ;)
 * Beside that, you can offcourse change the page completely, turn it upside down, make it blink, have it move from left to right and back and even you can try and manipulate it into eating itself up.
 * But other then that, maybe try and not change it any furter. You might have even made the page entirely yourself by then, which is offcourse very against the nature of copying pages from other wiki's.


 * Oh wait... It's what Wikia is about... making content.
 * Oh well... You get the point.
 * Have fun making a 20K pages large wiki!
 * (For those who did not understand it, this piece of text is called irony)


 * You can't copy anything from any wiki. You need to make sure their license allows it. Generally you can copy stuff from other Wikia wikis because they all share the same share-alike license (but there are a few exceptions).
 * Also, if you start copying stuff from another wiki without attributing it properly, the source wiki may ask VSTF (Vandalism/Spam Task Force) to delete the pages copied. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 16 Dec 2011 3:29 PM Pacific

Well that's what I'm trying to find out; how exactly do I attribute it properly? And just so you know, when I said "from wherever I want", I didn't mean every single wiki in the entire world; I mostly had other Wikia wiki pages in mind anyway, not many from other wikis...but again, how would I determine whether or not there's a licence on any type of wiki that allows me to do that or not...?

EVOLDEMORT 23:08, December 16, 2011 (UTC)


 * See w:c:wow:Template:Wowpedia_credit for an example of template used for attribution. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 19 Dec 2011 6:18 PM Pacific