User talk:John

Please use this page to inform me of major edits you wish to perform. Just add the link to the page that you're working on and write down the details of the edit in the Discussion that belongs to the page. Don't forget to add your signature.

Embed function for videos

Adding embed function for videos.

John: I've found an extension that allows for video embed on Wiki pages. Before I install it I'd like you to look at the information page for EmbedVideosPlus http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/EmbedVideoPlus.

Note that there is a warning at the top regarding security risks of using the extension. There is a solution proposed but I'd like your opinion before going forward with this.

Solution: strictly validate user input and/or apply escaping to all characters that have a special meaning in HTML http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting#Stopping_Cross-site_scripting

--Charles 23:08, 6 January 2012 (PST)

--John Eagles 00:30, 7 January 2012 (PST)

Charles This looks like worth trying out. When i am correct, by controlling who are users, the security risks are minimized? I don't understand what this means: "apply escaping to all characters that have a special meaning in HTML"

--Charles 01:14, 7 January 2012 (PST)

John : I will return to this tomorrow as it's 1:00am and I'm beat. I also don't know what the "apply escaping" means but the text gave instructions so I will study it carefully.

I don't know if controlling the users reduces this risk or how the exploits could work but if the solution proposed works, it shouldn't be a problem either way.

I'm curious to know if there's a way you are notified when I edit this page? If there is, I'm sure I'll eventually find it but for now, if you can tell me how it's done, that will speed up the process for me. Thanks.

--John Eagles 01:23, 7 January 2012 (PST)

I don't know how notifications are given. I got one when you wrote something here, and i got one when you wrote on my User:John page. It is good to know how and when it works. Do you get a notification from my writing here? Probably not. Maybe it's done when writing on one of these two user pages and only the user gets a notification?

I'll be waiting then to see what you find out about embedding videos and the security risks. Sleep well!

Copyrights

We need to publish our site policy on copyrights. This will require reading up on Creative Commons Licenses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_licenses. I'd do it now but I'm beat and it's late. From skimming the page it seems these types of agreements balance the rights of the contributors with the larger purpose without entirely putting all works into the public domain.

For our users, we'll want to spell out the terms of our policy but first we will need to make some decisions on how to treat intellectual property. If you're familiar with the Creative Commons License that's a good thing. If not, we'll both have to educate ourselves.

Some of my thoughts --John Eagles 01:36, 9 January 2012 (PST)

The policy that i always keep for myself is that i publish all my texts and photos for free on the internet. That's my own policy, but i don't mean to make this a requirement for other users on ERW.
We should be very careful to not include copyrighted materials from others on ERW. For example for photos, besides those that i made myself, i only use those that are in the public domain or that have a Creative Commons license. In all these cases i add a link to the original license that goes with the content. I think we should demand such requirements for all files that are uploaded to ERW, that is: Users are free to choose a license of their preference, but there MUST be a licensing added.
I have once read the different versions of Creative Commons Licenses. I then decided to formulate my own license for my photos (basically, public domain, but with a friendly request to add a link). But other users may have other ideas, especially when a photo or a text is used in a commercial setting. I think our users should be free to choose a license of their own choice.
Wikipedia doesn't accept 'original' content, but of course we cannot have such a restriction, as much of what will be published is original.
At the same time, we must guard against plagiary. We could get ourselves in serious trouble. Therefore, the References section is of utmost importance. When material is used from other books or websites, there should ALWAYS be included a reference.
How all this is put into texts of policy on ERW: I'm happy to leave that to you, Charles, as i really don't like getting involved too much in writing legal texts. Sorry for that...