FYI: CC-BY license for all new Forum content from today (Dec 1)

By Will Bradshaw @ 2022-12-01T19:03 (+78)

From today, all new Forum content (including comments and shortform posts) will be published under CC-BY:

Therefore, as of December 1, 2022, we are requiring that all content posted to the Forum be available under a CC BY 4.0 license.

There's not currently much on the Forum making people aware of this change, especially for minor content like comments and shortforms. Even though I support the change, I think it would be pretty bad if a user accidentally licensed their content under CC-BY due to lack of information, so I'm posting this as a transitional heads-up.

Peter Wildeford @ 2022-12-02T03:06 (+30)

I don't feel personally affected by this change but this seems to matter a lot to other people, for example:

If there is any chance you'll publish your work in an academic journal, or otherwise will be publishing it somewhere else in the future... not all publishers will care about this license, but it might be prudent to be cautious because some definitely will.
If you do not want podcasts or translations of your work to be made without your consent (e.g. maybe you'd want to work with any translators to ensure accuracy — you now won't be able to control this).
If you do not want your work potentially to be used for commercial purposes.
If your work is done for contract, and not funded by a grant, you'll need to review the contract terms and depending on the terms of the contract, you may need to get consent from the funder prior to posting.
The CC BY 4.0 license is irrevocable, so even if you think there is a chance of your mind changing with regards to one of the above, you could be screwed.

I think people posting deserve to make an informed choice. I'm happy to see the new posting includes a checkbox "Before you can publish this post you must agree to the terms of use including your content being available under a CC-BY license" - this satisfies me. But still possible people might not fully understand the implications so I encourage people to be thoughtful about this.

tamgent @ 2022-12-02T18:32 (+2)

There could be a little information summary next to the terms of use which is more accessible that explains the implications eg as you have here.

tamgent @ 2022-12-02T18:33 (+2)

I am imagining a hoverable [i] for info button, not putting it in the terms, as people often don't bother to even open them as they know they'll be long and legalistic.

Will Bradshaw @ 2022-12-01T21:50 (+10)

I'd be interested in hearing from downvoters here; this seems to me like a fairly anodyne-ly beneficial post, so while I wasn't expecting a bunch of strong upvotes I also wasn't expecting downvotes. I'm curious what the disagreement is.

Zach Stein-Perlman @ 2022-12-02T03:08 (+3)

Not a downvoter but I'd guess it's from people who are disappointed about the way the Forum is handling licensing.

tamgent @ 2022-12-02T18:35 (+5)

Maybe posts themselves should have separate agree/disagree vote.

BrownHairedEevee @ 2022-12-01T19:49 (+4)

Thanks for the heads up! I suggest adding the following to the forum sidebar:

A link to the TOU
A statement like "Content published after December 1, 2022 is available under a CC BY 4.0 license" (unless there is already a license banner on each page).

Ben_West @ 2022-12-01T22:13 (+6)

Thanks Eevee! The license information is included in "How to use the Forum" which is linked to in the sidebar, but yeah possibly we should consider a more prominent link.

Sarah Cheng @ 2022-12-01T22:07 (+3)

I appreciate the suggestions! I agree we should make this info easier to find - added these to our list for triage.

Ben_West @ 2022-12-01T22:11 (+3)

Thanks for posting this Will!