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I was under the impression we were discouraging the use of back cover text. Has that changed? --Scaletail 21:45, 31 August 2008 (CDT)

I wasn't aware of a consensus, as its still being done for the novels. In fact, as someone who doesn't read the novels, I've found their inclusion helpful as to determining what the title was about. I realized that when I found the Products list on the CBT page, more often than not, it was very descriptive of the product, plus it provided a lot of opportunities to wikify with other non-source articles. My reasoning as to why its not 'wrong' plagiarism is because it is a) freely available (on the CBT site), b) its promotional material (so we can't be said that we're stealing material that would prevent sales), and c) its quoted with where its from (so its specific). It also strengthens each article quite well, IMHO. I'd really have to be persuaded with strong logic as to why it hurts the article or the site to include it. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 00:17, 1 September 2008 (CDT)

After sleeping on it, I realize I probably should have found that discussion and addressed it before starting. My apologies. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 13:09, 1 September 2008 (CDT)

I do not think we should allow it for the same reasons Wikipedia does not. I know we are not Wikipedia, but BattleTechWiki:Copyright expressly forbids it. By submitting content, you are implicitly implying that you are not violating any copyright laws. The reasons we can write articles is because, in doing so, we are creating an original work, then releasing the copyright under the GFDL. Now I know we balance on a razor's edge with that here, and that by quoting you are explicitly stating that is not your own work, but I think it's bad news. I cannot find our earlier discussion, but I remember Ebakunin asking how we felt about back-cover text, and the response being 'use it, but replace it ASAP.' I don't think we should permanently enshrine it's place here. --Scaletail 20:56, 1 September 2008 (CDT)