When is it acceptable to copy edit a tag wiki excerpt and description from other SE site?

Question

So there is this initiative about Keeping tags clean from start. I think this includes adding tag descriptions and excerpts as soon as possible. There will be tags, there are tags which are already presented on other SE site.

So in what circumstances should someone copy edit this tag information to save effort by avoiding the redefinition of a tag?

For example:

• microcontroller IMO will prevail, can we use tag info from EE.SE?
• mqtt should someone update it according to SO?

More example tags in question could be bluetooth, wifi and so on.

Answer 1

There are two aspects to consider when copying from other tag wikis.

Firstly, attribution. While SE operates generally on a license that allows copying its contents it does require attribution. So for a verbatim copy of another person's work you'll need some basic attribution to the source.

Secondly, we should always have the IoT aspect in mind. Tag wikis are not about copying the wiki article from Wikipedia or another SE. They are about how the tag should be used on this site.

Thus, I don't think simply copying any tag wikis is a good idea.

I have made a post about tag wikis in general on ELU.meta (English.StackExchange Tag Wiki Blueprint and Guideline¹) and I would not mind if we'd use a similar structure on this site.

The two most important things:

• Keep it short and simple. Nobody wants to read a novel. Whoever wants to read up on the topic should go to the actual Wikipedia.
• The tag wiki excerpts take precedence. Those provide overlay information when the tag is used. That has a lot higher visibility.

Also keep this blog entry in mind Redesigned Tag Page.

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_{1 Disclaimer, that's one of my posts.}