Content Attribution Guide

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Content Attribution Guide

Purpose: How to properly attribute content to its contributors during bulk content pushes, especially when contributors haven’t yet signed up for wiki accounts.

Approach: Contributor Tags

We use the existing tag system for attribution. Contributor tags follow a namespaced convention to keep them distinct from content tags.

Format

contributor:Firstname Lastname

Examples: - contributor:Ben Goertzel - contributor:Nil Geisweiller - contributor:Matthew Iklé

How to Apply

When creating or updating a card, include contributor tags in the +tags subcard alongside any content tags:

contributor:Ben Goertzel MeTTa Type System

Using the MCP tools, you can set tags when creating cards:

  1. Create the content card first: create_card("Topic+Subtopic", content: "...", type: "Markdown")

  2. Then create the +tags subcard: create_card("Topic+Subtopic+tags", content: "contributor:Ben Goertzel\nMeTTa", type: "Pointer")

    Or use batch_cards to do both in one call.

Multiple Contributors

If a card has multiple contributors, include multiple contributor tags:

contributor:Ben Goertzel contributor:Nil Geisweiller Atomspace

Finding Content by Contributor

Use search_by_tags with the contributor tag:

search_by_tags(tags: ["contributor:Ben Goertzel"])

This returns all cards attributed to that person.

Listing All Contributors

Use get_tags and filter for the contributor: prefix. Any tag starting with contributor: is an attribution tag.

Handling Mistakes

Typos and Duplicates

If the same person ends up with multiple tag variants (e.g., contributor:Ben Goertzel and contributor:B. Goertzel), an admin can fix this by:

  1. search_by_tags(tags: ["contributor:B. Goertzel"]) — find all cards with the wrong tag
  2. For each card, update its +tags subcard to use the canonical name
  3. Or use batch_cards to do this in bulk

Unknown or Uncertain Attribution

If you’re not sure who contributed something, use: - contributor:Unknown — for content with no known contributor - contributor:SingularityNET — for organizational/collective content

These can be corrected later.

When Contributors Sign Up

When a contributor creates a real wiki account:

  1. Their contributor tag (contributor:Ben Goertzel) remains as-is — it’s just metadata
  2. An admin can optionally add a note to their User card referencing the tag
  3. No migration or data changes needed — the tag continues to work for search and discovery

Tag Conventions Summary

Prefix Purpose Examples
contributor: Content attribution contributor:Ben Goertzel
(no prefix) Content/topic tags MeTTa, Atomspace, Type System
status: Content status (optional) status:Draft, status:Review

Key Principles

  1. Use full names — contributor:Ben Goertzel not contributor:BG or contributor:ben
  2. Be consistent — check existing contributor tags before creating new ones (get_tags)
  3. Don’t worry about perfection — typos and duplicates can be fixed by an admin after the fact
  4. Every contributed card gets a tag — even if the contributor is uncertain, use contributor:Unknown
  5. Contributor tags are separate from User cards — they’re not coupled to the wiki’s account system
  6. “Contributor” not “author” — we use “contributor” deliberately, as it’s a safer attribution level when sourcing content from multiple places