On 1/20/06, Chris Jenkinson <chris(a)starglade.org>
wrote:
jayjg wrote:
Well, the argument constantly made on AfD
discussions is that server
space
is never an issue. By the way, nothing that
happens in user space is
"in
the encyclopedia", including userboxes - is
that all a "waste of server
space" too?.
I don't think everything on user pages (or in fact, pages which aren't
in article-space) is a waste of server space. Talk pages are obviously
highly useful, as are user pages which give information about interests
and qualifications. For example, on my page I list subjects I am
interested in and some pages I have contributed to. I think that's
useful. I also have some probably "not useful" stuff, like the haiku.
But I very much doubt either of those aspects are fair use.
Fair use images are inherently in conflict with what we are trying to do
- build a free content encyclopaedia.
User pages are not part of the "free content encyclopedia".
By the way, I'm not arguing for the use of "fair use" images on User pages.
However, I *am* arguing against the use of bad arguments to remove them
(and, in general, against the use of bad arguments to defend *any* action).
"Server space" simply won't fly, as it appears to be an almost limitless
resource in other contexts, and "it hinders distribution of a free
encyclopedia" won't fly, as User pages are not part of the encyclopedia
content we are trying to distribute. The more relevant arguments seem to
center on legal liability issues, though in reality the potential for any
real litigation based on their use appears to be nil, if for no other reason
than if someone actually did threaten to sue Wikipedia based on a fair use
image maintained on a user page (which is extemely unlikely), it would
promptly be deleted, ending any action.
That's fine. The rationale needs to be established on a case by case
basis. Even when it can be argued that the use of an image on a user
page is not strictly educational research, scholarship and criticism are
still available. I suspect that fair use images on user pages would be
much less likely to result in legal action than ones in the article
namespace.
Ec