[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia & Original Research

[Geoff Burling]

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005, rex wrote:

> I think that photos, which are intended to make a specific point,
> should not be uploaded to Wikipedia unless they have been
> previously published by a disinterested, reputable 3rd party.
> Flikr.com, weblogs, partisan political web sites (dailykos,
> freerepublic, etc) and such are not acceptable, but commercial
> news organizations and commericial publishers and to a lesser
> extent, non-profits would be ok. There is simply too much opportunity
> out there to stage photos, for example:
>
The more I ponder your proposal, the more I am convinced that it
causes more problems than it solves -- assuming that it solves *any*
problems.

Pick the most partisan editor on Wikipedia that you know, & assume
that she/he uploads a badly-needed image under the GFDL license that
she/he has created: for example, a photo of a rare animal, automobile,
or celebrity. Should we be so concerned with the possibility of POV
that we would speedily delete any of these because they have not
been "previously published by a disinterested, reputable 3rd party"?

And assume that a partisan image is uploaded to Wikipedia -- say of a
well-known politician seated between two prostitutes of the wrong sex
indulging in illegal drugs. It will quickly be determined whether the
image is (a) a hoax; (b) a fiction of topical notability; or (c) the
real deal. And once the image falls into one of those categories, it
will be appropriately handled: either respectively (a) deleted; (b)
considered whether Fair Use covers it; or (c) kept as relevant.

I say this because a month ago I uploaded to Commons about 20 different
photos I took while visiting Crater Lake National Park. My only intent
was to share information under the terms of the GFDL: one can be
of any political persuation, hold any POV, & I still am willing to
share these images with that person. If by looking at a picture of a
log that has been floating in Crater Lake for over 100 years somehow
instantly converts you to my political POV, I'll take that as a
windfall -- but that was entirely irrelevant to my intent of contributing
the art.

Geoff