[WikiEN-l] Image:Wp ayb.gif

[Mark Wagner]

On 1/20/06, Matt R <matt_crypto at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> --- David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Well, theoretically we could. But it's IMO a bit sideways from the
> > mission (we're here to write an encyclopedia) *and* it's a fair use
> > image, and we do have a reasonably accepted policy to minimise fair
> > use images to when there really isn't a substitute. And to get the
> > fair use images off the user pages. So it really doesn't belong on my
> > userpage and Gmaxwell was entirely right to remove it (and I left a
> > note on his talk page thanking him).
>
> I feel we've got this backwards. We've set about removing fair use images from
> user pages because we usually don't have a fair use rationale for them; OK,
> that's reasonable. We avoid fair use images in articles if we can  because we
> want to be as free as possible -- again, completely reasonable. However, when
> we do actually have a solid fair use rationale for using an image on user
> pages, and it's a piece of community humour, why then should we remove it?

To simplify things.  "Fair use" is a very, very complicated part of
copyright law, with much of it coming from court decisions rather than
statute law.  It's full of grey areas, and situations where the
outcome of the case depends upon which appeals court you wind up with.

The goal of the Wikipedia fair-use policy is to avoid as many of the
grey areas as possible, and only use images where we're almost certain
to win if it winds up in court.  Critical commentary is one of the
best-understood areas of fair use, with few grey areas, which is why
Wikipedia allows it.  Parody, on the other hand, is one of the
least-understood areas, and one which results in lawsuits even for
cases where it's clearly allowed.  That's a pretty good reason for not
allowing it on Wikipedia.

--
Mark Wagner
[[User:Carnildo]]