[WikiEN-l] There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more

[Rob]

On 9/24/07, Armed Blowfish <diodontida.armata at googlemail.com> wrote:
> You want statistics?  If you want, I can go through
> Wikipedia:List of banned users and keep track of how many
> of them contributed non-deleted images, and if you want other
> numbers.  How many contributed non-fair use images?  How
> many contributed images attributed to the user him or her self?
> What sorts of numbers do you want?  Bear in mind the more
> detailed statistics you ask for, the longer it will take, not to
> mention I will probably put this off until I am done with a
> different statistical study.  Also bear in mind some things, like
> reasons people were banned, do not fit into statistics.

Banned users and missing images are not related problems.  If we
unbanned everyone today, we would not be greeted with a flood of free
images filling our articles.

If someone was banned, then it was likely for a good reason.  If it
was not for a good reason, then their banning can be examined in the
usual manner.  Their skill with photography and work providing images
should allow them some extra slack, perhaps, but if things have
progressed to the point where they were banned, then they have used up
all of the slack we should provide to them.  Wikipedia has many
skilled and talented people donating their time and while I don't wish
to dismiss whatever good contributions these banned users have made,
we also have many skilled and talented people who are capable of
interacting with other users in a positive way and are able to adhere
to our policies.  To be blunt, we are not so desperate for help that
we need to put up with their crap, nor should we allow them to
alienate the people who manage to contribute to Wikipedia without
getting banned.