We need to make it easier for people to contact the owners of the images, as people seem to like to do that before using them - I was contacted for two instances, and both times they seemed to want to double check things like how to credit me or, in the case of the one used on the site, I licensed a thumbnail as PD for them so they could use it as an icon without worrying about attribution for such a teensy thing. Some people do figure out that there's an "E-mail this user" link when you visit the uploader/author's userpage, but most people are just going to look at the image page. It is easy, of course, for people to simply add their personal info to the information page; but
a lot of people don't think to or can't be bothered.
Ideas:
1. Enable a user preference where user's e-mail addresses are added to the sidebar or to the image description page on images they upload
2. Have an option (checkbox on upload page) when "uploading own work" to have your e-mail address added to the page, either via sidebar link or next to the author name in the {{information}} template
3. Have users fill a "public info" section in preferences, which is then shown on all image pages as a separate section; much like the "upload history" section.
Problems with said ideas:
1. All images uploaded, including moved images from other projects and old/PD images, etc., would have the option; not always a problem, but users may be contacted about images they didn't create or that were moved
2. None I can see, this is probably the best option.. though not everyone uses the "upload own work" form
3. Same problem as idea 1
To fix these issues we could add an option to every individual image to "add contact information"; and there could be an option to add information from another project, if the author included such info in the description page.