On 10/07/07, WikipediaEditor Durin wikidurin@gmail.com wrote:
- Some users have been debating, at great length, that boiler plate fair use rationales can be used to bring these images in compliance. This is in large part due to the idea that fair use criteria is sufficiently met if the fair use image serves to __identify__ the thing in question. Under this argument, it is not necessary to have any critical commentary regarding the product being displayed, or the cover art/logo being displayed.
Without essaying an opinion on this - as Durin has commented, the discussion on this topic is cyclical and nigh-upon endless - I agree that help is urgently needed. The situation as it stands is causing massive amounts of donkey-work, taking editor time away from where it could be spent usefully. Example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Image:Down_in...
An album cover is tagged with needing a rationale. The uploader is notified. Unfortunately, he's not around, and a few days later the image gets deleted as "no rationale" because nobody saw the notice.
Five days later, another well-meaning user goes to the effort of scanning the album cover himself and uploading it himself, tagging it with {{Non-free album cover}}: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DownInTheTubestationFront.jpg
No doubt this in turn will be tagged as "no rationale" and we can go around the merry-go-round again.