Stephen Bain wrote:
On 9/24/07, Steve Summit scs@eskimo.com wrote:
I just went from [[Talia Shire]] to [[Joey Tribbiani]] to [[Matt LeBlanc]] and noticed that there were no pictures in any of them.
I know what you're saying, but really, is it that hard to find a picture of Matt LeBlanc? We're not hurting any readers by not having a photograph.
I know what you're saying, but I must respectfully disagree.
I'll give you the backstory, because I think it's illustrative. Bear in mind here that for the moment I'm speaking not as a Wikipedia editor, but as an ordinary user.
I needed the date of the first Rocky movie (which turns out to have been 1976). Not too long ago I would always have gone to imdb for this sort of question, but today, I automatically go to Wikipedia. It's faster, there are no ads to view, and, well, it's Wikipedia.
On the [[Rocky]] page, I was reminded of Talia Shire, and wondered what she was up to, so I clicked through. Huh. No picture. Too bad; she's pretty.
In the Trivia section at [[Talia Shire]], there's an interesting tidbit about some Friends dialogue. Not being much of a television watcher, I couldn't remember which character Joey was, so I clicked through. Huh. No picture. But surely there'll be one if I click one step further, to [[Matt LeBlanc]]? Huh! Nope. Dang.
(I'll save for another day a rant about how ugly and unnecessary that {{trivia}} template in the Trivia section at [[Talia Shire]] is.)
Yes, if I really cared, I could obviously find a picture of Matt LeBlanc. But I didn't, so I didn't try. In any case, it's all beside the point: Wikipedia failed me as a reader. That's too bad.
After I sent that first message, I looked a little further. Out of the six actors and actresses who starred in one of the world's most popular sitcoms, we've currently got pictures of: two. I found that remarkable. (And of those two, Lisa Kudrow's face is so badly lit she's almost unrecognizable, and Jennifer Aniston is pretty blurry and out of focus.)
I understand all the passionate arguments behind free images, really I do. But personally, I think we've cut off our nose to spite our face. And that's too bad.
(But I also didn't realize there were so many images sitting there on Commons just waiting to be integrated into Wikipedia. Thanks to those in this thread who've reminded me. Putting my editor's hat back on, I'll get to work.)