On 16 Sep 2006, at 16:45, geni wrote:
Do you want to tell the foundation that WP:OFFICE and copyright is just process?
No. Do you want to tell me that everybody who uploads images needs to become copyright experts?
Depends what they are uploading. Wish to adress the office point.
Because I'm figuring we can get by pretty OK on people who are making a good faith effort to follow fair use
Yeah we tried that. It doesn't work.
There is a difference between internal and external constraints. External constraints, such as copyright law, are hard constraints and must be enforced.
I think that soft constraints can be more flexible and adjust with time. It's worth mentioning that with such a rapidly growing readership, some written consensus guidelines are important to make sure we're all heading out in the same direction.
Which isn't what I said I was going to do. IAR is not "cut the newbies some slack when they don't know the rules." That's BITE. IAR is "Look, try to understand the basic premises, then go ahead and act in a manner consistent with them, and odds are it'll work out fine." I'm counting on that actually being true. That's not "whatever seemed like a good idea at the time." That's "whatever seemed to an admin of two years like the thing most consistent with his ever-growing knowledge of how Wikipedia works."
I'd say it's a subtle difference, but honestly, it's not.
Nice dodge.
It is possible to see that the system which Phil is trying to improve isn't perfect. Just because some aspects need detailed rules to reflect external constraints doesn't mean the whole system must be codified precisely.
I am happy for relatively few people with relevant experience to point new members in the right direction from time to time. This allows discussion and fluidity in the system over long time periods, while ensuring consistency on small time scales.