On 9/24/07, Armed Blowfish diodontida.armata@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.