On 3/2/07, Robert Horning robert_horning@netzero.net wrote:
This is effectively banning fair use from all but the absolutely most active projects and mandating that there is no fair use.
I don't agree that the project has to be among "the most active". A similar policy has been in place on Wikinews for a while (new editions were not permitted to enable local uploads unless they had a fair use policy in place). Wikinews is orders of magnitude smaller than Wikipedia, yet editions like the Polish Wikinews managed to come up with a reasonable fair use policy. Necessity is the mother of invention.
We don't expect these policies to be perfect from the start - they can be improved over time. However, they have to be in place before fair use uploads can be permitted. I don't see this as a major issue at all -- it's not like the survival of any of our projects depends on fair use -- nor do I agree with your characterization of this decision as "micromanagement". To the contrary, this is pure "macro"management: setting a standard which all projects must follow.