2014-06-18 0:55 GMT+05:30 Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com:
On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
The problem is the behavior of a certain core set of Commons admins;
Yes.
George, SJ, and Nathan:
In addition to Erik Moeller's initial proposal that Commons be used as a repository for *free* media files (linked previously), there has been a very recent referendum that speaks very directly to the Wikimedia community's commitment to holding the line on the principles of free licenses, even in the face of negative practical consequences. That referendum was the recent proposal to use the MP4 format. When concluded, more than 300 people had voted against compromising on this principle, while fewer then 150 voted in favor.[1] Of course there are some considerations that are specific to that case, but it is useful to consider now, because the central topic is essentially the same in both cases:
Should we sacrifice free content principles, if that sacrifice will enable us to distribute more educational content?
The answer was a resounding "no."
The people you, Nathan, are accusing of behaving badly, are the ones who are doing the hard, day-do-day work of enforcing the expressed consensus of the Wikimedia community, which values a commitment to free licenses.
Sorry, but this is a strawman argument. No, these people are not enforcing any consensus. Actually, they are precisely working against the silent majority in the case of URAA.
All we need is a bit more of common sense. I think we could have a tag for borderline cases saying "probably OK, except some uncertainities". We already have this for some freedom of panorama issues (FOP), and for URAA. Then reusers are clearly warned about the situation, and are free to use the file depending on their own requirements.
Anyway, seeing that these cases are very unlikely to get into legal trouble, the claim that these cases put our reusers into danger is a complete bullshit, IMHO.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Requests_for_comment/MP4_Video
Regards,
Yann