[Commons-l] Some reflections about the governance of Commons

[Stan Shebs]

David Gerard wrote:
> 2009/6/15 Rama Neko <ramaneko at gmail.com>:
>
>   
>>        Furthermore, I sometimes have the feeling that contributors of
>> Wikipedia expect us to host all sorts of unacceptable media in return
>> of the service that they provide; while we of course appreciate the
>> service projects, this is a problem, particularly when these files are
>> copyright violations.
>> In the particular case of Pikiwiki, it would of course be very
>> caricatural to say that all their images are copyvios. There are lots
>> of out-of-scope party snapshots, too.
>>     
>
>
> I'd hope this isn't a summary of the views of other Commons admins.
>
> Anyone else? Or is the Commons admin community this insular and derisive?
>   
I don't know if this makes me insular and derisive, but as a casual 
onlooker to the Pikiwiki episode, I do worry that there is an attempt to 
strongarm Commons into accepting material that would not normally be 
able to get in. It worries me because if Commons loses its reputation as 
a reliable source of free media, the that loss effectively contaminates 
everything in the project - potential users will be unsure if my own 
photos were really self-made, or I'm putting free licenses on material 
that is not mine to give away.

For projects that have committed to only using Commons for media, the 
pressure to accept borderline material is going to be intense, and it's 
always going to be a secondary concern that the files are going to be a 
problem for other clients of Commons. Projects experiencing that kind of 
pressure should maybe consider re-instituting local uploads, which 
allows for more gradual migration of material as it is determined to 
meet Commons' standards, and takes away the pressure on Commons admins 
to make snap decisions on tricky copyright issues.

Stan