On 7/4/05, Magnus Manske magnus.manske@web.de wrote:
Non-free images are goind to be deleted because
- Wikipedia as a whole can not be reused if it contains non-free images
- it increases pressure to get free alternative images, where possible
- Jimbo said so :-)
The second point is important. There are many qualified photographers on wikipedia. Many of the PUI which are being deleted are photographs of common objects, which almost anyone can replace, or public places which many people can replace.
Often the images we have appropriated from the internet are poorly suited to our needs. In many cases they have other distracting objects in the image, or otherwise fail to clearly illustrate the point which needs to be made. Wikipedia would be much better off if the majority of our images were created with the intention of illustrating an encyclopedia.
If Wikipedia isn't getting enough photographs, we should reach out and encourage more photographers to join our community. A lack of content isn't an excuse to break the law.