Gregory Maxwell:
The vast majority of the images we have taken from stock exchange are mediocre images of everyday objects
Have you performed a survey? SXC is a community project just like Wikimedia. Besides everyday objects, it includes photos from all around the world, e.g.:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Orthodox_monk_in_curch%2C_Romania.jp... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Conquistador%27s_monument_in_Lisbon.... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Alhambra_Grenade_mlkfj.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Autumn_on_lake%2C_Cottonwood%2C_Ariz... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ataturk%27s_Mausoleum_in_Ankara_%28t... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Taj_Mahal_1_by_alexfurr.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Medina_tower_in_Sousse%2C_Tunisia.jp... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Andes_Mountain_by_Apile.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mekong_by_skawimp.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Truli_houses_in_Alberobello%2C_Italy... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Temple_of_Komombo_in_the_late_aftern...
If you can manage to take equivalent photos of all these locations in one afternoon, I'll be seriously impressed.
In its terms and marketing, SXC is clearly intended as a free (as in speech) content repository. As a community, we have decided that the most sensible policy is to follow the *usage terms stated on the image description pages*.
I agree with you that, if a photographer states contradictory terms in their profile, we should generally get in touch with them and clarify the situation. But photos which are unambiguously flagged as "no usage restrictions" are perfectly fine. There's no grey area here. It's not our job to proactively make sure that users have not mistakenly made their material available as free content.
However, SXC photos should *not* be labeled public domain. If you see them tagged as such, please change it to {{CopyrightedFreeUse}}.
Erik