[WikiEN-l] overzealous image deletion?

[Matthew Brown]

On 12/3/06, Justin Cormack <justin at specialbusservice.com> wrote:
> No, it has been accepted but not enforced. It has always been agreed that
> we dont accept fair use images when we can have free ones. We are a free
> encyclopaedia - thats the whole idea.

That's always been accepted in the most part, yes.  However, the
meaning of 'can have free ones' has changed.  Previously, it required
more than a theoretical possibility of a free alternative.

I am concerned that the definition of 'can have free ones' will be
stretched further so that we start removing pictures of things that no
longer exist under the theory that someone else may have a similar
photo that they might be willing to free license.

-Matt