jayjg wrote:
Well, the argument constantly made on AfD discussions is that server space is never an issue. By the way, nothing that happens in user space is "in the encyclopedia", including userboxes - is that all a "waste of server space" too?.
I don't think everything on user pages (or in fact, pages which aren't in article-space) is a waste of server space. Talk pages are obviously highly useful, as are user pages which give information about interests and qualifications. For example, on my page I list subjects I am interested in and some pages I have contributed to. I think that's useful. I also have some probably "not useful" stuff, like the haiku. But I very much doubt either of those aspects are fair use.
Fair use images are inherently in conflict with what we are trying to do - build a free content encyclopaedia. We should minimise our dependencies on fair use as much as possible. If fair use material is not being used as part of an article, there is absolutely NO reason to have it on Wikipedia at all. People who use use fair use material when it's not directly contributing to the encyclopaedia are missing the point of Wikipedia.
Wikipedia should rely upon the contributions of its editors, not on material others have created, if possible. Of course it's impossible to get a new photo of a historical event, taken by a Wikipedian, but we should make sure that all fair use images which aren't of past events should be replaced with new images which Wikipedians have contributed. That's what Wikipedia is about to me.
Chris
