[WikiEN-l] The wiki Paradoxes from my perspective (was Re: Uploading images should be a privilige, not a right)

[Fred Bauder]

On Jul 21, 2006, at 7:39 AM, Michael Hopcroft wrote:

> Some problems I see with this:
>
> If you are doing an article on any subject related to popular culture,
> you are in a serious bind, because any film, television or comic image
> is under copyright BY DEFINITION, even if the creators of the work you
> are illustrating the article about had nothing to do with that image's
> creation.  For example, ANY picture of Superman would be in violation
> regardless of its age or source, because the image of Superman is  
> itself
> someone else's intellectual property (in this case Time Warner).
>
> This, and the dispute over fancruft in the other thread, is  
> compounding
> the dillemma I am facing over whether I can accept the idea of  
> contuing
> to be involved with Wikipedia. If uploading images is such a  
> legally and
> ethically complicated thing, then is not the editing of Wikipedia  
> itself
> even more so? The civil penalties for libel and slander are much more
> severe than those for copyright violation, after all.
>
> My point is that I find myself questioning, almost as I did at the
> beginning of my involvement with the project, the reason for it and  
> the
> point to it. The very concept of "An encyclopedia anyone can edit"  
> is a
> complete contradiction in logic. The purpose of any encyclopedia is to
> provide a reliable baseline from which one can gain enough  
> groundwork to
> do additional research about a topic without being led horrifically
> astray. This purpose is utterly defeated by the ability of anyone,
> anywhere in the world to alter and delete articles at will. while one
> can certainbly show off what one knows or thinks he knows by editing
> Wikipedia, the question is what does anyone actually gain from  
> READING it?
>
> I am wondering whether we are not all engaged in some gigantic folly
> that is destroying not only our own credibility but that of the  
> Internet
> as a whole.

I think the way to look at it is from the improvement that your own  
editing makes to the project. Everyone's small improvements add up to  
something very useful.

Fred