[WikiEN-l] Fair use issues; we need serious help

[Earle Martin]

On 10/07/07, WikipediaEditor Durin <wikidurin at gmail.com> wrote:
> *  Some users have been debating, at great length, that boiler plate fair
>   use rationales can be used to bring these images in compliance. This is
>   in large part due to the idea that fair use criteria is sufficiently met if
>   the fair use image serves to __identify__ the thing in question. Under
>   this argument, it is not necessary to have any critical commentary
>   regarding the product being displayed, or the cover art/logo being
>   displayed.

Without essaying an opinion on this - as Durin has commented, the
discussion on this topic is cyclical and nigh-upon endless - I agree
that help is urgently needed. The situation as it stands is causing
massive amounts of donkey-work, taking editor time away from where it
could be spent usefully. Example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Image:Down_in_the_Tube_Station.jpg

An album cover is tagged with needing a rationale. The uploader is
notified. Unfortunately, he's not around, and a few days later the
image gets deleted as "no rationale" because nobody saw the notice.

Five days later, another well-meaning user goes to the effort of
scanning the album cover himself and uploading it himself, tagging it
with {{Non-free album cover}}:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DownInTheTubestationFront.jpg

No doubt this in turn will be tagged as "no rationale" and we can go
around the merry-go-round again.



-- 
Earle Martin
            http://downlode.org/
http://purl.org/net/earlemartin/