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

[WikipediaEditor Durin]

On 7/12/07, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:
> It would help if the people spearheading non-free image use cleanup
> campaigns weren't deletionists on the issue.
>
> By that, I mean that they took a look at things, and for example where
> something was properly labeled an album cover when it was uploaded but
> didn't have a current Betacommandbot-compliant Fair Use in [[article]]
> section, the cleanup people added the required rationale rather than
> deleting the image.  If there are licensing questions or issues,
> uploaders be actually told about it and invited to fix things first.

This complaint has come up before. The bot does inform people that
the rationale is missing. Further, adding rationales can be nigh on impossible
for many cases because we do not know or understand what purpose the uploader
intended for the image within the article. The boiler plate answer is,
"Identification".
But, the people conducting deletions frequently do not see that as reasonable
rationale and delete.