John Lee wrote:
What I think concerns people like Durin and definitely myself is that our culture is definitely becoming more pro-non-free - i.e. "What's wrong with non-free content?" Four years ago, I think, more editors understood what it meant to be a free encyclopaedia.
Really? Not my impression. Remember that there had to be a big push several years ago just to differentiate between free and nonfree images, there being a significant percentage of images that were used, but had no identifying information whatsoever, and many of those added by "respected editors". Those editors then later fumed and expostulated when they were asked for sources and licenses.
The main thing I see over time is that as the editor base grows, there are more and more individuals who are far out on all ends of the ideological spectra, and by virtue of being outliers, they get more than their usual share of attention. My usual experience with random articles I haven't looked at in a long time is to be pleasantly surprised that they have free illustrations now, when they were unillustrated or depending on fair use before.
Stan