[WikiEN-l] There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more

[George Herbert]

On 9/26/07, Rich Holton <richholton at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let me ask you a question: How does including non-free images in
> Wikipedia help to accomplish the stated mission of the Wikimedia
> Foundation? Or are you effectively saying "screw the foundation"?

Trivially answered: A picture is worth a thousand words (or more), and
the liberal use of images in encyclopedia articles is commonly
accepted to enhance the usability and learning content in any
encyclopedia, which one must assume should include Wikipedia.

Denying us the ability to use non-free images where appropriate and
ethical and legal is denying our readers the benefits of a better
encyclopedia.  Which is pretty much the point of being here in the
first place.


Nobody here is against replacing fair-use images with free ones.  I've
added a fair number of images to WP since I joined, some fair number
of which I created, and if there were pictures  which needed taking
and I could conveniently take, I would do so.  There's an entire
category of missing pictures I've put a few tens of hours negotiations
into trying to be able to take (so far, with no luck).

But denying us the fair-use image category is unreasonable, from a
content point of view.  It's putting "free" before "encyclopedia" in
an unacceptable manner to many of us.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com