This is an
essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
In addition to the above disclaimer, the original author of this post would like to point out that this essay, although extremely serious in subject and intent, contains some sarcasm and other dark humor in order to help further illustrate the points he makes in this essay. The author is not responsible for anyone who has these remarks go over their heads.
Over the past several months, several Wikipedia participants – some administrators, many self-appointed guardians, a lot of the latter seemingly with too much time on their hands – have been policing the existence of non-free images. While this is understandable in theory, it has also opened up more problems that tend to cause more harm on Wikipedia than good.
Current Wikipedia photo policy claims that "Non-free content may be used on the English Wikipedia under fair use only where all 10 of the following criteria are met. These criteria are based on the four fair-use factors, the goal of creating a free encyclopedia, and the need to minimize legal exposure." [1]. These guidelines are not hard to follow.
At the same time, this policy "has lead to the tagging of images of living people with a fair use tag for deletion" [2] These guidelines are way too easy to follow and abuse, and whether in good faith or not, has led to a veritable holocaust on the quality of the articles on Wikipedia. Way too many times, I have seen album covers tagged as "replaceable" – and these are images that are normally accepted as fair use without an argument. [3]
Unfortunately, in the case of articles that are being edited and watched over by the members of WikiProject: Hello! Project, this has led to way too many arguments, often stemming from passionate defense of the hard work the members of WP:H!P put into these articles, between WP:H!P members and the culprits who have tagged the images used as replaceable.
In the interest of fairness, we at WP:H!P would love to try to use so-called "free" images of Morning Musume, their individual members, and their sister and spinoff bands, wherever possible. There's only one problem... those so-called "free" pictures don't exist!!.
Many of Wikipedia's anti-"non-free-image" adherents claim some sort of variant on the excuse that "no image is better than a non-free image". This is like saying having no heart is better than getting a heart transplant! (Which is not an altogether ironic comparison considering that some of the editors whose uploaded images have been deleted doubtlessly consider those that tagged and deleted their images to be heartless!) A missing image – or that stupid generic replacement graphic that encourages readers to pull a non-free image out of their nearest orifice – does more to degrade the quality of Wikipedia than a properly attributed, sourced, and rationalized fair-use image.
In an article on the English-language Morning Musume news site Hello!Online, there is an article written for non-Japanese fans about attending a Morning Musume or other Hello! Project artist's concert. I bring this up because the persons who have tagged properly sourced images attached to articles maintained by WP:H!P have claimed that we or other Wikipedia participants can "easily create or locate free images" of our heroines. In the bizarro world of the anti-non-free-image police, perhaps. In the real world, it's quite the opposite.
Now, how do the anti-non-free-image experts expect us to "create free images"? [4]. Here's their suggestions, followed by my reasons why they're not likely to happen anytime soon:
“ | You can get in with your backpack or bag, but the staff will check it. It's not allowed to bring in cameras, digital cameras, camcorders, and/or video cameras. If they catch you at the entrance with this stuff they will ask you to give it to them. It will be kept safe with them, and they will give you a number. After the concert, you can pick it up. Also, you can't use your cellphone inside the hall, because they will think you are taking videos or pictures, and that's not allowed. Beware, because if they catch you in the act, you won't have such a great time. Even if you're a foreigner that doesn't understand Japanese, a crime is a crime in your home country and in Japan. [5] | ” |
Another editor (thanks, ReyBrujo!) has also just recently (7.7.07) informed me that Japanese public figures have what are called "personality rights" under Japanese law, meaning that a fan taking such images without their permission would basically violate those rights. (See commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Image:Utada Hikaru Kanto 2004.jpg)
With all that in mind, this is why WP:H!P supports the use of promotional photographs of Morning Musume and other Hello! Project personalities and acts under WP:FUC.
Taking each of Wikipedia's ten criteria into point, here is a general argument for the use of those photographs under WP:FUC, point by point:
We can follow these rules without a problem. We respect them. We hope that in our doing so, you can respect our efforts to make the corner of Wikipedia that we like to maintain shine brightly.
And then there's the matter of illustrating the Ai Kago article...
Early in 2007, Ai Kago was fired from Hello! Project for having a sexual liaison with an older, married man. Since the incident, even though there has been at least one report on Japanese TV news of Kago either signing with, or trying to sign with, another talent agency (depending on who did the translating of the article), she has not appeared in public since. There is a very good (yet unfortunate) chance that she may go into seclusion and never appear in public again. Not appearing in public equals no one being able to take a photograph of her. Simply put, this author feels that the JD Salinger/bin Laden rule should also apply to Ai Kago at the present time.
There is a happy medium somewhere between Wikipedia's current image policy and WP:H!P's (and presumably, many other Wikiproject's) goals. We would like to find it and remain there. Only then can Wikipedia be truly improved and thus move forward. Discussion is always a welcome option here. Being forced to back down never is.
This is an
essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
In addition to the above disclaimer, the original author of this post would like to point out that this essay, although extremely serious in subject and intent, contains some sarcasm and other dark humor in order to help further illustrate the points he makes in this essay. The author is not responsible for anyone who has these remarks go over their heads.
Over the past several months, several Wikipedia participants – some administrators, many self-appointed guardians, a lot of the latter seemingly with too much time on their hands – have been policing the existence of non-free images. While this is understandable in theory, it has also opened up more problems that tend to cause more harm on Wikipedia than good.
Current Wikipedia photo policy claims that "Non-free content may be used on the English Wikipedia under fair use only where all 10 of the following criteria are met. These criteria are based on the four fair-use factors, the goal of creating a free encyclopedia, and the need to minimize legal exposure." [1]. These guidelines are not hard to follow.
At the same time, this policy "has lead to the tagging of images of living people with a fair use tag for deletion" [2] These guidelines are way too easy to follow and abuse, and whether in good faith or not, has led to a veritable holocaust on the quality of the articles on Wikipedia. Way too many times, I have seen album covers tagged as "replaceable" – and these are images that are normally accepted as fair use without an argument. [3]
Unfortunately, in the case of articles that are being edited and watched over by the members of WikiProject: Hello! Project, this has led to way too many arguments, often stemming from passionate defense of the hard work the members of WP:H!P put into these articles, between WP:H!P members and the culprits who have tagged the images used as replaceable.
In the interest of fairness, we at WP:H!P would love to try to use so-called "free" images of Morning Musume, their individual members, and their sister and spinoff bands, wherever possible. There's only one problem... those so-called "free" pictures don't exist!!.
Many of Wikipedia's anti-"non-free-image" adherents claim some sort of variant on the excuse that "no image is better than a non-free image". This is like saying having no heart is better than getting a heart transplant! (Which is not an altogether ironic comparison considering that some of the editors whose uploaded images have been deleted doubtlessly consider those that tagged and deleted their images to be heartless!) A missing image – or that stupid generic replacement graphic that encourages readers to pull a non-free image out of their nearest orifice – does more to degrade the quality of Wikipedia than a properly attributed, sourced, and rationalized fair-use image.
In an article on the English-language Morning Musume news site Hello!Online, there is an article written for non-Japanese fans about attending a Morning Musume or other Hello! Project artist's concert. I bring this up because the persons who have tagged properly sourced images attached to articles maintained by WP:H!P have claimed that we or other Wikipedia participants can "easily create or locate free images" of our heroines. In the bizarro world of the anti-non-free-image police, perhaps. In the real world, it's quite the opposite.
Now, how do the anti-non-free-image experts expect us to "create free images"? [4]. Here's their suggestions, followed by my reasons why they're not likely to happen anytime soon:
“ | You can get in with your backpack or bag, but the staff will check it. It's not allowed to bring in cameras, digital cameras, camcorders, and/or video cameras. If they catch you at the entrance with this stuff they will ask you to give it to them. It will be kept safe with them, and they will give you a number. After the concert, you can pick it up. Also, you can't use your cellphone inside the hall, because they will think you are taking videos or pictures, and that's not allowed. Beware, because if they catch you in the act, you won't have such a great time. Even if you're a foreigner that doesn't understand Japanese, a crime is a crime in your home country and in Japan. [5] | ” |
Another editor (thanks, ReyBrujo!) has also just recently (7.7.07) informed me that Japanese public figures have what are called "personality rights" under Japanese law, meaning that a fan taking such images without their permission would basically violate those rights. (See commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Image:Utada Hikaru Kanto 2004.jpg)
With all that in mind, this is why WP:H!P supports the use of promotional photographs of Morning Musume and other Hello! Project personalities and acts under WP:FUC.
Taking each of Wikipedia's ten criteria into point, here is a general argument for the use of those photographs under WP:FUC, point by point:
We can follow these rules without a problem. We respect them. We hope that in our doing so, you can respect our efforts to make the corner of Wikipedia that we like to maintain shine brightly.
And then there's the matter of illustrating the Ai Kago article...
Early in 2007, Ai Kago was fired from Hello! Project for having a sexual liaison with an older, married man. Since the incident, even though there has been at least one report on Japanese TV news of Kago either signing with, or trying to sign with, another talent agency (depending on who did the translating of the article), she has not appeared in public since. There is a very good (yet unfortunate) chance that she may go into seclusion and never appear in public again. Not appearing in public equals no one being able to take a photograph of her. Simply put, this author feels that the JD Salinger/bin Laden rule should also apply to Ai Kago at the present time.
There is a happy medium somewhere between Wikipedia's current image policy and WP:H!P's (and presumably, many other Wikiproject's) goals. We would like to find it and remain there. Only then can Wikipedia be truly improved and thus move forward. Discussion is always a welcome option here. Being forced to back down never is.