Steaphan Greene

re:Removed Art?

I'll try to hit the main points:

• Any image for Giganta or Volcana (DC Comics) are going to have to follow the fair use guide lines and policy (it's on the same page). Both characters are owned by DC.
• Part of fair use is that the image is not of a high enough resolution to be used for reproductions. The nuts and bolts of that is that the image not be much larger than the size it will show at in the article. General practice with the comics articles is that the image caps at 250-300px across. 300px is generally reserved for infobox image and/or covers as published. Spot image cap at 250.
• "...art ripped-off directly from the same show..." - Actually screen captures do fall under fair use when a complete "Fair Use Rationale" is provided. That rationale includes:
  1. Where the image was first published. In the case of a frame from a television show, the series and episode the frame first aired in.
  2. Where the file was found or a declaration that the original uploader either was, or likely was, the one who scanned or captured the image.
  3. Resolution
  4. Portion of the original source used.
  5. And the remainder of Article, Reason, and Replacability

So a screen cap from the show is valid for use.

• Fan created art is generally frowned on if fair use material is available from the original publication or show. And if the fan created art is only being used on Wikipedia or another wiki, it's a violation of the fair use policy WP:NFCC#4
• Closely related to that, you have to be very, very careful to explicitly state exactly what you uploaded. The FURs you provided for the images dance around the images being screen captures with the backgrounds cropped out or derivative original art based on multiple frames from the shows. The statement "drawn by me" that you left on my talk page makes it crystal clear that you are the author of the derivative art from the ground up and that it was not previously published.
• Also in the policy is a section of redundancy - WP:NFCC#3. Bottom line on that one is that if multiple non-free images are being used to provide the same information, only one should be kept. In the case of Giganta, the character model did not change from JL to JLU. Since the look is the same, only one image can be used.

Questions?

- J Greb (talk) 02:44, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

True, you took less, but you did it in a way that left nothing of the source.

Two things to keep in mind:

• The images aren't are to do what ever we want to; and
• Wikipedia's take on fair use is a bit more on the conservative side.

With the first point, yes, scanned images do get cropped, the infobox of Giganta is a clear example of that. And there are examples of call-outs (File:Action 869 Pre-Recall.jpg - the element referred to in the text is blown up), screencap pans (File:The Batman villains.JPG - 3 or 4 frames spliced to scene that was panned over as the entire scene is relevant to the article/list's topic), and "checker" boards (File:10dr19.jpg - multiple characters playing the same role). But these leave alone what is from the original source images. No digital addition or removal of things in the frame or panel.

In the case of you Giganta image, the template you worked from - assuming it was 2-4 frames from a pan up the character - would be considered fair to use, because even if it were cropped it is still identifiable to the attributed source. But the vector graphic you created from it... the result of the photo-referencing or swiping is a derivative work. It has nothing intrinsic from the attributed source aside from your statement of "I traced this from...". And it would be worse if your template is draw from multiple unrelated frames.

As for Wikipedia's stance, it has a lot to do with the "GNU Free Documentation License" and the potential for copies of selected pages being published either on CD/DVD or in hard copy. While most copyright holders would let fair use of scans go, they likely would not be forgiving of original or derivative works being used in place of such scans. Hence the point in the NFCC policy - WP:NFCC#4 - that the image needs to have been previously published some where other than Wiki or a wikia.

So the biggest problems with File:Giganta JL.svg and File:Volcana.svg are:

• WP:NFCC#4 - This is where they are being initially published since these image are not in the episodes.
• They are your original work - freehand or trace - done specifically for Wiki. The nutshell is - if you are starting with a blank page/screen/layer and someone else owns what you are about to put there, it likely won't pass fair use here.

- J Greb (talk) 00:02, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Resolving an IP Block

Resolved. Thanks to all who helped me out with this. Steaphan Greene (talk) 06:58, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure exactly what is going on with your IP address. I asked a checkuser, and he said that from what he can see, you should not be blocked. In the meantime, I have given your account IP block exemption. Here's a standard boilerplate description of what it can be used for and what is not allowed:

I have granted your account an exemption from IP blocking. This will allow you to edit through full blocks affecting your IP address when you are logged in.

Please read the page Wikipedia:IP block exemption carefully, especially the section on IP block exemption conditions.

Note in particular that you are not permitted to use this newly-granted right to edit Wikipedia via anonymous proxies, or disruptively. If you do, or there is a serious concern of abuse, then the right may be removed by any administrator.

Appropriate usage and compliance with the policy may be checked periodically, due to the nature of block exemption, and block exemption will be removed when no longer needed (for example, when the block it is related to expires).

I hope this will enhance your editing, and allow you to edit successfully and without disruption.

J.delanoy^gabs_adds 07:02, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Invitation to events: bot, template, and Gadget makers wanted

I thought you might want to know about some upcoming events where you can learn more about MediaWiki customization and development, extending functionality with JavaScript, the future of ResourceLoader and Gadgets, the new Lua templating system, how to best use the web API for bots, and various upcoming features and changes. We'd love to have power users, bot maintainers and writers, and template makers at these events so we can all learn from each other and chat about what needs doing.

Check out the Chennai event in March, the Berlin hackathon in June, the developers' days preceding Wikimania in July in Washington, DC, or any other of our events.

Best wishes! - Sumana Harihareswara, Wikimedia Foundation's Volunteer Development Coordinator Sumanah (talk) 14:35, 16 February 2012 (UTC)