Wikipedia:What the @*^$ is a fair use rationale?
 | 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. |
Fair usage
editTo understand "fair use rationale" you must first understand "fair use." (Fair use is similar to fair dealing in nations of the commonwealth.) Fair use is an American law that allows copyrighted materials to be used by people who are not the owners of the material. One of the purposes for which copy-written materials may be used with permission is for non-commercial educational purposes, such as a free, non-profit, online encyclopaedia.
Fair use rationale
editA fair use rationale is an explanation of why a particular piece of copy-written material (such as a CD album cover image, or a television/movie/video game screen shot, or any photograph that you did not personally take) is allowable on Wikipedia under the American fair usage laws. Please note that you may not add a picture of a living person unless you took the picture yourself, sorry.
According to Wikipedia policy on fair use rationales, fair use rationales must contain the name of every article that the image is used in, and a separate explanation for each usage. (Policy #10.c at WP:NFC#Policy 2)
How to make a fair use rationale
editTo add a fair use rationale to an image on Wikipedia,
- Firstly go to the desired image and click "edit"
- Secondly add this stuff to the page:
- {{Non-free use rationale
- |Article= NAME OF THE ARTICLE IN WHICH YOU ARE USING THIS IMAGE
- |Description= YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THIS IMAGE
- |Source= DESCRIBE WHERE THIS IMAGE CAME FROM. ADD A LINK IF APPLICABLE.
- |Portion= This image contains minimum portion necessary to properly illustrate the subject.
- |Low_resolution= Yes, it is less than a megapixel in resolution.
- |Purpose= The purpose of this image is to illustrate the subject of the article(s) listed above.
- |Replaceability= No, a free version of this image is not available.
- |other_information=
- }}
- {{Non-free use rationale
- Thirdly, replace the three bolded fields with your own information.
- Fourthly, delete the "missing fair use rationale" warning from the page.
- Fifthly, click "Save page" to save your changes to the image's page.
- And finally, hope for the best.