User:Jgilhousen/photo issues

Photo issues are consuming an increasing proportion of my time available to participate on Wikipedia, prompting me to seriously consider withdrawing from the project already, after only a few months' of involvement. This page provides context for that very personal ongoing deliberation, from my equally personal perspective.

The recent and now accelerating purge of images is creating empty infoboxes and redlinked image titles throughout Wikipedia, and I am finding that I am having to set aside priorities established by collaboration with others in WikiProject Oregon to clean up the mess left by robotic deletions. One can tag hundreds of images for speedy deletion in far less time than it takes to explain the justification for retention of just one, and those discussions can go on for days or weeks in a process which gives a distinct advantage in favor of deletion!

I have also spent more hours writing letters to gain acceptable releases for photographs which were already clearly intended for free distribution than on writing or editing articles, because of an attitude on the part of some deletionists toward interpreting Wikipedia policy in a manner which can only be described as fundamentalistic.

The burden of proof is placed on the contributors, and almost no responsibility for investigation is assumed by many within the growing legion whose primary contribution to the project seems to be in wielding an ax, with little or no discernable consideration of the consequences. The longstanding policy of "when in doubt, discuss" seems to have given in way to "when in doubt, delete."

I assume the good faith of the deletionists, whom I am sure are acting in what they believe to be the best interests of the project, encouraged by favorable remarks from Jimbo Wales. And I agree, in principle and practice, with honoring copyrights, and dotting all i's and crossing all t's. I have retagged my own share of mislabeled images, and even nominated a few for speedy deletion. The scope and pace of the current purge, however, is one with which we content creators, exercising equally good faith, cannot reasonably be expected to keep up, especially given the fervor and black-and-white thinking employed by many who are executing this enforcement action on a scale which can only be described as massive.

So, in order to be able to at least try to maintain some collaboration with others in the project on things that actually matter, like improving the quality and accuracy of articles, and creating some whose absence is regrettable, I have segregated photo-related discussion to a separate page. When it gets to the point, which seems rapidly to be approaching, that there is no time left to do such work, because of the furious pace at which images are being challenged, I will have to join the many who have already retired from writing and editing for Wikipedia.