User:KoshVorlon/Draft RFC

RFC on NFCC
 *  A Brief History of NFCC * NFCC began life as a post by User:Rossrs on September 24, 2005  Link  * It became policy on January 5 2006, originally called WP:FUC   Link * It was changed to NFCC on April 22, 2007   Link

NFCC is by far our most stringent, and our least understood policy. As a result:

* It's been the source of confusion not once, but at least even when enforced correctly

* It's fostered misunderstandings

* Users have quit  over misunderstandings of this policy

* It has caused arguments among Admins , and not just once either.

* Those who sought to enforce it were sometimes subject to confusion the correct interpretation    NFCC, as well as abuse from those that were themselves confused about NFCC. Admittedly, some were users that decided they weren't going to follow NFCC even when it was patiently explained to them, fortunately, they constituted a minority of users on Wikipedia. The majority of the users, those that wanted to follow the policy, all had the same problem, or a variation on the same problem, understanding or interpreting the current NFCC policy.

To correct that problem, and ensure more good will in this area (not to mention, less hassle for both the users submitting an image, and the users and admins enforcing NFCC), I'd like to propose that the text that makes up the rules of WP:NFCC be made simpler, easier to understand. With that change, it would be easier to enforce (as it wouldn't be left up to individual interpretation of rules, due to the vagueness about what each particular rule might mean, but rather,  NFCC would be a set of simple,concrete rules) thus, easier to read,  easier to understand and easier to enforce (less abuse heaped upon the admin and non-admins who choose to enforce NFCC rules ). I understand that no matter what change is made, we're not going to stop those few users that want to ignore NFCC, but at the very least,  those users would be in the minority, and the abuse to both admins and users that actually enforce NFCC would be limited to those who just want to ignore NFCC. To that end, I would like to discuss a set of changes to be made to NFCC. Text in italic would be a proposed change in wording .

Proposed Changes
 Criteria 1  - No Free equivalent. Non-free content is used only where no free equivalent is available. As a quick test before adding any non-free content, ask yourself "Can this non-free content be replaced by a free version" ? and "Could the non-free content be described with text alone"? If the answer to either is yes, the non-free content does not meet this criteria.

 Criteria 2  - Since Criteria 3 appears to amplify criteria 2, a merge would be suggested creating something like: 2.  Respect for commercial opportunities. Non-free content is not used in a manner that is likely to replace the original copyrighted media , this is defined as  : a. Minimal usage. One item  of non-free content may be used if  that one item can convey significant information about that article. b.  Minimal extent of use  An entire image is not to be  used if a piece of that image (or a cropped image) will work. That image should be low resolution (especially when the original could be used for deliberate copyright infringement).  Criteria 3. (formerly Criteria 4) - No Change - it's fine as is.

 Criteria 4. (formerly Criteria 5) - Non-free content meets general Wikipedia content standards. (Strike "and is encyclopedic" as this would be a matter of interpretation )

''' Criteria 5. ' (formerly Criteria 6)'' - No Change

''' Criteria 6. ' (formerly Criteria 7)'' - No Change

''' Criteria 7.  (formerly Criteria 8) - Strike it because it's already stated implicitly in  Criteria 2. ''' (both "a" and "b" ).

''' Criteria 8. ' (formerly Criteria 9)'' - Restrictions on location. Non-free content is allowed in articles only.

''' Criteria 9. ' (formerly Criteria 10)'' - No Change