User talk:Wiki-guy15


 * Thanks for the explanation and apology. Don't worry about it. People do a lot worse with images. Thanks for contacting me. If you need any help, or have any questions feel free to contact me. I hope this one experience doesn't discourage you from becoming an active, productive wikipedian!-Andrew c [talk] 14:07, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Images is a good place to start. I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. Do you want to know more about our image use policy and licensing issues? Do you want to know how to physically upload a file? Do you want to know how to use wikicode to display an already uploaded image on an article? I'll briefly explain a bit, and if I didn't answer your question, feel free to ask another more specific question. All images on wikipedia should be licensed under a free license. If you create an image yourself, you have the ability to license the image however you please (but keep in mind that creating a screenshot or photograph of someone else's work doesn't count as being your own work. the image you upload you have to have fully created yourself in order for you to be able to legally license it freely). You can also locate free images on the web. Flickr has the option to search for images with licenses that are acceptable on wikipedia. There are a few instances where wikipedia uses copyrighted or non-free images under fair use claims (see WP:FU). As for uploading, go to Upload for more information. And finally, the easiest way I can think of to explain how the wikicode works for images is to simply find an article with an image formatted the way you like, then view the code. You can change the file name, caption and other parameters if you like (see the example at Image). I hope this helps, and if not, I'm sorry for misunderstanding your question, and I'd be glad to try to help you further.-Andrew c [talk] 04:35, 6 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Wikimedia Commons has a lot of information about flickr, you can read up more starting here. Briefly, there are two licenses that flickr gives the option of using which are also acceptable here (which means if you find an image with one of these two licenses, then yes you can simply copy it and upload it, given you use the same license and link to the original and meet a couple other conditions, explained further at the commons). If you go to this flickr page, you will see 6 "Creative Commons" licensing options. As I said, only two can be used "Attribution" and "Attribution-ShareAlike License" (CC-BY and CC-SA). If you see anything about "noncommercial" "no-derivatives" or "All rights reserved", then you cannot use the image from flickr. The upload form at the commons has detailed instructions on how to upload in image from flickr, and I suggest uploading an image there if you find an acceptable image from flickr. You are in essence correct when you say if I dont have a licence for the image, I cant put it on Wikipedia. However, you can always try to ask the copyright holder to donate their image. See Requesting copyright permission, and Example requests for permission for more details. Basically, you need the owner to release their image under a free license (giving permission for use on wikipedia only is not acceptable). For example, if you saw an image you liked on flickr, you could contact the uploader and kindly ask them to change the license.


 * That said, there are a few instances where wikipedia does use copyrighted images. It's called "fair use" and I linked to the guideline above. Album and book covers are often used in articles specifically about those items. Very historic events, and logos. However, fair-use images cannot be used for decorative purposes, or in galleries, but instead must be used if their presence would significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic, and its omission would be detrimental to that understanding. Images of living people almost never fall under fair use. The rule of thumb is if a users could plausibly take a free picture to replace the fair-use image, then the fair-use image shouldn't be used. Hope this helps. If you find an image on the web that you like and you aren't sure if it is acceptable, feel free to ask me to review it for you before you upload it if you are concerned.-Andrew c [talk] 13:15, 6 June 2008 (UTC)


 * First thing, free images should be uploaded at the Commons. I've provided links to the Commons and information about the Commons in my previous post. Next, I honestly don't know if that image is OK. On first glace, the license is acceptable. However, this being a photograph of a 3D sculpture/costume which is clearly copyright, I'm a little fuzzy on if this image can be legally licensed by someone who took the image or not. I'll do a little research and get back to you. -Andrew c [talk] 14:21, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I've asked the question here if you want to follow along or add comments yourself.-Andrew c [talk] 14:32, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure exactly what you are asking. Almost all images on wikipedia need to be licensed under one of many free licenses. If you take an image yourself, you are free to release it under whatever license you want. It is also possible to find images online that are already under a free license (but keep in mind most images from a google search are copyrighted). Finally, we allow limited "fair use" of some copyrighted images, see WP:NFC for details on that. Perhaps you could be more specific on what you are trying to do, or you can ask me about an image you have. I'd be glad to help further, but I'm not sure what you are asking. -Andrew c [talk] 13:47, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

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