User talk:Tail

Hello Tail, welcome to Wikipedia.

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Again, welcome! Chris Roy 00:34, 3 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Dragon images copyright

Hi Tail, thanks for your response on my talk page. I, too, am unsure about the validity of the "artist dead more than X years" copyright argument, though it appears to be valid in America. While I think it would be OK to use this defense in the case of an old book or print you had bought (or found, or inherited!) yourself, and could simply scan, I think justifying the use of someone else's photo of such an object is more difficult. It implies that the photographer works for free and is nothing more than a passive recorder of an unchanging object, simply pointing his camera at something and letting it do the rest, whereas, of course, there's a lot of skill involved in getting a good record of even a 2-dimensional work. Lighting plays a great part, even more so in the case of sculpture. The equipment used, and the filtration and post-processing of the image (in Photoshop, for example) can make all the difference between a mediocre image and a great one. Also, I feel the effort of obtaining the image should be taken into account: for instance, if I had travelled far and wide researching previously unknown sites for prehistoric rock art, perhaps risking my life in extreme environmemts, and then published a book at my own expense which sold perhaps a dozen copies, I'd be pretty pissed off if one of the dozen people who'd purchased it made all my hard-won images available worldwide, simply because the actual artists had died centuries before. So perhaps we should let someone more competent decide... SiGarb | Talk 15:53, 27 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I feel the same way. Of course, it depends on the specific situation, because I also feel it is best for a great number of people to be able to enjoy the works of artists that have died a long time ago (and that in many cases the use of such images for educational purposes is justifiable).

So – I agree, it's best to let somebody more competent decide. :) --Tail 14:57, 2 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorting Habsburgs

I think you are correct about Mariana of Austria. Keeping the Habsburgs straight and matching pictures with people makes my head hurt. - PKM 23:46, 1 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Survey Invitation

Hi there, I am a research student from the National University of Singapore and I wish to invite you to do an online survey about Wikipedia. To compensate you for your time, I am offering a reward of USD$10, either to you or as a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. For more information, please go to the research home page. Thank you. --WikiInquirer 08:19, 16 March 2007 (UTC)^{talk to me}[reply]

I replied to your question here. --WikiInquirer 16:47, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:14, 30 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]