User talk:Malatesta

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[edit] Adopt-A-User

Hey, are you still looking for someone to 'adopt' you? I've been around here for a couple of years now, and I bet I could help you out. Check out my user page for more information about me, and let me know on my talk page. Happy editing, tiZom(2¢) 20:24, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adoption

Thanks for the offer. I could really use the help. The main reason I put the request up is that I found myself spending a lot of time reading "help" pages and not figuring out how to do something. I think it would help to have someone I can ask who would either know the answer or send me to the right place. malatesta 17:05, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

In case that is not clear enough, I wholeheartedly accept. thanks malatesta 17:06, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Excellent :o) I'm pretty knowledgeable about WP, including coding and policies and whatnot. And if there's something I don't know, I generally know how to go about finding it. I've got a few hundred pages on my watch list, so I'm constantly checking up on them...at least several times a day. So if you need anything, just let me know on my talk page! (Oh, and PS - be sure to leave comments at the bottom of a talk page. If you leave it at the top, it might be overlooked. You can also use the "+" sign at the top of the page if you're starting a new topic...hope that helps!) tiZom(2¢) 20:11, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi folks. I'm slowly pruning Category:Wikipedians seeking to be adopted in Adopt-a-user, so I've changed malatesta's {{adoptme}} tag to {{adoptee}}, since it looks like everything's going well here. =) coelacan — 06:48, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image copyright

OK, my first question. I am trying to upload an image for Bisbee Deportation and am confused by which category I should use as far as copyright licensing. I found a link on the page where the image is hosted: http://aquarius.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/bisbee/copyright.html which gives info on copyright. Can I upload one of these images? thanks malatesta 20:28, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Copyright stuff can get pretty involved, because people are very strict about it. Ready? Here goes:
There are two kinds of images that we can use on WP: free images and unfree images.
 
An image is free if the owner has given up the copyright, or if it is ineligible for copyright (it's produced by the government, it's really old, etc) - The full list of reasons are at Wikipedia:Copyrights and, in particular, Wikipedia:Public domain. It's pretty extensive, and I'd be happy to help you understand it if you need more help on that.
 
This image, however, is unfree - the copyright is owned by University of Arizona. In order for us to lawfully use this image, we either need (1) permission from the copyright holder to re-license it (in most cases, they won't do this, because they lose a little control on the copyright...but seeing as how it's a University, it might be worth a shot), or (2) a good reason to use it regardless of copyright status. Wikipedia can, for example, use corporate logos, movie screenshots, album covers, etc. because we need to have the ability to demonstrate what the subject is, but there is nothing out there that could be used to replace it (e.g. you can't find a "free equivalent" to the NBC Peacock or the cover for The Dark Side of the Moon - it is what it is). This idea is called Fair use, and it allows Wikipedia to use a lot of copyrighted materials. There are, however, a bunch of restrictions. See the Fair Use page, or ask me with any questions.
What is the image, exactly? Post a link to it, and I'll give you my input...
Keep in mind that the goal of Wikipedia is to create an encyclopedia of free content. So whenever possible, we should be using free images.
Sorry for being so long-winded, but it took me quite a while to understand all this copyright stuff. Hope this helps a little. tiZom(2¢) 21:38, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Here's the link to the photo I want to use: http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/bisbee/primarysources/photographs/deportation.html The caption says that it belongs to the Arizona Historical Society(AHS). I was rereading the copyright info on the page and it said that the images could be used for educational purposes. Could that be construed as meaing its ok for wikipedia? malatesta 17:27, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Link didnt copy correctly, but I want to use the 4th from the left.malatesta 17:29, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Hey, sorry for the delay. I was in Montreal for the weekend, and was supposed to have internet access at the hotel... but let's not get into that :o)
Regarding the image copyright problem. If it says that you can use it for educational purposes, unfortunately that will still not be enough for Wikipedia. The problem is that the main goal of WP is to create a free and open encyclopedia that anyone can use for any purpose. This means that somewhere down the line, someone may use it in a way that is not educational... and thereby going against the copyright owner's requests. This is why we use free images first, and use unfree ones only when it is necessary.
I had a strikingly similar problem when I was working on a template for Olympic Medal winners (See, for example, the medal infobox on the page for Alexandre Despatie. It used to have a picture of the Olympic Rings because the Olympic Charter says you can use the rings for anything that promotes the Olympic Movement (which pages like this certainly did). However, the image was removed (diff) because somewhere down the road, someone might use our free encyclopedia in a way that does not promote the Olympic Movement.
If I were you, I'd try to e-mail the copyright holders and get permission to license that image under the GFDL license - it's the one that allows the copyright holder to keep the most control over the image. Otherwise, you might want to try to find that image (...or something similar) in a link on this page: Wikipedia:Free image resources. Lots of historical stuff there. tiZom(2¢) 20:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Oh, try Wikipedia:Public domain resources too...it's got a lot more history-related stuff. tiZom(2¢) 21:03, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Hey, I noticed that you're working a lot to revert vandalism. VandalProof is a browser that is specifically designed for that. It lets you view revisions in real time, shows key words that might indicate vandalism, and lets you roll back to previous revisions. You'll need 250 edits in the article space (i.e. not user pages, talk pages, etc. - just the articles) to qualify for it. Once you do, you can just follow the directions on the page. And PS - You can check your edit count with this link: [1] Hope this helps! tiZom(2¢) 04:12, 30 March 2007 (UTC)