User talk:DonPMitchell

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[edit] Changes about the landing sphere

Hi! Is it for sure Venera 1 not having a landing sphere? Can you give some sources? I would then also correct it on the german Venera article --Bricktop 10:26, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome!

Welcome!

Hello DonPMitchell, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome!  Titoxd(?!?) 06:16, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

You seem to know what you're talking about. Do you mind taking a look at the Exploration of Venus article? It's in bad shape, and it is directly related to the material you're adding. Titoxd(?!?) 06:19, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Hi Don, thanks for your improvements to Geology of Venus! Are you the Don P. Mitchell referenced in Don P. Mitchell? Keithlard 13:35, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Hi, yes this is Don P Mitchell. Not sure if this is where I reply to your question, I just sort of grok how to edit Wikipedia pages. I'm writing a book now on the Soviet Exploration of Venus.
Thanks Don. Great to have you here! I've added you to Category:Notable Wikipedians as you'll see from Talk:Don P. Mitchell. I hope if you have time you'll be able to expand the biographical details at Don P. Mitchell slightly - if you like you can put any information that occurs to you on the Talk page, and have someone else write it up for the main page. Keithlard 10:07, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Remastered surface images of Venus

Hi there. I noticed that someone recently has uploaded your remastered Venera images at Image:Venera13Surface.jpg and Image:Venera14Surface.jpg. He has credited you, but are you okay about this? (You can reply either here or on my talk page). Regards, --BillC 11:53, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for replying on my talk page. BlueMars has replied to you below and I hope that you can come to some agreement over licensing. As with all copyright issues, I would advise for prompt action here to prevent the images 'escaping'. Thanks also for your insight into NASA copyright issues. Copyright in general in Wikipedia can be discussed at Wikipedia talk:Copyrights, and specific concerns at Wikipedia talk:Copyright problems. Incidently, let me congratulate you on the Venera images, which are remarkable. Regards, --BillC 20:51, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

(Moved from user page to talk page by BillC):
Hello, First of all, I want to apologize for not asking you for your permission regarding the usage of you images on Wikipedia. I wasn't aware that you are owner of their copyrights. In addition to that, I misread the copyright date of the Soviet Union-tag (1983 instead of 1973; it was 0:22am :-P). As a conclusion I want you to formally ask for your permission to use your images on Wikipedia for non-commercial usage, so we can clean the image-pages up an add a "permission by author given"-tag. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience. --BlueMars 14:42, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you have permission to use my Venera-13 and Venera-14 images on Wikipedia, for non-commerical use.

Hello again,

I've looked through the copyright guidelines of Wikipedia, where it is clearly stated, that images released by their author for non-commercial Wikipedia-only use cannot be permitted. The only valid copyright tag available would be this one:

Public domain This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, DonPMitchell. This applies worldwide.

In case this is not legally possible,

the creator grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
Subject to disclaimers.

However, I'm afraid this would not be in your interest, so I am afraid we will eventually have to delete the images, which I really regret. Your remastering has really helped not only to bring new live to the Venera missions, but also to make Venus more like a "place where one could be one day", as Carl Sagan remarked about Mars after he has seen the first images from the Viking 1 lander.

Feel free to check the copyright standards of Wikipedia youself. To be honest, I find it a bit strange that it is not possible to release a picture in Wikipedia for non-commercial use only... Regards --BlueMars 15:01, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, but I am not willing to declare the images "public domain". Not because I plan to profit, but because I am philosophically opposed to wikipedia demanding that. Particularly since I am not sure what wiki's long term plans are about profiting from books or other commercial ventures. I suggest we remove the image and retain a link to my catalog page, so people can see the Venus images in their original form as well as the perspective projection. DonPMitchell 15:05, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I just discovered what might be a possibility to use your images and keep their copyright under Fair use. I've added the respective tags to the image pages. Review my changes. If you do not agree, I will delete them. --BlueMars 15:28, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Cool, that's fine with me. Thank-you for taking the time to resolve this. DonPMitchell 17:12, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
No problem. --BlueMars 20:39, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to nominate your Venera picture for Featured Picture, is that okay or not, TPTB seem to say its not under the current licensing but maybe if you gave your permission and left it on the image page or something they would allow. I really like the picture, I always wondered what Venus looked like at the correct angle. A mcmurray 02:24, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Don P. Mitchell

Hello! Don P. Mitchell is not the appropriate spot to post information about yourself, because that's the encyclopedic part of the Wikipedia website. User:DonPMitchell, however, is available for personal information about yourself. Please see Wikipedia:Introduction and Wikipedia:User page for more information. --Slowking Man 12:37, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

I did not create the DonPMitchell page. Evidently a living scientist cannot have an entry about themselves? I don't know. Delete it if you like Mr. Slowking. DonPMitchell 20:34, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

I didn't think you did. I tried to convince Slowking that it wasn't a vanity page but that user wouldn't listen, so whatever I guess. A mcmurray 10:29, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
Also if you want, you can post some biographical info here or on my talk page and I will bring the article back with that as a reference, because, yes, living scientists should have wikipedia entries, or just point me in the direction of any relevant biographical material, either way I am more than happy to write it up. A mcmurray 10:32, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mail?

Greetings! I'd like to send you an e-mail, but you don't have an address enabled here and I'm not certain if the addresses I found on a web search would still reach you. You can reach me at kat@wikimedia.org or on my talk page. Cheers, Kat Walsh (spill your mind?) 02:42, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Don posted to his blog on Tuesday, July 17, 2007, so I think it is safe to assume that's a live contact. --KSmrqT 05:11, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] On image copyrights

I recently came across this, and thought I should say something, though I'm not quite sure what. For what it's worth, there is a list of licenses besides the public domain one, most of which could be used instead. Though, they all roughly translate into allowing any use, as long as reuse is permitted.

Wikipedia's policies are far too complicated for anyone's good, and are in definite need of simplification and clarification. Thanks for contributing. -- kenb215 talk 13:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Kenb215. I've looked at GFDL, and it appears to be a complete abrogation of my rights. It's inappropriate for wikipedia to ask people to give up their rights beyond the scope of wikipedia. I'm willing to license my work for free to them. If that's not good enough, then they may not use my images. DonPMitchell 00:00, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Is there some original PD material that others can use to clean up for free use? Bcsr4ever 14:14, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've thought about this and have decided on a compromise. I am willing to license a somewhat smaller version of the Venera image under some suitable license for wikipedia. I'm not quite sure how one goes about "attaching" a license to an image in this case, but this is the picture I will be licensing: Venus Surface.

The actual original version of this image is much bigger than anything ever posted on the web (1600 pixels high). That will be available for free to authors, but only for publication in print form. DonPMitchell 15:04, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedians' views of policy

Hi Don! As you may have noticed, some wikipedians are a bit policy-bound, to say the least. (My personal tendancy is to mock them mercilessly for it, but in truth that isn't particularly constructive. ;-) Even with that said, it might make sense for you to get a bit more background on some of those policies they defend so doggedly. In particular, reading WP:OR would probably make a lot of sense in your case. For readers unfamiliar with the policy, even just reading the "in a nutshell" box at the top of the page provides a decent introduction. My personal summary would be, "Be really careful using your own work as a reference." In point of fact, my bet is that in most cases it isn't worth the hassle: it would likely be easier to find someone else's work to cite than it would be to fight the battle required to cite oneself. Linking to personal websites probably falls under this category. If the link is really worthwhile though, mention it on the talk page for an article, and get someone else to make the edit to the article. I know this sounds like bureaucratic hassle, but sometimes it's easier to "work with the drugs", as they say. Anyway, happy editing! (sdsds - talk) 17:08, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Is this in reference to a particular problem? DonPMitchell 17:32, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Superficially at least, this edit might be (mis)taken for self-promotion. (sdsds - talk) 23:31, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Sidiqqi, Zak and I happen to be experts on soviet space history. But you are free to delete the links, and I will make no attempt to replace them. DonPMitchell 16:12, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Electrical Experimenter

Hi, the Academic Journals wikiproject is collaborating on Electrical Experimenter this week, and it would be great if you could help us. If you have physical copies of this magazine that are in the public domain (i.e. pre-1923), it would be great if you could scan a few pages, upload them to Commons, and note the availability on our "Transcription" page. Cheers, John Vandenberg (talk) 09:37, 17 February 2008 (UTC)