Vixrapedia:Image use policy

This page sets out the policies towards images—including format, content, and copyright issues—applicable on Vixrapedia.

Copyright and licensing

Before you upload an image, make sure that the image falls in one of the four categories:

• Own work: You own all rights to the image, usually meaning that you created it entirely yourself. In case of a photograph or screenshot, you must also own the copyright for all copyright-protected items (e.g. statue or app) that appear in it.
• Freely licensed: You can prove that the copyright holder has released the image under an acceptable free license. Note that images that are licensed for use only on Vixrapedia, or only for non-commercial or educational use, or under a license that doesn't allow for the creation of modified/derived works, are unsuitable. When in doubt, do not upload copyrighted images.
• Public domain: You can prove that the image is in the public domain, i.e. free of all copyrights.
• Fair use: You believe that the image meets the special conditions for non-free content, which exceptionally allow the use of unlicensed material, and you can provide an explicit non-free use rationale explaining why and how you intend to use it.

Vixrapedia encourages users to upload their own images. All user-created images must be licensed under a free license, such as the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) and/or an acceptable Creative Commons license, or released into the public domain, which removes all copyright and licensing restrictions. When licensing an image, it is common practice to multi-license under both GFDL and a Creative Commons license.

Such images can include photographs which you yourself took. The legal rights for images generally lie with the photographer, not the subject. Simply re-tracing a copyrighted image or diagram does not necessarily create a new copyright—copyright is generated only by instances of "creativity", and not by the amount of labour which went into the creation of the work. Photographs of three-dimensional objects almost always generate a new copyright, though others may continue to hold copyright in items depicted in such photographs. Photographs of two-dimensional objects such as paintings in a museum often do not.

Images taken with digital cameras or smartphones usually contain information (called EXIF metadata) about the date and time the image was taken, the make and model of your camera or smartphone, exposure settings and your location at the time the photo was taken. This information is publicly visible on Vixrapedia when the image has been processed.

Policy

The additional policy for images at Vixrapedia are as follows:

• No pictures of people without their express consent.
• No images of abuse, insult, defamation, racism, or any other objectionable material.
• No images of illegal content.

Such images will be deleted and the uploader may be rebuked and in extreme circumstances banned.