First I want to state that I think Fair Use is an important legal right in the United States for some fan creators and it deserves vigorous protection, so much so that I wrote the Fanlore page on the topic. However, I want to talk about this section:
QUESTION: I am a fan artist and I don't want any of my work displayed on Fanlore. Will you take it down?
As described above, some uses of images without permission are fair use, and as such we don't remove images automatically on request by the creator. Protecting fair use rights is hugely important for the benefit of all fan creators -- these are what give fan artists the right to make their work in the first place.
However, we are all fans here and want to respect your concerns as well. We will gladly work with you to ensure that your work is being used according to fair use rules. We will also make sure that your work is credited appropriately, link back to your own site, and if you wish use higher resolution versions of your work.
This answer is really a statement of values held by Fanlore as an entity, and lays out how Fanlore will prioritize competing interests. It doesn't actually answer the question, though.
The commitment to Fair Use is set in opposition to respecting a fan's concerns. But what follows assumes the images will stay on Fanlore. It assumes that the images conform to this instruction: "Second, the images should there to illustrate a point. Please consider whether putting the image on Fanlore adds new meaning or message. If you're going to upload an image, please also include some commentary on why the image is noteworthy..." But since it never directly addresses the question, it reads like the very worst customer service language, "Your call is important to us..." And we all know how that one ends.
Frankly, if the real answer to this question is always no or nearly always no, then we should respect fan artists, and the wiki editors who will be uploading images, enough to say so.
The next question:
QUESTION: Wait! Someone uploaded my image without permission and it's not being used in any article. What should I do?
You have options! One option is to add text which contextualizes the image, or to ask the person who uploaded the image to do so. Another option is to leave a note on the talk page asking for the image to be deleted because its use doesn't fit fair use parameters.
assumes that the only image that could ever serve no function covered by Fair Use is an image not on a page. I don't think that assumption is valid at all. (Also this section assumes the fan artist is required to get an account and navigate talk pages, and just, no. The burden of effort should not be on the fan artist.)
Doro said: "I think situations where only one particular piece of online art can illustrate a point that no other art by an artist who doesn't object to this use can illustrate as well are pretty rare. It probably can be argued that fair use is more important in these rare cases than the artist's wishes (after all, we use screencaps of blog entries when the entries were deleted in the middle of a flamewar or wank, so it's not that fandom doesn't go occasionally against the wishes of the creator), but IMO that doesn't make it alright to extend the fair use argument preemptively to all artwork."
And I couldn't agree more with that statement. Fan artists are not Universal Studios and Fanlore is not YouTube. It might very well be true that Fanlore can use any fan-made image it wants to, but that doesn't mean it should. And telling fan artists it's all for their own good ("these are what give fan artists the right to make their work in the first place") is just patronising, and I don't think sets the right tone for interactions between fans who want no part of Fanlore and the wiki editors or committee who will be helping them.
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This answer is really a statement of values held by Fanlore as an entity, and lays out how Fanlore will prioritize competing interests. It doesn't actually answer the question, though.
The commitment to Fair Use is set in opposition to respecting a fan's concerns. But what follows assumes the images will stay on Fanlore. It assumes that the images conform to this instruction: "Second, the images should there to illustrate a point. Please consider whether putting the image on Fanlore adds new meaning or message. If you're going to upload an image, please also include some commentary on why the image is noteworthy..." But since it never directly addresses the question, it reads like the very worst customer service language, "Your call is important to us..." And we all know how that one ends.
Frankly, if the real answer to this question is always no or nearly always no, then we should respect fan artists, and the wiki editors who will be uploading images, enough to say so.
The next question:
assumes that the only image that could ever serve no function covered by Fair Use is an image not on a page. I don't think that assumption is valid at all. (Also this section assumes the fan artist is required to get an account and navigate talk pages, and just, no. The burden of effort should not be on the fan artist.)
Doro said: "I think situations where only one particular piece of online art can illustrate a point that no other art by an artist who doesn't object to this use can illustrate as well are pretty rare. It probably can be argued that fair use is more important in these rare cases than the artist's wishes (after all, we use screencaps of blog entries when the entries were deleted in the middle of a flamewar or wank, so it's not that fandom doesn't go occasionally against the wishes of the creator), but IMO that doesn't make it alright to extend the fair use argument preemptively to all artwork."
And I couldn't agree more with that statement. Fan artists are not Universal Studios and Fanlore is not YouTube. It might very well be true that Fanlore can use any fan-made image it wants to, but that doesn't mean it should. And telling fan artists it's all for their own good ("these are what give fan artists the right to make their work in the first place") is just patronising, and I don't think sets the right tone for interactions between fans who want no part of Fanlore and the wiki editors or committee who will be helping them.