This Might Be A Wiki:Image use policy

This page is a brief overview of the policies towards images — including format, content, and copyright issues — on TMBW.

For information on multimedia in general (images, sound files, etc.), see Wikipedia:Mass media. For information on uploading, see Wikipedia:Uploading images, or go directly to Special:Upload.

Rules of thumb

Below this brief checklist of image use rules is the detailed reasoning behind them.

1. Keep copyrights in mind when uploading images. When in doubt, do not upload copyrighted images.
2. Always provide a detailed source for where the image came from, either a URL if it is from the web, or a name (or alias) and method of contact (i.e. Talk page, email, etc.) for the photographer.
3. Use the image description page to describe an image and its copyright situation.
4. Always tag your image with one of the image copyright tags.
5. Use a clear, detailed title. Note that if any image with the same title has already been uploaded, it will be replaced with your new one.
6. Upload a high-resolution version of your image whenever possible (this does NOT apply to fair use images see copyright considerations for details), and use the automatic thumbnailing option of the Wikipedia image markup to scale down the image. MediaWiki accepts images up to 20 MB in size. Do not scale down the image yourself, as scaled-down images may be of limited use in the future.
7. Edit the images to show just the relevant subject.
8. Don't put photo credits in articles or on the images themselves; put them on the description page.
9. The preferred formats for files here are jpeg / png for images and mp3 for audio. Do not use Windows BMP format images; they are uncompressed and take up too much space.
10. Add a good alternative text for images.
11. Think carefully if shocking pictures are really necessary. If you have concerns regarding the appropriateness of an image, discuss it on the relevant article talk page. See Wikipedia:Image censorship

Copyright (images)

Before you upload an image, make sure that either:

• You own the rights to the image (usually meaning that you created the image yourself).
• You can prove that the copyright holder has licensed the image under a free license.
• You can prove that the image is in the public domain.
• You believe, and state, a fair use rationale for the specific use of the image that you intend.

Always note the image's copyright status on the image description page, using one of the image copyright tags, and provide specific details about the image's origin. If you created the image, for example, write image created by John Doe on Jan 1st, 2000 (replacing John Doe with your name, and Jan 1st, 2000 with the image creation date). Don't just write image created by me.