Commons:Deletion requests/File:Visa policy of Sri Lanka.png
This is incorrectly said to be the 'own work' of Twofortnights. But that user simply made some shading modifications to the original image, modifications which have been lost in later versions. Where did the original map of the world come from, and who owns the copyright in it? The original upload page stated that the map was the 'own work' of Gorden Cheng, but presumably Gorden got it from somewhere. I have asked on his talk page. We need evidence of PD or a free licence for the originating map, as it has been used as the basis of many similar files - see here. MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:07, 8 January 2015 (UTC) MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:07, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
Keep If so, we can change the "author" to Gorden Cheng. Delecting is not a good choice. --Whisper of the heart (talk) 14:01, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- My point is that Gorden Chen is not the author of the original world map. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:21, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- Keep it seems you had plenty of time to type up this useless deletion request but you didn't have a few seconds to look up the Category:Blank maps of the world without Antarctica where you would find the original map file File:No colonies blank world map.png. And yes you are right, it should state that the original author is User:Sesmith but the way you dealt with this, that you decided instead of either approaching me beforehand to try and work it out or trying to fix it yourself to file a deletion request as if it were some kind of spam or gross copyright violation is inexpiable. Wikimedia Commons is a project of humans and this lack of even a mere attempt to communicate before reaching for a cold bureaucratic tool saddens me more than words can describe.--Twofortnights (talk) 14:28, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- I wasn't aware of that file, and its existence isn't obvious to anyone looking at the file history of this image. No doubt you know of it, and of the user User:Sesmith, through your prior involvement, but bear in mind that others don't have that advantage. Had I known of User:Sesmith, I would naturally have left him a personal message, as I did Gorden Cheng after I'd seen from trawling through the file history that the original version was stated to be his authorship. Maybe you missed my message - right at the bottom of his talk page?
- Your reply, though, seems to raise a new problem: where did User:Sesmith get the base map from? I have asked on the talk page, but am not hopeful of a response as Sesmith has not been active here since 2007 and has no email enabled. We need evidence of PD or a free licence for the originating map.
- Don't worry, nobody is going to take this image in isolation and speedily delete it, but we should take some effort to ensure it is actually free. Once we know the original source we should update all the files that are based on it. I would be more than happy to take that on myself if needed. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:59, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- Do you have any reason to doubt that the original author is User:Sesmith? Such as a link to a similar file predating the original upload by Sesmith in 2007? If not I don't see any reason to doubt that he is the original author as stated back then. In that case the answer to your question where did he get it would probably be in his MS Paint program on his computer.--Twofortnights (talk) 19:52, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- Yes, I would be most doubtful that the country outlines are the original artistic work of User:Sesmith. Unless the user is a professional cartographer the outlines were almost certainly traced from some base map, which I'm hoping we can show was in the public domain. You are aware that maps are 'artistic works' for copyright purposes, and are generally copyright-protected? See COM:CB#Maps & satellite imagery. It's for that reason we can't trace country outlines from Google Maps, for example, though the base map here must have predated Google Maps. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 22:23, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- We can philosophically presume that for any map on Wikimedia Commons and there are thousands of them, however this deletion request should be closed until there is an actual proof. As for country outlines, Google Maps hold no copyright over them if they are only interpreting the law because every interpretation of the law would give the same result, for example if you were to draw a border outline based on this [1] if you would do it right you would get the same result as anybody else who did it right, including Google. Anyhow, your deletion request is based solely on philosophizing and what ifs, but if we were to apply that logic as enough ground to remove files then most of the files on Commons could be removed because we could doubt anything, "I don't think you are the author of that photo" and unless there was a photo of that person taking that photo we would have to remove it. No, instead let's look for a proof, if there is no proof whatsoever only "I feel like there is something here" there can't be any sanction.--Twofortnights (talk) 10:55, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
- Yes, I would be most doubtful that the country outlines are the original artistic work of User:Sesmith. Unless the user is a professional cartographer the outlines were almost certainly traced from some base map, which I'm hoping we can show was in the public domain. You are aware that maps are 'artistic works' for copyright purposes, and are generally copyright-protected? See COM:CB#Maps & satellite imagery. It's for that reason we can't trace country outlines from Google Maps, for example, though the base map here must have predated Google Maps. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 22:23, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
- Do you have any reason to doubt that the original author is User:Sesmith? Such as a link to a similar file predating the original upload by Sesmith in 2007? If not I don't see any reason to doubt that he is the original author as stated back then. In that case the answer to your question where did he get it would probably be in his MS Paint program on his computer.--Twofortnights (talk) 19:52, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
Delete per nom. The onus to present evidence is always on the uploader and those people who want to keep the image. I might be wrong but the oldest such map appears to be File:BlankMap-World-NoAntarctica.png which credits User:Vardion on English Wikipedia. I note that quite a few of the other maps in Category:Blank maps of the world without Antarctica are claimed as own work but clearly based on the same base map without any attribution. I don't have time at the moment but I think we need to clean up this category. Green Giant (talk) 18:18, 27 January 2015 (UTC)
- ...a little exploration of file histories on here and Wikipedia suggests that the original might be File:BlankMap-World.png by Vardion, originally uploaded 8 December 2004. Opinions? Green Giant (talk) 18:33, 27 January 2015 (UTC)
Comment I have credited the original author in the source field. I think we can close this as Keep. --PierreSelim (talk) 06:38, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
Kept: Seems fixed. Natuur12 (talk) 19:24, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
