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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Mike Godwin

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Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 20 Jun 2010 at 14:32:58 (UTC)

Original - Mike Godwin is an American attorney and author. He is known for his expertise in Internet law, and is the creator of Godwin's Law. He currently works as general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation.
More widely-used version, cropped to 5:7 ratio.
Reason
This could prove a fairly problematic nomination, but the quality is high, the composition is compelling (a landscape portrait makes you look twice...) and the image is used well. As regulars here will probably know, I'm a big supporter of modern portraits, and I think this one would be a great addition to our gallery.
Articles in which this image appears
Mike Godwin, Godwin's law, Cyber Rights
FP category for this image
Wikipedia:Featured pictures/People/Others
Creator
Lane Hartwell on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation
Discussion concluding that we should not feature this on the main page as per WP:SELF.
  • Oppose Yes. It is a nice portrait. Perhaps it might be a nice addition to the FP gallery. But are we to have Wikipedia’s main page feature, for 24 straight hours, an image pertaining to an article about a living attorney and author? I can’t see that the portrait is sooooo darned excellent that it merits free advertising. Greg L (talk) 15:31, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • It doesn't have to go on the main page, if it is deemed that it would be inappropriate- that's certainly been done before (nudity and "ew"-factor, for instance). However, there is certainly no precedent for it with regards to "advertising"- we feature lots of articles about video games, books, authors, musicians and so on. Equally, we have FPs of musicians- I don't really see how showing a picture of an academic author/high-flying attorney is going to leave us open to accusations of spamming. If the quality and EV are there, this should be promoted- your arguments are not really based on our criteria. J Milburn (talk) 15:40, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
      • Yes, I half agree. Indeed, my reasoning is not founded on the FP criteria. However, Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy. And here’s the part where I half agree with you: You cited where FPs hadn’t been on the main page because of nudity and "ew"-factor, for instance. Yet, neither of those attributes are cited in the FP criteria as a basis for not putting the image on the main page. So “ew”-factor is an example where WP:COMMONSENSE steps in. I don’t see why “free advertising” for someone who is serving as general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation can’t be an equally valid basis for thinking it inappropriate for this to be on the main page. I don’t see the need to be needlessly constrained when it comes to doing The Right Thing.©™® I think this is a great portrait (though it looks more like the “academic”-type portraits more suitable for mathematicians and scientists). Greg L (talk) 15:56, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
        • Yeah- those are our criteria for getting pictures to featured status, not our criteria for getting things on the main page- that's down to Howcheng (talk · contribs), so that would be where our common sense "not really appropriate" thing would come in (in fact, we have a FP of Jimbo- I'm not sure if that one has/will see the light of day). I'm not overly concerned if it doesn't get its chance to shine- I'd much rather see a pretty mushroom, or one of the images to which I am more personally attached, but I do think it deserves its place as a FP. In short- you can oppose the use of this on the main page without opposing it for FP status, which is ultimately what this discussion is about. J Milburn (talk) 16:04, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
          • Very well. I love the picture. I think, however, it is impractical to have Support (full privileges) mixed with Support (conditionally, no main page) and Support (I hope Howcheng does the right thing); identifying a true consensus could prove elusive. If this nomination were re-cast only in terms of FP-status but no free advertising for a Web-published living attorney, I can certainly vote “support.” Greg L (talk) 16:12, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
      • There is precedent for keeping it from the main page: File:Jimmy Wales Fundraiser Appeal edit.jpg was kept off, citing WP:SELF. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Unused. Jujutacular T · C 17:11, 11 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Jujutacular T · C 01:02, 21 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]