Forum:Are requests to remove contributions allowed?

Over the years, I have uploaded a number of images to http://ultima.wikia.com but I no longer wish to offer permission for Wikia to host these files, and I want them deleted. Is such a request allowed by the Wikia terms of service? Dungy 01:57, November 5, 2011 (UTC)


 * By uploading those images to Wikia, you released them under the license. They are free to use on the wiki now. Considering you do not hold the copyright to these images, you have no claim to them and cannot remove them just because you have left a wiki.--


 * It is a shame Wikia offers such horrendous customer service. You willingly change our wiki to suit your advertising needs, and then prohibit us to move the content that we worked hard to create to a more friendly service, keeping a mirror of our work to disrupt search engines and cost us page views at our new location. Pathetic, really. Dungy 02:12, November 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * By free to use, couldn't I modify them as I see fit?Dungy 02:13, November 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * Note that Godisme is not a staff member of Wikia. Deliberate modification of the wiki for disruption is vandalism, and is not allowed --  Random Time  02:16, November 5, 2011 (UTC)

When you hit send you release your contributions to wikia & the World so anyone can re use them. The old editor had a clear warning to that effect IIRC. But as Godisme points out above most of the images do not belong to the uploaders on that wiki anyway as they did not create them nor did most of them attribute the images to the games creators or anybody else as very few had any license tag attached at upload. (From looking at a ramdom sample and most of the (std) license templates are missing anyway on that wiki). Anybody can copy them and use them on another site but should attribute the source and creator/copyright holder. Interestingly i've noticed on several wikis that Wikia Staff are uploading images with no license tags of any sort attached on a regular basis !! - The new image upload features actively encourage uploading with no mention of copyright as they have no facility to add licenses or its hidden & uncleaar. A lot of newer users are probably un aware that they are irrevocably releasing images (if they are the creator) or are partaking in copyright theft if the image is not in the Public Domain or under a 'free use license' or if they fail to attribute them under Creative Commons and similar licenses.

Dungey has also forgot part of the pact with the devil - "Wikia" is that they host it for 'free' but there is no such thing as a free lunch - They provide us with the platform and 'we' (the users) provide the content to bring the 'viewers' to see the adds that they get paid for which covers the cost of the servers etc. But the Business model may break down if Wikis keep leaving. But the backup plan appaers to be having staff contributor's building wikis now in some areas (Take look at some of the spotlighted ones) ;) - 03:40, November 5, 2011 (UTC)


 * I have checked the pictures you uploaded to the wikia server over time. Those are ALL screenshots or copied from creations others made (even without proper attribution).


 * I found only a few where there is a minor indication that you have done something to alter this picture provided you ingame with adding some text to it yourself.


 * Seeing that you state to have made them yourself, i can tell you that a screenshot is not considered a 'work of your own' and actually is seen as image theft if it would go to court (The creator of the game has made those pictures, or rendered it with the programs which they used, making them the original creators of those images).


 * You are however free to upload them to other places too, given that you properly attribute those pictures that they are not free licensed copyrighted material by the creator of that game which falls under a fair use policy, because you are trying to describe something about that game.


 * That said, your claim thereby falls short on demanding Wikia inc. to remove those pictures. This claim is not yours to make. It can only be done by original creators of content.


 * Hope this clarifies it for you. If you have actually worked day and night at creating pictures and it is work you can proof was created by you from scratch, then you can remove it yourself, by requesting an admin on that wiki to remove it for you (wait, those admins are actually inactive... Well, you can at least try to contact the most recent active admin for that purpose).


 * Your claim about search results is bogus. Renaming your pictures easily sorts things out.




 * Wikia does not gain the right to freely distribute copyrighted images on anyones behalf just because someone uploaded the images to their wiki. Similar to Wikipedia, you can upload an image and specify the copyright status. That is what the license template tags are for. Uploading a public domain image to a Wikia wiki does not make it CC-BY-SA because it was uplaoded to a Wikia wiki.
 * I've tagged this post Staff needed in hopes some Wikia staff person will clarify the situation. They've already made the whole issue murky by introducing the feature to show the uploader's user name under thumbnails rather than some kind of license tag. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 11 Nov 2011 2:59 PM Pacific


 * Hello, a couple of points to clarify though for the most part this post has been accurate. When you uploaded an image on Wikia, you specified (in a very, very simple generalization) either that it was a fair use image (someone else's image used in a way with permission or is released to the public domain) or that it was your work that you were releasing under a general license. If the latter, you still retain rights to post the image elsewhere but have licensed the community to use the image in a purpose that fits the original intent.
 * Thus, the community has a right to host the image in so long as they meet the above criteria. If you would like an image to be removed from the wiki in question, please contact the wiki's administrators about this issue and respect their rights to make an informed decision if the image you uploaded is too vital to their wiki to delete or can indeed be removed without much pain. To echo what RandomTime said, overriding a legitimate contribution with a contribution meant to hurt the quality of the original resource should be considered vandalism as it violates the wiki spirit. --daNASCAT http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 19:17, November 18, 2011 (UTC)