View source for ISFDB:Image linking permissions

The ISFDB displays images of cover art for publications, and images of authors. In both cases, the ISFDB stores a URL of an image hosted on another site, and displays that image (hot-linking) during page generation. 

== Local hosting ==
As of 15 May 2008, uploading of images via the ISFDB-wiki's [[Special:Upload|upload file]] facility was enabled, and a number of cover and other images have been uploaded since that date. 

The policy on how and when to store images on the ISFDB is still being debated. See [[Help:How to upload images to the ISFDB wiki]] for one guide. The tagging described in that page does not have full consensus support among ISFDB editors. The URLs of images hosted on the iSFDB wiki can be used in publication records just as any other image URLs. 

The remainder of this page applies to images hosted elsewhere than on the ISFDB site.

==The need for permission==
The ISFDB links to cover images '''only''' on sites that have given the ISFDB explicit permission to do so, or sites whose own stated policies or terms of use grant such permission. 
 
Since such images are hosted by another site, that site will get a hit, and a request to serve the entire image each time that an ISFDB user views a page with an image URL being displayed. If the ISFDB uses many images from a given site, and those images are on relatively popular ISFDB pages, this might result in a significant amount of bandwidth for the host site. Since the images are displayed as part of an ISFDB page, no other content from the host site, and no advertisements it may include, are displayed. Some host sites are unwilling to permit this. In particular, Wikipedia, and other sites run by Wikipedia's parent, the WikiMedia Foundation, have a strong policy against such use of images hosted on their sites. They consider it "bandwidth theft" and will block all links from sites detected in such linking, according to their announced policies.

==List of sites granting permission==
*The following sites have granted permission (explicitly, or implicitly by virtue of their own terms of use) to the ISFDB to link to images that they host.
{{Image Host Sites}}

==Wikimedia Sites==
While [https://www.wikimedia.org/ Wikimedia] (Wikipedia, Commons, etc.) allows 'hotlinking' (the kind of image linking ISFDB uses), they recommend against it ([https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia/technical#Hotlinking Wikimedia Hotlinking Policy]). Wikimedia points out that their images are subject to change, renaming, deletion, vandalism, etc. which would impact sites using the image. In addition, Wikimedia images typically have licensing conditions that require proper attribution to be displayed. ISFDB is not set up to meet this requirement.

Wikimedia images can be re-used, with the proper licensing, by downloading the Wikimedia image and uploading it to ISFDB. The uploaded image should provide attribution as specified by the original content creator to avoid copyright infringement. For example, a Creative Commons licensed image should be uploaded to ISFDB using the same Creative Commons license template (see [[:Category:Image License Tags]]) where the attribution field is set to match the Wikimedia image's template.

==Sample request for permission==
This is designed to be sent by email or as a physical letter. It is merely a suggested letter, volunteers are free to modify it in particular cases, or to use a completely different letter. But any communication requesting this permission ought to be careful to explain clearly just what permission we are asking for.


<code>
:Subject: Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) Image Linking Permission Request - <name of site> 

:Hi -

:My name is <name of requester> and I am a volunteer with the Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base (ISFDB) which is located at http://www.isfdb.org. The ISFDB is a bibliographic database of works of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and related works of speculative fiction -- that is, it displays information about the titles, authors, and publications of such works. When we display information about a particular publication (an edition or printing of a particular work) we prefer to display an image of the cover of the work, so that the public can see exactly which edition is being described. We do this by including a URL of a publicly posted image in the database. When the publication page is displayed, the page logic uses the image found at that URL as an image source for the page display, which results in a call to the host server (this is sometimes called hot-linking). Also, the displayed image can be clicked to access the image on the original site directly. One good example of this in action is http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?223909 for an edition of The Lord of the Rings, where the image is hosted by Amazon. We also link to images of authors in the same way. However, we only use URLs from sites that have agreed to permit us to do so.

:Your site <name of site>, located at <base URL>, has images that would enhance the ISFDB, and there have been requests to use your images. We would greatly appreciate it if you would permit us to link to those images. The ISFDB is a completely non-profit, volunteer-run organization. We think that it provides a valuable public service, and helps promote speculative fiction in general. Please let us know if we may display images (hot-link) from your site on our pages by linking to your site. We will also happily provide a credit link back to your site whenever we display your cover art images.  Please copy your response to isfdb.moderators@gmail.com so that the ISFDB as an organization can preserve a record of it.  

:Thank you 

:<signature of volunteer>
</code>
[[Category:ISFDB_Help|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]

==Sample request for permission - French==
This is roughly the same letter as above but translated to French. Most of the work was via [http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ Bablefish] and the result was tuned up to fix issues such as that "site" was 'fished into "place" rather than "site" as in web site. 

If the person you are requesting permission from does not seem to be a computer techie you can remove the latter half of the first paragraph starting with "Nous faisons ceci en incluant..."

<code>
:Subject: Demande de lien de <name of site> vers l'ISFDB (Internet Speculative Fiction Database)

:Bonjour Madame/Monsieur,

:Je m’appelle &lt;name of requester&gt; et je suis un contributeur bénévole de la base de données spéculative de fiction d'Internet (ISFDB) dont voici l'adresse : http://www.isfdb.org. L'ISFDB est une base de données bibliographique qui couvre l'ensemble des oeuvres de l'imaginaire (science-fiction, fantasy, horreur, fiction spéculative). Cette base de donnée rassemble des informations sur les titres, les auteurs, et les diverses éditions de telles oeuvres. Quand nous montrons des informations sur une publication (c'est à dire une édition ou une impression particulière d'une oeuvre) nous préférons montrer une image de la couverture de l'oeuvre, de sorte que le public puisse voir exactement quelle est l'édition décrite. Nous faisons ceci en incluant une URL de l'image dans la base de données. Quand la page de publication est affichée, les scripts employés utilisent cette URL comme source d'image pour l'affichage de page, ce qui a comme conséquence un appel au serveur principal (hot-linking). En outre, l'image montrée peut être cliquée sur pour accéder à l'image sur le site original directement. Un bon exemple de ceci est http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?223909 pour une édition du Seigneur des anneaux, où l'image est hébergée par Amazon. Nous lions également les portraits des auteurs de la même manière. Cependant, nous employons seulement des URL des sites qui acceptent de nous permettre de procéder ainsi. 

:Votre site de &lt;name of site&gt;, situé à &lt;base URL&gt;, possède des images qui enrichiraient l'ISFDB et il y a eu des demandes de la part de nos bénévoles pour les utiliser. Nous apprécierions fortement si vous nous permettiez d'inclure des liens vers ces images. L'ISFDB est une organisation sans but lucratif et constituée de bénévoles. Nous pensons qu'elle fournit un service public valable et promeut les littératures de l'imaginaire en général. Merci de nous indiquer si nous pouvons utiliser les images de votre site. Nous fournirons également volontiers un lien créditant votre site toutes les fois que nous afficherons vos images. Merci de bien vouloir envoyer votre réponse à isfdb.moderators@gmail.com de sorte que l'ISFDB puisse préserver une copie de votre accord. 

:Merci,

:&lt;signature of requester&gt;
</code>