QUOTE(tarantino @ Sun 12th July 2009, 1:54pm)
Lar has removed Dcoetzee's administrator rights[/url], four minutes after a request by Gmaxwell, so he won't be tempted to unilaterally delete the images.
Let's cut the bullshit here: the WMF is afraid that the "admin" bit Dcoetzee has can be used to argue the WMF has liability. Employee status, that kind of thing.
By shit-canning Dcoetzee -- in effect, firing him -- the WMF is doing
its due diligence to protect its own ass in the event of a lawsuit. "We didn't authorise that, and look, we ditched him as soon as we realised the error."
As Multichill notes, that Dcoetzee is to be thrown to the legal wolves is his problem now -- the 'community' will simply sit back and watch, popcorn in hand. Already a few people have stepped up for offers of legal aid. Unfortunately, $20 ain't going get you much, Dcoetzee.
SERIOUS LESSON BEING LEARNED: do not, ever, EVER, upload anything you did not create to any Wikimedia project. Regardless of the copyright status.
Just don't do it.. Let Gmaxwell, Lar and other WMF functionaries "take the piss" on that front. If the WMF had any shred of honesty, and respect for its contributors, this message would be a big, bright, flashing warning on every upload page, to be doubly confirmed, and the copyright patrol would become a much simpler authorship check instead.
This post has been edited by taiwopanfob: