Talk:goatse.cx

Q: Why is there no image of the subject of the article?

A: Because it's not freely licensed.

The image has had a tumultuous history on the encyclopedia, since a Vote for Deletion in 2005. Between 2005 and 2009, the image was repeatedly uploaded and deleted under our criteria for speedy deletion: namely, G3 (pages that were created solely to vandalise the encyclopedia) and G4 (pages recreated after a deletion discussion), when the recreation did not address the reasons for its deletion. In April 2009, the image was uploaded, and a user made several edits to the image and included it in a manner the user believed to address the criteria; however, the image was summarily deleted and the deletion later endorsed by the community. In mid-to-late-2009, a consensus of editors on the talk page agreed to have the image used, but hidden by default, and later shown by default. The inclusion was controversial, and led to a Mediation Cabal case to resolve the dispute by those wishing to include and those wishing to exclude the image. After another summary deletion, a deletion review found the image to have been deleted out of our normal process, and was deferred to the files for deletion process. After a lengthy nine-day discussion, which pitted the reasons of Wikipedia not being censored and precedent in cases regarding website screenshots and notable images against copyright concerns, ethical concerns about using pornography without the subject's consent, and an opposition to use of offensive content, the image was eventually deleted, with the closing admin noting that, while Wikipedia is not censored and may contain offensive images, there were still concerns about whether the image would pass our non-free content criteria which precluded usage.