For anyone who missed the context, FF and I are talking about this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pokémon_images
They're thumbnails, they are in no particular
order, they are clearly just a database backend.
Not so long ago we were using indexes from other encyclopedias to get
ideas for articles to write on Wikipedia. The indexes, which had already
be pruned to exclude articles we already had, were just on some "backend"
page and weren't intended for our readers at all. It seemed like fair use
to me. But then we got an edict from above that those had to be removed or
we might get sued IN A COURT OF LAW IN TRE... sorry, got carried away
there. Anyway, the indexes were removed.
Intuitively I would think that these 200 copyrighted images on the same
page, even if they are small and arranged in alphabetical order by
filename, would be a bigger problem than pruned indexes.
I really, really doubt it would ever be
a legal problem in a way the images in
the articles aren't.
*shrug* I have actually a lot of respect for your judgment and you're
better read in this than I am so maybe you're right.
Regards,
Haukur