User talk:MichaelMaggs
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CPUG Board Elections 2026 – Nomination Extended
[edit]The nomination deadline has been extended to: 19 February 2026, 23:59 (UTC)
Eligible members (joined on or before 1 November 2025 with 100+ meaningful Commons contributions) are invited to nominate themselves.
- How to nominate
- Go to the Candidates page
- Create your subpage
- Add your statement
- Links
We encourage broad participation from the community.
Election Committee, Commons Photographers User Group - 17:36, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
CPUG Board Elections 2026 – Voting Now Open
[edit]Dear MichaelMaggs,
You are receiving this message because you are listed as a member of the Commons Photographers User Group and are included in the eligible voter list.
The Election Committee is pleased to invite you to vote in the Board Elections 2026.
- Voting period: 00:00, 26 February 2026 – 23:59, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
- Ballot: Go to the voting server
Full details about the candidates are available at: Candidates Overview
All eligible members are strongly encouraged to participate in the election.
For questions or discussion, please use the election talk page.
Unsubscribe / opt-out: If you do not wish to receive further notifications related to the CPUG Board Elections 2026, you may remove your name from the mailing list.
We look forward to your participation.
— CPUG Election Committee - 10:38, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
CPUG Board Elections 2026 – Voting Closing Soon
[edit]Dear MichaelMaggs,
You are receiving this message because you are listed as a member of the Commons Photographers User Group and are included in the eligible voter list.
The Election Committee is pleased to invite you to vote in the Board Elections 2026.
- Voting deadline: 7 March 2026 23:59 (UTC)
- Ballot: Go to the voting server
Full details about the candidates are available at: Candidates Overview
All eligible members are strongly encouraged to participate in the election.
For questions or discussion, please use the election talk page.
Unsubscribe / opt-out: If you do not wish to receive further notifications related to the CPUG Board Elections 2026, you may remove your name from the mailing list.
We look forward to your participation.
— CPUG Election Committee - 09:58, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Final Reminder: CPUG Board Elections 2026 – Voting Closing Tomorrow
[edit]Dear MichaelMaggs,
You are receiving this message because you are listed as a member of the Commons Photographers User Group and are included in the eligible voter list.
The Election Committee would like to remind you that voting in the Board Elections 2026 will close tomorrow.
If you have not voted yet, please cast your vote as soon as possible.
- Voting deadline: 7 March 2026 23:59 (UTC)
- Ballot: Go to the voting server
Full details about the candidates are available at: Candidates Overview
All eligible members are strongly encouraged to participate in the election.
For questions or discussion, please use the election talk page.
Unsubscribe / opt-out: If you do not wish to receive further notifications related to the CPUG Board Elections 2026, you may remove your name from the mailing list.
We look forward to your participation.
— CPUG Election Committee - 04:36, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
Global public domain status for foreign government work
[edit]Hello Michael,
I am interested in your current thoughts regarding the hosting of foreign government works. Specifically, do you still support the proposed policy at Commons:Works by non-U.S. governments declared to be in the public domain globally?
For context, I have been reviewing the following discussions:
- Commons:Works by non-U.S. governments declared to be in the public domain globally
- Talk
- Wikilegal (2013-12)
- Village pump (2013-12)
- Administrators' noticeboard (2014-06)
- Village pump#Thai military payment certificates (2020-01)
I would like to suggest a simplified approach for these cases:
If the work is declared globally public domain, we host it. If it is not, we should still consider hosting it based solely on the host country's license. The logic is that foreign governments are highly unlikely to sue. I recognize this is directly against COM:PRP, but we could apply a cautionary template to these files to keep track of them. If a lawsuit ever occurs in the future, we can change the policy accordingly, but until then, we keep them on Commons.
What are your thoughts on this? Tausheef Hassan Auntu ✉Talk? 09:23, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
- Hi, I'm not too involved with Commons at the moment, but, yes, I do support that draft policy. I'm less certain about your extended approach, and there may well be resistance based on the extent to which COM:PRP has become a fundamental policy here. There are few countries that will explicitly declare "global public domain", as the expression "public domain" is largely a US law term. In many other 70 pma countries, the law will often state the conditions under which a work's copyright is considered to have expired or under which copyright does not subsist at all. MichaelMaggs (talk) 13:38, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
- @MichaelMaggs:
- I have been visiting libraries and archives for GLAM here in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The National Archives have been a bureaucratic nightmare; it took me six hours just to obtain membership to even view documents. Most of the oldest collections in non-government libraries were destroyed during the Liberation War.
- Much of the material I am finding is now in the public domain locally, but remains protected in the United States under the URAA. Given this, I am trying to find workarounds on Commons, or else I may have to abandon these efforts. Is there any other way? I know you are not very active, but any information would be helpful.
- Thanks, Tausheef Hassan Auntu ✉Talk? 14:03, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
- Like you, I find this intensely irritating but I don't know of any obvious loopholes, sorry. MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:19, 2 April 2026 (UTC)