Note: The post below is unnecessarily long, because cold introductions suck and I tend to ramble. You may find it useful to skip to the Executive Summary at the bottom.

...huh, apparently my membership request in 06 did go through. Why did it keep erroring at the time then? Oh well...

Uh hey, Remy? *waves* Derik Smith. TF fandom, 10 year veteran dating a.t.t.

I'm currently attached to the TF Wikia. I have no idea where it lies in relation to TFans.com in the post-ATT fandom diaspora (board search seems to indicate it's been mentioned a grand total of once in Remy's World,) the wiki has a bunch of WIGGI guys though I'm not one of them... (Translation: I'm hopefully into stepping into one of those minefields of bad blood that sometimes crops up between fandom communities. If so I'm unaware of it, except for the fact we probably beat you during Board Wars Trivia at Botcon 2007.)

Right, anyway-- I was hoping to secure permission to use one of your pictures, from ACT 255 (Binaltech GT Smokescreen) for an article we have on the GT System. Which, since the picture is kinda already up would actually be asking Ex Post Facto permission. (I would, of course, remove and delete it should permission be denied.)
I prefer to have permission to use a picture I didn't take or scan myself. (Basically converting a 'fair use' credit to 'used with permission',) which is what I was after in 2006 when I tried (and apparently succeeded) to register here seeking to ask for permission to use for this picture.

I have no idea what (if any) usage restrictions you place on your pictures. I can't find any copyright notice now though I seem to recall there in 2006. Basically I'm asking this; May I have your permission to use the BT Smokescreen picture in ACT 255 for the TF wiki?

Complicating things; there's a triple-handful of other images swiped borrowed from you under fair use on the wiki.
http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/User:Derik/Sandbox6
I don't see any of them marked 'used with permission,' so apparently nobody else bothered to track you down to ask either. *sigh* I must therefore make the same request for those pictures as well.

*rubs head, ruminating* Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki has a complicated, largely unwritten, code about the images it uses that's more often moralistic than legalistic. Hasbro stock photos are preferred, then images we take ourselves and release to the public domain, and failing that some external sources. There's more than 6000 images on the wiki. We try to avoid sources where toy images are a large portion of the site content (as in your case) because it's... not very fair. (This often means Seibertron's too-dark toy galleries, which are but a tiny puddle in their vast sea of content.)

Do you have... thoughts on this? I'm kinda fishing for a broad grant-of-permission to use pics from your galleries, since they're the best ones of the net, provided you were down with the idea, but I'm avoiding outright saying so because that would be presumptuous to the point of rudeness since for all I know you don't want anyone else using your images at all. (Though I suppose I just did say it, damn. What an ass I am...)

Should you be inclined to grant Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki permission to use photos taken from your site (either for those currently there or other images in the future,) there are two legal options; one which leaves some legal control over the image with you, one which simply releases them 'back into into the wild' (from a copyright standpoint.) Conversely, should you request all images from your site be removed, that too shall be done. They'll be removed from their articles immediately, flagged for deletion from the site (a list that's gone through ~weekly.) Um, the Wikia backup archive (a large 1GB+ file of all article or images on the wiki) is compiled more-or-less monthly I think, so they'd cache out of there next update, and then be completely gone.

They're toy pics, they can (mostly) be replaced (even if yours were better.) The one image I'd truly hate to lose would be the Metalhawk one from 06; because it's from an obscure Japanese sourcebook we're unlikely to find again, because it makes Metalhawk's vehicle mode looks cool instead of incredibly stupid (as it normally looks) and because I feel at least a partial sense of ownership, having spent several hours in photoshop repairing it. (The original was on a double-page spread.) But even then, there is one shot in one episode of Masterforce that has Metalhawk's jet mode looking kinda cool (I think it's around episode 8) so even then... we'd make do.

-=Executive Summary=-
So... yeah. *waves* Hi from Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki. We're got some images you hold copyright on, and while our use of them probably falls under fair use, we'd prefer to actually have your permission to use them. Failing that we're willing to remove them if you want. What are your feelings on this matter?

*is not speaking for Remy*

but your captions are priceless, I love the site

Thanks! IIRC very early on (when there was less than 200 articles on the site) the entire contributor base collectively decided "There is no point at all in captioning a picture of Megatron with 'a picture of Megatron'!" and decided to anull/curtail WP:POV (the 'humorless' edict) for the Wikia. (The Wheelie article is my favorite result of this. That and Area 51, but I did that one...)

I'd say you don't have to ask him for permission, since Remy marks the pictures he publishes with his signature. As long you don't cut the sig out, you are free to use them for presentation purposes or to show certain things... at least I think so should it be- some online sellers from my country use my pics and it doesn't bother me at all, since my sig is still present in the picture's corner...

Common sense these days? I applaud your attitude. I just have one tiny extra to add, for resource sites like TA I think that it would be a nice courtesy to add at the bottom of the article Thanks to Remy of WWW.TFKENKON.COM for more of the photographers fantastic pics of this great product.

I just have to applaud you for asking. No one really does that these days. Teletran website +5 in my book