":Hello, you seem to be quite wise in this department.  Is there something, like the copyleft thing, or full blown copyright with usage rights, that I could use instead?  For now, I've switched the wording to 'please' instead of 'you must'..

by the way, thanks for all your work in this department.  8800 - speak 

Wikipedia requires that user-created images be under a free license: one that permits unrestricted reproduction and modification.  However, there is a way around this.

If you want to restrict who can use your images, your best bet is to license them under the GFDL, with an offer to let people use them under other license terms if they ask.

The GFDL is a very awkward license for images.  It was designed around the needs of the emacs user manual, and requires that the full text of the license be included anywhere that material under the license is published, and that any work containing GFDL material be licensed under the GFDL.  This isn't a problem for things as large as websites and books, but it's not practical for smaller things such as posters and magazine articles, and for-profit companies usually don't want to publish their work under anything but simple copyright.

So, by licensing under the GFDL, you let the images be used on Wikipedia and related projects (such as Wikibooks or Wikipedia Commons), on Wikipedia re-users such as Answers.com, and on other GFDL-licensed websites.  At the same time, you make it difficult to use the image in printed works and in commercial projects, giving you some control over who re-uses your images.

Suggested wording for your template:

This photograph is the work of '
' | xvisionx.com

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover TextsSubject to disclaimers.

If you want to use this image under other license terms, contact me, and we can work something out.

 

"