Commons:Help desk

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Shortcut: COM:HD This help desk is a forum for questions and help on How to use Commons Anyone, from newbie to experienced, can ask a question here. Questions will be replied to here as well. Any answers you receive are not legal advice and the responder cannot be held liable for them. Please sign your question by typing four tildes (~~~~). In order to get quick answers consider the following points: For discussing current licenses, post at Commons talk:Licensing. For policy, proposals and technical information, post on Commons:Village pump For administrator attention, post here, Commons:Administrators' noticeboard or directly to an administrator For questions not related to this website, try Wikipedia:Reference desk Have you checked the Commons:FAQ and Help:Contents? You may also find what you are looking for in the Commons:Help desk/Archives. Click here to ask your question about using Commons

Important discussion pages (index)
Commons Help desk Community-wide general discussion Graphics: Graphics discussion Ask for image improvement Categories discussion Copyright questions OTRS noticeboard Contact administrators: Vandalism reports User problems Blocks & protections General (none of the above) CheckUser requests Disputes noticeboard IRC Mailing list

[edit] Delete Profile

I just wanna delete my profile and dont have a clue how, so please write me on my discussion and help me! --Daniel Presberger (talk) 21:28, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

See m:Right to vanish and Wikipedia:Right to vanish. I don't know how those documents apply to Wikimedia Commons. That is, I don't know whether Commons follows the same "right to vanish" that the English Wikipedia does. --Teratornis (talk) 03:33, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] TUSC password retrieval

Can't recall my TUSC (Flickr2Commons) password. Now the system is up again, I can't use it, as can't find any password retrieval links or a forgot my password button, usually available wherever a password is required on the net! Any ideas? Also can't find requisite forum to place such a query, as Magnus tools forum requires a login again, so placing it here. Thanks! --Ekabhishek (talk) 14:31, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

We can ask The Google. Which finds:

• User talk:Magnus Manske/Archive 4#Lost TUSC password
  • I nuked the entry, so you can resubscribe. --Magnus Manske (talk) 21:39, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Maybe Magnus will do that for you. --Teratornis (talk) 21:03, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

OK, now that I have resubscribed, the new password is not being verified - showing failed! Any ideas?? PS: I have signed in with my 'en' user account and not 'commons' account in Language box, which was the second option. Did that create a problem?! As I only chose one of two given optionThanks! --Ekabhishek (talk) 05:46, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Still awaiting a response?? --Ekabhishek (talk) 11:52, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

You will have to ask on User talk:Magnus Manske. Probably no one who is reading the Help desk just now knows how to help. Did you ask Magnus Manske to "nuke" your old entry? --Teratornis (talk) 22:31, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Left a a message at his talk page as well, yesterday! Can't there be another mechanism where password can be sent by email automatically to users' ID?! Far easier, and of course lost hours could be saved this way?! --Ekabhishek (talk) 05:11, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

The tool is not part of the MediaWiki software, thus it lacks the extra layers of protection for password difficulties. Millions of people use Wikipedia; maybe only a few hundred use the TUSC system (I'm just guessing). With few users, Magnus may not feel a need to add all the safety features - that decision is up to him. I don't think Magnus reads the Help desk lately, so feature requests here will probably not help. He seems to be busy on lots of sites. In the meantime, you might try the non-TUSC {{Flinfo}} method to upload photos from Flickr. That's what I use anyway, since I had problems getting the bot to work the last time I tried it. --Teratornis (talk) 03:50, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

That's where I have been, in the Flint tool land all this while! Though thought should give TUSC another try, now that it has started working again.Anyway work goes on nevertheless...meanwhile we wait for ....:) --Ekabhishek (talk) 04:32, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

(collapsing indentation hell) You'll have to sign up for TUSC with the language/project you're using tools on. My own tools using TUSC all work on Commons, so you'll need that. If you have problems, try this first, it will give you a more detailed error message. As a last resort, I'll delete your TUSC entry to you can resubscribe. This method has worked so far :-) --Magnus Manske (talk) 09:07, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

I signed up in en itself the first time, later when I tried recreating the account using commons instead of en it showed, "Attention : you are already verified!.." Should I go ahead still?? Now on using the link you have given above, the error message reads "User is blocked. 0". I wonder, if creating an account using en, creates such a problem why have it as an option in the first, just have "commons".... Now what next? --Ekabhishek (talk) 04:46, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Strange. Maybe a miscommunication with the MediaWiki API. I have deleted both your TUSC accounts, please sign in for commons again. Sorry for the inconvenience. --Magnus Manske (talk) 20:11, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Reading the message above, the User is excited, he rushes to create a new account, he carefully types in those words, commons, and a few tricky manouvers, during which he also ponders over his a "new password".. and lo behold! He rejoices as those promising words appear on his screen,"Congratulations, you are now a verified TUSC user! Weep tears of joy, or something.". Cut to few moments later, he tries to upload a Flickr file, but the message is loud and clear! - "TUSC verification failed." The User is left high and dry...in an another corner of the commons, another bot is rubbing hands in glee. What would happen next, the suspense is terrifying and the prospects thrilling! --Ekabhishek (talk) 05:43, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

I suppose that means "it still doesn't work". Instead of poetry, the tusc_check output would have been helpful - is it still the "blocked" message, or something else? Were you ever blocked on Commons? Are you using funny UTF8 characters in your password? In my database, your account is marked as validated, as are ca. 3000 others which appear to work fine, so I'll have to figure out what is different about yours. --Magnus Manske (talk) 13:57, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes it still shows "blocked 0". No, I am NOT using "funny UTF8 characters" in my password, I can send it to you if you wish, and have never been blocked from commons..Do let me know if you need any other info in figuring out. Thanks!--Ekabhishek (talk) 05:57, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The only way I could reproduce the error is by intentionally mistyping your username. I fixed the error message generator, so it will now distinguish between a blocked user and a nonexisting one. Please try again, making sure your username is correctly typed (upper/lowercase, no trailing tabs characters etc), and tell me if it still says blocked. In my experiment, the only things not verifying is your password, for the reason that I don't have it, so I expect it to work for you as well. Cheers, Magnus Manske (talk) 23:42, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks! --Ekabhishek (talk) 09:07, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] How to change the name of a file?

I uploaded a file (Elizer Hirschauge (portrait).jpg), but there is a misspelling (should be Eliezer Hirschauge), how can I change it? Thank you. --Marcel Duchamp (talk) 20:44, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

See COM:FAQ#How can I rename/move an image or other media file?. If you can wait some days or longer please use {{rename|Newname.jpg|reason=your reason}}, an administrator will execute your move request. If you want to have the result immediately please reupload the image with the correct name and place {{badname|Newname.jpg}} on the old file description of the badnamed file. --Martin H. (talk) 21:21, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for help. I used the rename template, I hope I did it correctly. --Marcel Duchamp (talk) 00:06, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

For more important requests, I guess you can use this. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 05:36, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Reviving an old version of another image

The File:VTA LRT 2.JPG has an earlier version that I think should be uploaded under a new name. However the owner of this file apparently speaks and reads only in Japanese, and I have no way of asking his permission to convert and upload the old version. Naturally I'd give him credit, but is there any legal way I can go about doing this? ----DanTD (talk) 05:39, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

User:Snty-tact appears to be the uploader of the earlier version and his/her user page lists {{User en-2}}. That said, the original upload appears to have been freely licensed which means you are free to upload it again under a new name, with no need to contact the original contributor, although you could leave a note on User talk:Snty-tact explaining what you did. --Teratornis (talk) 05:09, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

So, when I upload it, I can click "It it entirley my own work," even though it isn't? ----DanTD (talk) 16:45, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I would use the basic upload form and paste in a copy of the original wikitext from the revision you are reviving. You could then edit the wikitext to explain what you did, and link to the original image. And edit the wikitext to use a proper {{Information}} template. It would be nice to find an example where someone else did what you want to do. --Teratornis (talk) 21:09, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, I did it. If I did it wrong, please let me know. I'm glad you appreciate me giving credit to the original photographer. I've uploaded a lot of photos into the commons that are not mine, yet when I click on the gallery from my homepage, I tend to find them there mixed in with mine. ----DanTD (talk) 00:55, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Rename

Please, how to rename the uploaded file? -- Дар Ветер (talk) 06:14, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Upload the file with the new name again and request to delete the old file. --Wvk (talk) 06:25, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Where should I request it? -- Дар Ветер (talk) 07:47, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests --Wvk (talk) 07:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! -- Дар Ветер (talk) 07:53, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

See #How to change the name of a file? just above. --Teratornis (talk) 05:10, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Translation

I am a novice and want to make a derivative file from Surface water cycle.svg with titles in Esperanto. I succeeded in getting a translation on my own computer, but I don't manage to upload this file. It just isn't clear at all for me. Thanks for explaining ! --Forstbirdo (talk) 08:32, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Did you try the option "its a derivative work of a file from commons" in Commons:Upload? This tool is wrongly saying you are not logged in, just ignore that warning. --Martin H. (talk) 14:37, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, that's what I tried. That terrible "Derivative FX" doesn't explain anything. What should I do with "Description", "Changes", "Editor"...and so on...? --Forstbirdo (talk) 09:55, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

"Description" is just what you'd put if you were uploading a new file. If you're just changing the language displayed, you can probably just keep the text that's already there (which is the description field of the original file by default). "Changes" describe what you've changed. "Editor" is the user performing the edits (that's you). Powers (talk) 15:09, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Finally I succeeded. Thank you very much for explaining! (It was not so easy. Perhaps next time it will do better.) --Forstbirdo (talk) 21:34, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] ...doc documents

How do I have to convert a word pad document with the ending .doc so that it is possible to upload it?--87.143.120.65 21:25, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Upload it where? Please describe the content of the .doc file and what you want to do with it. This is Wikimedia Commons, primarily a repository of images and other media files. In general we don't edit articles here. If you want to write an article, you might want one of the Wikipedias. If you want to upload some sort of document verbatim, Wikisource might be suitable. --Teratornis (talk) 23:11, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

This is not a useful answer to the question.--87.143.126.199 22:22, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Commons is not a place to store private documents or text at all; it's a repository of images, video and audio for educational purposes and/or Wikimedia projects. A doc file is not likely to be accepted here in any form. It's not particularly productive for us to help you upload this file if it's just going to get deleted.--Prosfilaes (talk) 22:28, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

My reply is not a useful answer to the question because it is not an answer to the question. Rather, my reply consisted of a request for more information about what you want to do. There is no useful answer to the question as you posed it, because the question provides insufficient information to determine whether Commons allows what you want to do. The format of a file is far less relevant than the content of the file - the content determines whether Commons allows it (see Commons:Project scope). However, if you tell us about your goal, not just the step you have in mind to reach the goal, we might tell you another step that will work. Please read How to Ask Questions the Smart Way. --Teratornis (talk) 23:45, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism warning templates?

Do we have any templates for warning vandals similar to those used at the English Wikipedia? This edit is clearly vandalism, so I'd like to use a standard warning template if one is available. Nyttend (talk) 00:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, for this purpose Template:Inappropriate imagenotes and escalating

• Template:Test2
• Template:Test3
• Template:Test4

You may activate the Gadget User Messages in your preferences, it gives you a lot of tools for user talkpages in the toolbox on the left side - but be carefull, it writes the selected message directly to the user talk without asking you again, pay attention that you not click them by accident the first time. --Martin H. (talk) 02:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Change attribution of image

A few years ago [1] I uploaded Shichi_fukujin.jpg [2] to Wikipedia. (It's something I bought myself and is hanging on my wall). It appears as though another user took this image, added it to Wikicommons, and then put in a "pd-self" tag so that it appears as though they released the copyright. How do I correct this so it's attributed to me? Doctor Boogaloo (talk) 23:29, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Replace the pd-self with {{PD-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} with projectcode "en", projectname "English Wikipedia" and username your username. --Martin H. (talk) 01:07, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I assume the pd-tag is your choice - if not you have to correct the whole license with the license you initially selected. --Martin H. (talk) 01:10, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Thankyou very much Martin. Doctor Boogaloo (talk) 02:11, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Help needed

Why can't I find any articles on Commons? What are the differences between Commons and the en local project?Unioneagle (talk) 02:50, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

See the Commons:Project scope and the Commons:FAQ (#1.1). This is a media repository for freely licensed or public domain media files. --Martin H. (talk) 04:05, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Also read the articles on the English Wikipedia that describe the two projects:

• Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Commons

The closest thing Commons has to articles on Wikipedia are gallery pages. Many categories on Commons have interlanguage links to corresponding articles on the various language Wikipedias. An article on the English Wikipedia may link to a category on Commons with Template:Commons category. See for example Wind power and Category:Wind power. --Teratornis (talk) 04:55, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] A question that had no heading

Thank you to WikiAdmin. In the gallery do you have a third one photo with my identity picture? Regards SULPIN —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2009 90.33.135.45 (talk • contribs) 13:54, 18 November (UTC)

I don't understand the above question, and it seems nobody else here understands it. Please give a link to whatever you could mean by "the gallery" and explain the phrase "a third one photo with my identity picture". If English is not your native language, you could also try asking in whatever language you like, and maybe someone who understands that language will know what you mean. If you have an account on Commons, you should log in before asking a question, so we can look at your contributions. Sometimes we can see what a questioner means even if the questioner does not know the technical terms to describe it. But if you have no account or you do not log into your account, we do not have those clues. --Teratornis (talk) 22:01, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Uploading an image of a painting given to me by a deceased artist

I wish to upload a portrait painted by the artist in 1944 and given to me by the artist in 1985. The artist is now deceased.

I also wish to upload a picture of the artist, together with an unknown person, taken in a public place (a village High St) in the late 1950s/early 1960s, also given to me by the artist in 1985.

None of the licence descriptions seems quite right. What should I do? Tomintoul (talk) 15:35, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Neither of them are legal to upload. In the first case, you'll need the permission of the artist's estate; in the second case, it's more complex, because you don't know who the photographer was.--Prosfilaes (talk) 16:13, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your input, however there is no organisation/body responsible for the artist's estate and I do know that the unknown photographer was simply a 'passer-by' asked to take an informal 'snap' – it is not an official portrait. Surely this changes things?? Tomintoul (talk) 16:54, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Afraid not. Copyright law is not intuitive. Whether or not you can identify or contact the copyright holder of a work, whether or not they expressed an interest in retaining that copyright, they still own the copyright; this is called the orphaned works problem. Dcoetzee (talk) 17:01, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Problem with POTD RSS feed

I'm trying to embed the RSS feed from the Wikimedia Commons POTD into a Wikispaces wiki using their RSS widget. But I get this error message: "A feed could not be found at http://toolserver.org/~daniel/potd/commons/potd-400x300.rss"

I asked Wikispaces help about it, and they told me this: "The feed is being served with the wrong content type. The server is describing the document as "text/plain" instead of an RSS feed, so our parser doesn't know how to understand it."

I'm not a techie so I don't know what this means exactly, but they tell me I can't do anything on my end to make this work.

Do you have any suggestions or workarounds?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.229.185.200 (talk • contribs) 18:26, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

This seems like a hard question. Perhaps the people who might be able to help are not reading the Help desk just now. You might try asking on the Commons:Village pump or Commons talk:Feeds. Often the talk pages of the manual pages that describe some technical feature will have some discussion about it. But the Commons:Feeds page is not very detailed and its talk page is not very busy. Since you have a specific error message, you could try Googling for its exact text. Sometimes this can find discussions of the same error elsewhere on the Web. I do that routinely for computer problems, sometimes with good results. --Teratornis (talk) 22:07, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Hachiman-zukuri.png

Hi. I created a file (Hachiman-zukuri.png), uploaded it but immediately realized I had made an important mistake in the caption, so I uploaded a new version. Unfortunately, all previews still show the mistake. Is there any way to fix the problem, or do I have to update a new version of the file? It's not a cache problem. That's the first thing I thought of. I looked at the file with both my computers, and the reversed captions are there. (talk) 23:30, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

The File:Hachiman-zukuri.png has already been deleted by a Commons administrator so you can upload it again. --Teratornis (talk) 22:18, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Also note the difference between "cache" and "purge". See WP:PURGE. --Teratornis (talk) 22:20, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, this is a very useful tip.Urashimataro (talk) 06

13, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Trying to replace an image with a better, edited version

The original image is http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_phone_subscribers_per_100_inhabitants_1997-2007_ITU.png

I have edited it to remove the part of the graph that went up to 120 (the maximum number of people per 100 people is 100.)

I have uploaded this edited version to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_phone_subscribers_per_100_inhabitants_1997-2007_ITU1.png

Please replace the original image with my edited, updated version. (You may want to take out most of the junk from the comment on my image, I can't because apparently me reformatting the image that I just uploaded would be "potentially unconstructive". As though I'm vandalising the page I just created.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mechwarrior Puppies (talk • contribs) 06:24, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Your account is new so you are not yet autoconfirmed. In a few days you will be able to upload a new version over the existing File:Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants 1997-2007 ITU.png. Also note:

• When you update your original file, you can add a {{Duplicate}} template to File:Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants 1997-2007 ITU1.png and an administrator will delete it.
• If your charting software supports SVG output, that is better than PNG because SVG will allow your charts to scale to other sizes without jaggies and aliasing artifacts. For more about SVG on Commons see the links under COM:EIC#Inkscape.
• See Commons:Templates#Created with... templates. If we have a template for the software you used to create the chart, you could add that template to the image description. That would look nice and inform other users about how to make similar charts.

--Teratornis (talk) 23:35, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Image not displaying in Wikipedia

photo of a skyscraper

I uploaded this file yesterday but it is not displaying on the 111 George Street article in Wikipedia. Any ideas why not? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shiftchange (talk • contribs) 07:38, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Fixed. Please remember to sign posts on talk pages using ~~~~ --Dweller (talk) 10:53, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] License question

I don't upload images very often... help with this question gratefully received.

I have an image of a statue to upload. So it's a photo taken by me, of a piece of artwork on public display (in the street) that I didn't sculpt myself!

Cheers --Dweller (talk) 10:46, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

See Commons:Freedom of panorama for relevant country laws. --EugeneZelenko (talk) 15:33, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks. --Dweller (talk) 16:17, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Create category

I cant find the categories I want. How to create new categories (in this case "Norwegian Rivers" and "River Skas-Heigre"). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul Aakerøy (talk • contribs) 09:47, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

See Category:Rivers of Norway. --EugeneZelenko (talk) 15:40, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

For more information see the links under COM:EIC#Cat. Categories can be tricky at first so it pays to read the friendly manuals. I recommend keeping a list of any new categories you create, on your user page (see mine here). --Teratornis (talk) 19:05, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] categorization

Hello!

Yesterday I uploaded an image but forgot to categorize it. Now I cannot find how to edit the category. And the bot is crying... Could you please help me? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eclipsa (talk • contribs) 11:28, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Go to the image page and click on the "edit" tab at the top. Then add [[Category:Brabus vehicles]] and click Save. Pruneau^talk 13:16, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Template to renominate for deletion

Which template should I use to renominate the file for deletion if I disagree with an admin's decision not to delete it? Commons:Deletion_requests#Appeal --Klodl (talk) 11:14, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Also {{delete}} on the image description. Place the renomination deletion request on the same subpage at the very end of the page below the closed deletion discussion (below the {{delf}}!) and relist the deletion request at the today log. --Martin H. (talk) 11:22, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks very much for your time to help out. --Klodl (talk) 12:04, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit]  ???

مساء الخير عليكم وأشكركم على هذا المجهود الرائع وأود أن أعرف منكم كيفية الدخول والتسجيل علما بأننى حاولت الدخول أكثر من مرة وتعطينى رسالة خطأ فى الدخول... وكمان أريد الحصول على أدوات الجنس المختلفة ولكن للأسف لم أمتلك ماستر كارد وهل من الممكن الحصول على هذه الأدوات مجانا للمعرفة والدعاية لكم أرجو منك الإفادة فى هذا الشأن من فضلكم أنا فى إنتظار ردكم وشكرا لكم فى جميع الأحوال مع خالص تحياتى لكم....جووووووووووود باااااااااااااااى أنا فى الإنتظار

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.238.43.182 (talk • contribs) 14:29, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

From Google Translation I suspect you are wrong here. This is Wikimedia Commons, the shared repository for freely licensed media files of all Wikimedia Projects. To create an account please see the Commons:First steps. You said something of MasterCard (ماستر كارد) - you not need to pay to use Wikimedia, if you want to donate to Wikimedia Commons please visit foundation:Global_Support/en. --Martin H. (talk) 18:48, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Correct category?

Could an administrator examine the category, and adapt these if necessary? I'm not familiar with the refinement of the English language. I've some problems to find the suitable words.

• There are different categories with Novula-Icon.
• It is about to study reading notes for guitar. (Midi-File will come soon)

Thanks for your assistance :o) --Mjchael (talk) 07:16, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't understand why you are asking for an administrator. If you are asking how to categorize the above two images, any Commons user can do that, not only administrators. Categories on Commons can be tricky at first. I suggest:

• Read the links under COM:EIC#Cat.
• Type terms relating to the images in the search box to the left. Look for categories in the search results, and look at similar images in the search results to see what categories they are in.
• Search the various language Wikipedias for these terms also. Read all the Wikipedia articles you find. See how the articles are categorized on Wikipedia. Look at the images in each article. If the image files are on Commons, see what categories they are in.
• Look at the histories of these categories and images to see the users who have edited the categories or uploaded images. Look at their user pages to see if they share your interest. Ideally you would like to find another Commons user who speaks your native language and who shares your interest in this topic.
• Ask on a relevant WikiProject such as: Wikipedia:WikiProject Music or one of its subprojects.
• Keep notes on your user page as you gain information.
• Sometimes part of the category structure on Commons can benefit from some reorganization. If you are new to Commons or working against a language barrier due to the English bias on Commons, then it could be difficult for you to determine what changes to categories are needed. The more difficult a problem is, the more important it is to take careful notes as you learn more clues.

--Teratornis (talk) 22:47, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] SVG converting?

Can someone help me to convert Image:Modern Talking.png to a SVG file. Thanks, and please contact me if you can... --MisterWiki (talk) 18:54, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

If you get no help here, try asking on COM:GVP. The users with graphic skills seem to hang out there. See for example COM:GVP#Signatures to SVG?. --Teratornis (talk) 04:20, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Chirstianity is not Catholicism and Catholicism is not Christianity

Your page: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade" is erroneous in that you state Christians executed The Crusades. "Christians" were completely nonexistent during the time of the Crusades in that they were either killed or disbursed in the first century by the Romans. Their hidden "Dead Sea Scrolls" were found in the Qumran Caves in the 1940's based on your own site: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran_Caves." Educated Christians and Catholics agree that Christianity and Catholicism are mutually exclusive. Christianity did not make a comeback until Martin Luther Posted the Ninety-Five Theses in the 1500's. You can find the information on Martin Luther and the Ninety-Five Theses based on your site: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther" and will find the Protestants and Catholics disagree completely on doctrine. Though the Catholics (lightly) use the Bible they base their beliefs on the Apocrypha. If you ask an educated Catholic if he is a Christian he will tell you no, he is a Catholic. If you ask an educated Christian if he is a Catholic he will say no, he is a Christian. Wikipedia should change any erroneous claims about Christianity that are actually Catholic in order to make their site more credible.

Thank you,

Mike Fouts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.242.169.10 (talk • contribs) 01:24, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

This is Wikimedia Commons, the shared file repository of 700 Wikimedia projects including Wikipedia projects in 250 languages. See our FAQ to learn more about Commons. If you want to adress an problem about an Wikipedia article you should go to Wikipedia and ask at the articles talkpage or the helpdesk there. --Martin H. (talk) 01:28, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

You could express your concerns on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Christianity but I suspect your rather idiosyncratic claim that Roman Catholicism is not a form of Christianity will meet with some resistance. (There are of course profound doctrinal differences among the many branches and schisms of Christianity, as is the case for other large religions. Schism appears to be an inherent property of any religion which survives very long and grows to a large size.) While there is always room to improve, Wikipedia seems credible enough already to have become one of the world's top five Web properties in English. You might also consider editing on Conservapedia. --Teratornis (talk) 04:35, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Create a new page

How do I create a new page? Half the time I can sign in and the rest of the time it says I am blocked because of vandalism. I just created my account today, I have a completed page in my sandbox, but it won't let me link it. Help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mc26 (talk • contribs) 04:26, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

This is Wikimedia Commons, a file archive for Wikipedia projects in 250 languages. You created an article on your userpage, User:Mc26. Commons is not the place for articles, only freely licensed media files and galleries of media files are collected here. You are not blocked here, but your article is placed on the totally wrong project. --Martin H. (talk) 04:30, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Account Problem

Hi Leute, hab mich gestern hier angemeldet und heute ein Bild hochgeladen http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao_fog_installation.jpg (weiß noch nicht, wie ich es anders verlinken kann). In der Hochlademaske war ja automatisch als Autor mein Nutzername "Nikopol" als Link eingetragen. Wenn ich jetzt unter dem Bild auf den Link "Nikopol" klicke, werde ich allerdings auf die Userpage von einem "Nikopoley" weitergeleitet. Woran liegt das? Wo ist meine eigenen Page, und wie kann ich die bearbeiten? Bei "Einstellungen" ich ja geht da ja nicht... Danke! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nikopol (talk • contribs) 01:22, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Problem behoben. Unter dem Namen Nikopol existierte schon vorher einmal ein Account der sich auf Nikopoley umbenannt hat. Ich habe die Weiterleitung der Benutzerseite gelöscht so dass deine Benutzerseite nun leer ist, ebenfalls die Weiterleitung deiner Benutzer-Diskussion habe ich mit dem üblichen Welcome ersetzt. Wilkommen :) --Martin H. (talk) 03:16, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Answers to your other questions, I think:

• You can link to the image like this: File:Guggenheim Museum Bilbao fog installation.jpg.
• To edit your user page, click your username: User:Nikopol and type what you want. For more information about user pages see COM:EIC#UserPage. You can look at the user pages of other users to get ideas about how to organize your user page.
  • For example, you could put a {{User de}} template on your user page. See Commons:Babel so you can list the languages you speak.

--Teratornis (talk) 03:26, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Danke!--Nikopol

[edit] Old picture

Good night! I need your help, i want to know if it is possible to upload an image wich is from 1891 and whose author died in 1931, is that possible? I leave you best regards ---- Plav mušketir ^Živijo 04:44, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

For most countries (except Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Côte d'Ivoire, and some other more difficult circumstances) it is possible, upoad it with the "its from somewhere else" option in Commons:Upload, fill out the required source and author information and select the license "Public domain: Author died more than 70 years ago". That will result in {{PD-old}}, the applicable license here. Check Commons:Licensing for terms of copyright expiration. --Martin H. (talk) 11:11, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

That 's perfect, really thank you very much! ---- Plav mušketir ^Živijo 12:47, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Lag time 19+ hours?

I have no idea where to report this, so I'm starting here: I'm getting an "estimated lag for commons.wikimedia.org: 19 hours, 9 minutes" message (as of this comment). The http://status.toolserver.org shows s6 having a major issue, but also that the status.toolserver page hasn't been updated since Nov. 14. Am I missing something? Is something really down? Is this some sort of maintenance issue? Is there a huge number of files being upload by administration? I've never seen lag like this. - Tim1965 (talk) 13:24, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] No "you have a new message" banner when someone leaves a message at my talk?

In this edit, someone left me a notice that a set of categories was at CFD. There aren't any problems with the notice: it was obviously done in good faith, a helpful notice, and the link to the CFD works fine. However, I didn't realise that I'd been left a note until I checked my watchlist, at least twenty minutes after I logged onto Commons today. Why didn't I get one of the orange you-have-a-new-message banners? I've always before gotten such a message when someone left me a note. Nyttend (talk) 13:56, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

I have no idea, but you could look at the Wikimedia Technical Blog to see if this is part of some larger "known issue". Do you have this setting in Special:Preferences under the user profile tab:

• E-mail me when my user talk page is changed

That might provide another layer of notification in case you don't see the on-Commons notification for some reason. See also WP:EIW#Technical and WP:EIW#Bugs. --Teratornis (talk) 22:09, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Interestingly, I just logged in, and the banner appeared the second time I opened the window, even though the message was left over half an hour ago. It's not a big deal; I check my watchlist every time I log in. Nyttend (talk) 13:49, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Assistance with permissions

Please see Commons:Deletion requests/File:Animalkingdom.jpg. The uploader claims to represent a company that has been granted a limited right to use the image (and others) by the copyright holder. Can someone more familiar with licensing and permissions issues please answer the uploader's concerns? Powers (talk) 16:10, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Someone needs to follow the procedure in COM:OTRS for that image. --Teratornis (talk) 22:28, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but the user claimed the process to be "clear as mud" and I don't have the necessary experience to walk the user through it. Powers (talk) 16:22, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Then I guess the image will get deleted. The instructions in COM:OTRS have apparently been clear enough to lots of people. If the user cannot tell us what he or she finds confusing about the instructions, then there is probably nothing we can do. Most people probably don't have the ability to use a do it yourself system like Commons, unfortunately. --Teratornis (talk) 21:11, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] stock image royalty-free for non-commercial uses only, usage credit required

Can an image labelled as "stock image royalty-free for non-commercial uses only, usage credit required" be put on wikicommons & used on wikipedia? It's from a book published in 1909. See http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Gotch/pages/105-Montacute-house/ for more info.Rodw (talk) 21:49, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikimedia Commons does not allow media with a non-commercial restriction. See Commons:Project scope#Required licensing terms. However, if the image is from a book published in 1909 then it should be in the public domain. See Help:Public domain, and for a famous example see Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. Judging from the "About" page on that site it looks like the site owner is a hobbyist who may not be familiar with details of copyright law that impact what he is doing. I.e., I don't think he can claim a non-commercial restriction over an image that is out of copyright. The fact that he scanned the image probably does not meet the threshold of originality. However, rather than confront him in a hostile way, I suggest telling him that having his scans uploaded to Wikimedia Commons will drive traffic back to his site, because his scans will appear in Wikipedia articles where they will be widely viewed, and our image pages will link to his image pages as our sources. We can certainly credit the person who scanned the image from an old book, and if he asks for donations on his site that is not an issue for us. --Teratornis (talk) 22:26, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments - I have emailed the person who scanned them in asking if he has any particular text he wants used as a credit on here. I've uploaded a couple which he lists as public domain ie File:Somersetshire map 1786.jpg & File:Farley-Castle 1830.jpg - it would be great if you could check the licence & text I've added to ensure I'm giving the right credits to the right people etc.Rodw (talk) 22:53, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

See here; he is aware that the original images are PD, so it's clear that he thinks he has copyright over the online images because he scanned them. Nyttend (talk) 00:22, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

The book, The Growth of the English House, by Alfred J Gotch, was published in London in 1909. The copyright law in effect in London at that time for photographs was life + 50 years, but has since been extended to life + 70 years; the laws in European countries are not the same as in the USA, and books published before 1923 are not automatically out of copyright; in addition, the term "public domain" has difficulties, because of laws about moral rights. In the case of this particular book, photographs are out of copyright but accompanying text and diagrams are still covered (they get a different copyright term in the UK). For works that are out of copyright, the wording on my website (www.fromoldbooks.org) says a that usage credit is requested, not that it is required, and there's no restriction for commercial or other use. The content management system I am using makes it hard to distinguish the copyright of individual items in a book, so they generally all get marked with the most restrictive term that might apply, but I am not attempting to claim any copyright for scanning images: US and UK law is fairly clear on that point, and in the US there is legal precedent, but in Canada (where I live) it's not so clear, and there is not a "public domain" in Canadian law, e.g. moral rights to attribution cannot entirely be waived here. For works published jointly in multiple countries which have ratified various international copyright treaties, the shortest period of copyright in any of those counties applies to all of them for that work, but that only applies for works published within 30 days in multiple countries. So for Internet publishing of a work, where people can view and potentially reuse the work in any country, there is a potential "conflict of laws" situation, but, in general, the copyright law of the country in which the work was created and first published, where these are the same, will prevail. Hence, I have followed the provisions of the UK Copyright Act, taking into account also the influence of Canadian law where the scans were made and where the site is hosted. I hope that's clearer; I'll work on making the copyright notes on my Web pages clearer over the next month or so. Thanks, Rod, for contacting me - and sorry for a long answer! The short answer (as I said in my email) is that yes, where images are out of copyright feel free to use them in wikipedia, and I'd be pleased if there was a link back. Barefootliam (talk) 16:14, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

For Internet publishing of the work, the copyright law of the server and host prevails. Note that Agatha Christie's estate has not managed to remove The Mysterious Affair at Styles from Wikisource or Project Gutenberg, nor ultimately did the Margaret Mitchell estate manage to pull Gone with the Wind from Project Gutenberg Australia. See The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation: Cease and Desist Responses for some examples here. Commons concerns about the copyright of original nation are a slightly idiosyncratic choice, not law.--Prosfilaes (talk) 16:31, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

• Apologies to Barefootliam for my incorrect assumptions about him. No need to apologize for a long answer - when unraveling copyright questions, more information is usually better. See the links under COM:EIC#Copyright for information about how Wikimedia Commons appears to interpret copyright law. Thank you for sharing your work, and for actually coming here to discuss with us.
• Note to Prosfilaes: it looks like "wikisource:" is the interwiki link prefix that works, rather than "ws:" wikisource:The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

--Teratornis (talk) 19:47, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Why can I not see the image i uploaded

Media:Example.ogg Can youplease help with my image upload, it is not visible and how do I apply it to my wikipedia document? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Egyptiancotton (talk • contribs) 00:55, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

The image you uploaded appears to be: File:Canningvale Egyptian Cotton Towels.TIF. Please read Commons:First steps and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. The preview of that image does not display for me. When I view the image itself, my browser opens an external image viewer and then I have to wait for 21 MB to download. That is not very convenient. You might want to downsample to a smaller size and change the format to PNG. The image will soon be deleted anyway if you don't add permission information. See Commons:First steps/License selection. --Teratornis (talk) 20:20, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

TIFF files don't have a preview. JPEG is probably the best format, since it's a photograph, but given that the original file is uncompressed, the PNG is only a third the size (7 MB), so I don't see the need to scale it down.--Prosfilaes (talk) 20:46, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] How to add a picture

Hello-

I want to add a picture for Al Riley. How do I do this? He has provided a picture to be posted; he is an elected official and I want to use his profile picture. Please advise.

Thanks, Marta Perales —Preceding unsigned comment added by Msperales (talk • contribs) 14:01, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Please read Commons:First steps. If you did not take the picture yourself, follow the procedure in COM:OTRS so we can properly document permission from the photographer. Is the picture already online somewhere? --Teratornis (talk) 20:23, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Filter for Commons display

It sure would be helpful if there were a filter function (e.g., *.png) on the display of thumbnails in the Commons "Recent Files". That way, one would not have to scroll through hundreds of Pie Charts, for example, that held not the least bit interest to many of us. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.19.69.250 (talk • contribs) 17:35, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Every time I use a computer, I see many ways I would like it to work differently. Probably the only way to get the system you want is to code it yourself. --Teratornis (talk) 21:15, 24 November 2009 (UTC)