From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

[edit] May 1

[edit] GeoCommons

Following the work of Wikipedia-World, I have just installed on the toolserver a project to show geocoded Commons images in Google Earth: GeoCommons. This is good use for the data we have here, and with precise geocoding and enough images it allows for a proximity search type of image browsing or just looking at a landmark from many different angles. The downside at the moment is that it works through database dumps, which means weeks of delay before edits are visible. That might change, though.

When Google introduced the Panoramio.com image layer in Google Earth at the end of last year, they had around 100,000 images. Less than half a year after, they're almost up to a million [1], and I haven't seen any cats so far. Even though a layer of our own that needs to be installed separately doesn't quite have the same kind of exposure, it's a good starting point to encourage making our data even better.

To help with geocoding, images needing coordinates are easy to find with Mayflower. For example, this Mayflower search gives a list of images of the Tower of Pisa that haven't been geocoded yet. Google Earth can also simultaneously use multiple sites as placemark resources, so it's easier to figure out where exactly a photo was taken when there's something to compare with. For help on adding the actual coordinates, see Commons:Geocoding and en:Wikipedia:Obtaining geographic coordinates. --Para 01:40, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

I worked on this a bit more to get rid of the long delays mentioned above and have the data update quicker. Rather than having to wait weeks for a new database dump to arrive, edits to geocoding on Commons are now visible on Google Earth within minutes, depending on the toolserver replication lag (which at times is quite a few minutes itself). --Para 23:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image:Austmap.png

The image was deleted on Commons and bot replaced with Image:As-map.png on en.WS (not sure of the order of events). I have looked at the new image description and there is no information that this is actually the map from the 2004 CIA World Factbok. Which, of course, is where the image is used in Wikisource. A map is not simply a map of a place but of a time as well. I never saw anything on CommonsTicker about this. Can someone explain what exactly happened here and how I would know if it was a still the appropriate image for the 2004 CIA Factbook.--BirgitteSB 16:10, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

I have checked, and it is the exact same image, yes: however the image information on both is (nearly) identical as well, and there was no information on the deleted version stating it was from the 2004 CIA Factbook. The content of the deleted image's page was "Map of [[Australia]]. {{PD-USGov-CIA-WF}}", while the current version has the addition of "CIA" in the description but without a date. -- Editor at Large • talk 17:17, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Alright, maybe it would best if I simply reupload all these under a 2004 title. It happened before where they were all replaced with updated versions from the 2006 Factbook and I am unsure of how certain I can be that it was properly fixed.--BirgitteSB 17:27, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

You can certainly do that, if you want to ensure that it remains the 2004 version. Uploading to a name such as "CIA Factbook 2004 [map title]" would ensure it isn't updated and will likely be helpful to wikibooks in terms of knowing which version you are using and finding them faster. Image:As-map.png is used a lot (55 pages in 35 projects), so I suggest just uploading to the different name for now and leaving the existing one under the title it is currently at. Normally the original would be marked as a duplicate but in this case it may be updated to the new version, and we would want the latest edition on wikipedias rather than the outdated one. -- Editor at Large • talk 17:49, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting COM:MOTD up

I have been undertaking a project that uses the Wikimedia Commons Media of the Day, while doing this it occurred to me that it would be useful to split it up into 'Audio of the Day' and 'Video of the Week' (since there are insufficient videos). This would provide better user experience since generally users will either be interested in audio (such as music, which the commons has a fair bit of) or video. Lcarsdata 17:04, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

It would be nice to be able to broadcast on the front page that we have both audio and video, as I am sure a lot of people are unaware that we host both as well as images. Having a separate VOTW may help to boost awareness that we host video and perhaps (hopefully fingers crossed) get us some more free video content. -- Editor at Large • talk 17:11, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

I think, go for it. pfctdayelise (说什么?) 03:01, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 2

[edit] featured image not available for download

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to write this (if it is not, move this discussion to the proper page): I want to signal that Image:Canis lupus laying.jpg is not available in higher resolution. May it be fixed? --Smark 08:23, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Try here [2]. It opened fine for me, though it is slow due to large filesize. -- Editor at Large • talk 12:54, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Linking to wikipedia categories

Hi, i am fairly new user to Commons. I searched (futile!) for information on whether i can add Wikipedia categories to images located in Wikimedia commons. This will ensure that i have all the images with respect to a category available irrepesctive of the location of the image (wikipedia for fair use images and commons for free photos). Is there a command, syntax for the same? Pls let me know. Vimalkalyan 11:58, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

You cannot add images from Commons to a category on wikipedia, or add images from wikipedia to categories on Commons; you can link categories here with the same name as wikipedia ones by using [[en:Category:Foo]]. This adds it as a link in the navigation bar, below the toolbox; it will be a link saying "English", as with interwiki links on articles in wikipedia. You can also add the {{Commons|Category:Foo}} template to categories on Wikipedia, or {{Wikipedia|Category:Foo}} here (though that is unnecessary if the interwiki link format is used).

Note too that Commons has fewer categories and less restrictive ones than Wikipedia; we don't have "Canadian-Irish actors from Mexico" type categories and because we have images they are usually less subcategorised, to allow for easier browsing. Cheers, -- Editor at Large • talk 12:52, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

You can add Commons images to Wikipedia categories by editing the image pages in Wikipedia. But I am not sure if that is a good idea. Most times it should be enough to connect the categoris with interwiki links as Editor at Large describes. /82.212.68.183 13:48, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What the f*ck are people doing here?

Why do perfectly good images (name, license etc. all OK) have to be replaced by one with just a slightly different name, creating hundreds of useless edits all across projects? Take for instance Image:Lombardy-flag.svg vs. Image:Flag_of_Lombardy.svg and Image:LocatieAmsterdam.png vs. Image:LocationAmsterdam.png. What's the frigging use of replacing them, besides creating work for CommonsDelinker? None. 84.84.36.240 23:13, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

The friggin use would be a consistent naming scheme. --Dschwen 23:18, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

See Commons_talk:Deletion_guidelines#Deleting_duplicates. Apparently image redirects kind of work (they look terrible, but Tim says they work well enough). So probably we should start just redirecting duplicates instead of all the stupid bot work (or worse, image redlink holes). --pfctdayelise (说什么?) 03:00, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 3

[edit] CC-3.0

Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere. Files licensed with CC-BY-3.0 are beginning to show up on the internet. Some have already been copied to Wikimedia Commons such as Image:Aleurites_moluccana.jpg. Others it would be nice to add so they can be used in the various Wikimedia projects. The CC 3.0 license (according to the templates) are not yet approved as free. What is the process and timeline for such approval? --Selket 00:08, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

The stalled discussion is at Commons_talk:Licensing/Creative_Commons_3.0. From that discussion it seems clear to me that the U.S. versions of the CC-by-3.0 and CC-by-sa-3.0 licenses are acceptable. The unported licenses may be ok, but the rest are questioned due to moral rights clauses. The U.S. version does not have a moral rights clause. The unported license has a moral rights clause, but it only applies to the jurisdiction it is sought to be enforced in, so it is likely ok. -- Ram-Man 01:52, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

It seems to me that the unported version doesn't create moral rights, it simply states that they are not waived. Now, I don't know very much about E.U. copyright, but my understanding was that moral rights aren't waivable anyway. So, it seems that it is simply acknowledging the legal reality of those jurisdictions. If unported is "likely ok", can we fix the template? --Selket 05:30, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

No. The legal text of the unported licenses goes beyond saying "moral rights are not waived", which is the crux of the dispute. I think there is agreement that the -us licenses are acceptable but the unported license, as well as some of the others, have a clause that is contentious. Given that, the unported licenses should not be accepted until the resolution of the discussion - participate there not here.--Nilfanion 06:40, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

This should not be a debate internal to Wikimedia Commons. If there are in fact problems with the moral rights language as is (which I doubt), these should be debated on the cc-licenses list, and CC should be asked to fix them. It is not fair or reasonable to condemn any particular CC license if no real effort has been made to resolve the problems with it. CC is trying to make its licenses legally safe by adding the moral rights language, not trying to add new restrictions.--Eloquence 10:46, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

While I agree there is value in working to make the CC license compatible, that is not the threshold for whether or not it can be used here on the Commons. Let me quote Commons:Licensing

Works which are not available under a license which meets the Definition of Free Cultural Works are explicitly not allowed. See the Wikimedia Foundation board resolution on licensing for more information.

Either a license meets that definition or it doesn't. In the opinion of a lot of editors, most of the CC-3.0 licenses do not meet that criteria and thus by mandate of the resoution passed by the Wikimedia Foundation board we can't use it here on the Commons. In fact, based on your point it may not even be legally possible for a worldwide license to be compliant with the Definition, but that doesn't change what we have to do here. Even if that excludes a certain block of people, there is nothing we can do about that. The board resolution doesn't say "A license must meet the Definition of Free Cultural Works unless such a license is not legally possible". Also, we must have a debate whether or not we allow the license and discuss whether it meets our criteria. Trying to move the issue elsewhere is not helpful for our purposes. Condemnation or not, we have rules that we have to follow and the CC shouldn't take it personally that we follow those rules. Fairness isn't at issue here. -- Ram-Man 12:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

The licensing policy explicitly refers to the licensing section of the DFCW, so moral rights that exist outside the license are not a problem. The question, really, is only whether the CC licenses create any new restrictions.--Eloquence 12:47, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

So you are saying that we can allow a license that acknowledges non-free aspects, such as moral rights? What if laws were changed that permitted moral rights to be waived? In cases like that, we'd be stuck with non-free licensing even though it would no longer be legally required. This is why there are objections. The CC licenses may create new restrictions either now or in the future because they don't maximally waive moral rights. In any case, we shouldn't be rehashing these issues here, as they are clearly disputed. Move them to the link provided above. -- Ram-Man 13:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

If the licenses establish restrictions beyond the legally anchored and inalienable moral rights, those should be challenged. I am simply not convinced that an issue of interpretation should be resolved here by banning these licenses. Rather, in recognition of CC's aims, we should work with them in figuring out whether the current wording is a problem, and how it could be improved.--Eloquence 23:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

The problem with Freedomdefined and the decision of the foundation is that Freedomdefined is totally clueless with regard to moral rights. It's been five weeks since I asked them about their stance on moral rights [3] and they have not been able to clarify that issue one bit.

What seems odd to me is that some people are against moral rights although moral rights are as a part of droit d'auteur (copyright) as commercial rights. Samulili 18:19, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

The relevant licensing section of freedomdefined.org does not concern moral rights. If the CC 3.0 licenses establish restrictions beyond the inalienable ones, those (and only those) would have to be held up against the four freedoms.--Eloquence 23:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other license reviews

There is currently a {{flickrreview}} process (and a few other similar processes) to have a trusted user or sysop verify that the image was available at the source, under the particular license on a particular date. It seems like it would be a good idea to have a general license review request for images that are just hosted on random sites but released PD or under a free (or almost free) license.

For context, his and my previous post both relate to Image:Aleurites moluccana.jpg, which was moved from en, but labeled with the wrong license. The website source clearly indicates that it was made by U.S. government employees but not on official duty. --Selket 05:25, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 4

[edit] Quick question on copyright law on performances

I've long known that camera flashes are distracting/dangerous to performers on a stage, which is why you should refrain from taking pictures during concerts (the darkness is nothing a sturdy tripod can't fix, but that isn't very polite, hmm?) Recently, however, I've heard people also saying that taking pictures of the performers violated copyright law. Is there any validity to this claim? What if the concert is free and hosted on government property (i.e. the Trenton War Memorial)? Thanks for your time: this is a purely theoretical question and I won't be hurt if no one answers. ;-) Edward Z. Yang 01:58, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

See Commons talk:Licensing#Copyright status of concert photographs. --EugeneZelenko 13:54, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] When an SVG isn't an SVG

I was looking at Image:Coat of arms of Venezuela.svg and I decided to expand it. You will notice the fuzziness. That's becuase a PNG is embedded in a .SVG format. I didn't know if there are any other cases like this but they should be deleted or dealt with because they obviously do not add any benefit over a PNG. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this. gren 04:46, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

There is an older version. I won't delete this because it may be relevant in some cases, but I have reverted to a real vector version. gren 04:48, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Grouping pictures of a series?

I have uploaded a few of a series of images starting with 2007 wasp nests in curtain.jpg. I used galleries on the image pages to indicate that they are related. Is there a better, suggested way of doing this? Creating a separate category looks like overkill to me, as does creating a separate page.

Here's another example of a very small series (same event, same photographer):

• Image:Ssn22vBear1.jpg
• Image:Ssn22vBear2.jpg

So what do others do?

In some cases (large series, notable event), categories seem to work:

• Category:Bayrou's meeting in Paris for the 2007 French presidential election, 18 April 2007
• Category:Royal meeting in Paris for the 2007 French presidential election, 6 February 2007

Sometimes you can find the series only when visiting a user page:

• User:Jastrow/Press photos#Demonstration against CPE, Mar. 07 2006

Here an editor added links to pictures in the same series, calling them "Other versions":

• Image:Pferde im Trab.jpg
• Image:Pferde im Galopp.jpg

Maybe we should have a template in the spirit of the "Other versions" example, but with a more helpful wording?

I have raised this issue at the help desk several weeks ago without getting an answer (archived here). Rl 13:01, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I find the solution you used in image:2007 wasp nests in curtain.jpg rather useful, at least for a small series of images. -- Túrelio 18:34, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to copy an image from Hungarian Wikipedia, and to get it deleted from there afterwards

I hope this is the right place to ask this question. I've been editing article about striped grass mice at en and at fr. In looking for interwiki links, I found that the Hungarian article had an image which is not available on commons, but which I'd like to use at en, and perhaps also at fr. I'd like also to take a few centimetres off the margins, so that when the image is a particular size, the mice will be more visible. I looked at en:Template:NowCommons for interwiki links, and there doesn't seem to be a Hungarian one. So I'm not sure what would be the correct thing to do after I've uploaded it. Based on instructions I was given previously when I asked an administrator about copying an image of an ice cream machine from fr to Commons, I think that what I should do is the following:

1. Save the image to my hard disk.
2. Upload it to Commons, under GDFL and Cc-by-sa-2.5, as in the original. Use the same name — "Lemniscomys barbarus01.JPG" Mention also that it was uploaded to Hungarian Wikipedia by hu:User:Azay, with date.
3. Go back to the saved image on my disk, and crop the edges. Make no other modifications.
4. Upload the modified version over the original, adding a note that ElinorD cropped it but that the image is not modified in any other way. Leave the licence tags alone.
5. Look at user language categories on hu.wiki, trying to find someone currently active who speaks English. Leave them a message asking them to tag the image for speedy deletion. (I tried putting {{db}} on the image just using preview, as an experiment, and it didn't work. Obviously they don't use the exact same template codings.) The en template db didn't have any interwiki links either, so finding a Wikimedian who speaks both Hungarian and English seems to be necessary if the original is to be deleted after being uploaded to Commons.

I'd appreciate if someone could confirm that all of this is the correct way to do it — or to warn me if it isn't. Many thanks. ElinorD 16:31, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

They've got a template like nowcommons. So you can simply use {{nowcommons}}.

The steps above seem ok to me, except that you also need to link to the original image page, i.e. hu:Kép:Lemniscomys barbarus01.JPG, on the image page here.. --Erwin85 18:37, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I'd be grateful if you (or someone else) could have a look at the image Image:Lemniscomys barbarus01.JPG and check that I've done everything correctly. The image at hu was tagged with GDFL and cc-by-sa-2.5. So when the uploading instructions told me to change GDFL to {{GFDL-user-w|hu|Hungarian Wikipedia|Azay}}, I assumed that I was also to put {{cc-by-sa-2.5-user-w|hu|Hungarian Wikipedia|Azay}}, but it didn't work. I then changed it and just put {{cc-by-sa-2.5}}, which seems to be fine. I haven't yet put the nowcommons template on the original image, but I'll do that in a moment. Cheers. ElinorD 19:05, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Little striped mouse shows old version at fr article and new version at en article

As mentioned above, I've been working on articles about the striped grass mouse (Lemniscomys) both at en and at fr. I created a short article on the Lemniscomys striatus in English and in French. The image that I used for both was one that I found at the German article, but it is hosted here at Commons. As the little mouse was in the centre, and the picture had a lot of background, I felt that the mouse was too small be be properly seen when inserted into a taxobox. I saved the image, cropped a few centimetres from top, bottom, left, and right, so that the actual mouse would be bigger if the picture was fitting into the same amount of space. I uploaded the new version over the old, and explained to the uploader.

Since then, I have found that the mouse looks larger than before in the German article, and in the English article. However, it still looks tiny in the French article, and it's obvious when I look there that I'm seeing the original version of the image — from before I cropped and re-uploaded it. I've tried reloading the page, purging the cache, etc., but nothing works. I recently looked at it on a different computer, and it was still the old version showing at fr. There are also other places where that image appears, and sometimes it shows the tiny mouse from the old version, and sometimes the larger mouse from the new version. How can I get the French article to display the modified version of the image? Thanks. ElinorD 17:20, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I guess you solved this already? I see the same images on de, en and fr. --Erwin85 18:41, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, but no, I haven't solved it. I see the same image in English and German, but the French article shows what is unquestionably the original version of the image. Of course, it's exactly the same photo, but in the newer version (English and German), the mouse is bigger in proportion to the rest of the photo, and there's less background. I've looked at it with two different computers, so I don't think that it can be related to not having uploaded the page properly. Thanks anyway. ElinorD 19:10, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Update: After trying for over a week, with constant purging of the cache, and reloading the page, I have finally managed to get the image at fr to display according to the modifications I made. I guess it must have had something to do with my computer, after all, rather than with the Wikimedia software, so sorry if I wasted anyone's time. ElinorD 17:16, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 5

[edit] Please vote

Should all pictures be deleted which are published after 1922 and of which the creator died after 1925? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Licensing#Opinion_section is awaiting your vote. --Historiograf 22:02, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

• Please read http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Licensing#Pros_and_Cons first ;o) Michelet-密是力 17:23, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 6

[edit] Category

Hi, I'm new here and planning to upload pictures from Indonesia/ Jakarta. My question is, if I would like to start a category, for example: category:street vendor in Indonesia -- should I just do that or should I do category:street vendor and category Indonesia For now, since I'm in a hurry I just do the first option, but your enlightment is appreciated.

Serenity 09:25, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Note that categories are plural, so the category should be "Street vendors". However, Category:Street stalls in Indonesia already exists so another category is probably not needed. Most categories that you might need already exist, so it's always worth searching a little bit. - BanyanTree 11:56, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Banyan, thank you. I try to follow rules as I grasp it along the way (know-by-mistake-type). I also took a lot of pictures of flowers from Indonesia.

Unfortunately, I don't know what they are (latin name and so on).

Are there any expert that I can ask? Or is it possible just uploading the flower name as in:

Flower1

Flower2

But if I do so I'm afraid it'll be lost in the jungle of commons. Any idea? Serenity 06:58, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

In case there are only a few plants/flowers, you may add Category:Unknown species. Regarding identification of species I made the best experiences when asking for help at the biology portal in my local wikipedia (:de). -- Túrelio 08:26, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Turelio, I did the same, unfortunately flowerist in my local wikipedia is only one, and his time is limited. I actually made a quiz page of: guess the name (hoping for a latin name) -- but out of 10s, I've got only 3 ... something like that. After I got the 3, I request deletion of the species and move it here --> Obviously multiple tasking to be done.

I'll do as you suggested then, Category unknown species from Indonesia (maybe it will be easier since it is already identified as a tropical country. Serenity 08:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC) 08:45, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Your English seems good enough to ask at the English science reference desk; you might have more luck there, since there's a larger base of people to ask. You could upload them all with a uniform name, then ask for identification in bulk--the file could then be re-uploaded under their proper names. (Though I don't know if we frown on that here or not.) grendel|khan 22:03, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

You might also try asking for assistance on the discussion page of w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Plants. Plastering that talk page with images would probably be unwelcome, but a request for help with a link to a relevant page of images for bulk identification would be OK. - BanyanTree 23:20, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

*crying* OMG, I thought my knowledge in wikipedia (writing) is good enough for commons, now that I saw the links that you suggested, I can't believe that 'darn camera of mine' now force me to learn an absolutely new science... hiks.

Thank you all, as you might be aware, my "internet time" is limited due to "personal use of official internet connection at my office" -- or something like that, as my supervisor like to pointed out *big grin*

I'll move all conversation to my discussion page and follow your advice... euh... slowly..

One more question, so the best thing to do to rename is actually to re-upload the file using the correct name, yes?

what happened with the uploaded picture with the wrong name? Should I put {{delete}} tags? Serenity 01:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Nah, just use {{rename image}}; the administrative gnomes will get around to it and do it The Right Way. grendel|khan 02:10, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Help needed with CommonsDelinker bots

Please let me know if you are able to help me improve the code for two bots that save our community a lot of time: a bot that deletes images on local wikis once the image was removed here (delinker) and a bot that can universally replace images (replacer). The current code does its work but needs a lot of monitoring. It is basically unstable. You need to have a solid understanding of Python and the Pywikipediabot framework to be able to help here. Having access to the toolserver is an advantage. All actions are logged in a database table that could use more exposure to the outside world in some way (php/perl web knowledge required). Please contact me by email or on IRC. Thanks in advance. Siebrand 20:19, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Anyone? Pretty please? Siebrand 22:59, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 7

[edit] Gif into SVG : How make Automatic conversion of hundred thousand GIF ?

Example of former GIF to converte...

...the final SVG version need.

Hello everybody, and especially SVG likers.

I'm looking for an automatic tool able to converte hudreds of such black & white GIF images into SVG. The gif that I want to converte anre such as on the right, it's a basic work of 5 clics, but I need to do this for... 100.000 images ! Is it a solution to converte all a serie of Gif into SVG ? Did you already heard about such wide conversion ? All help is welcome, about 4.000 of this images will be share with commons, in the Commons:Ancient Chinese characters project --Yug (talk) 23:11, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

I haven't heard of any such tool that exists yet, but the GIMP should be able to handle this type of task, manually.  V60 ^{干什么？ · VContribs} 17:21, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

There are programs to automatically trace raster images into vector images. I can't think of one off the top of my head but such tools exist under linux and you could easily write a script to iterate over thousands of files. However, your vector results are only going to be as good as your raster source with this method. Cburnett 18:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

See List of raster to vector conversion software. I believe potrace may be helpful here; it's command-line and very configurable--the marginal cost of doing an extra image is very, very low. grendel|khan 22:00, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 8

[edit] Proposal

I suggest adding

{{Information
 |Description=
 |Source=
 |Date=
 |Author=
 |Permission=
 |other_versions=
}}

[edit] Category and/or Gallery question

I am doing a mini-"raid flickr for free images"-project, meant to obtain specific free images of people (mainly from Israel) for Wikipedia use. This basically means I take one free use image of the subject and upload it. Since the plan is to have only one pic should I:

1. Open a category for the person and only give the category all the relevent general categories (from, occupation, born etc.) + interwiki to the relevant article.
2. Open a gallery for that one pic and give the gallery the many cat's + interwiki.
3. Both
4. No cat. or gallery, just give the pic the categories (and forget the iw?)

Thanks, DGtal 13:34, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

If you feel that there is more then one free image available, will be good idea to create category/gallery with interwikis. Otherwise - just add single image to relevant categories (for example, Category:People of Israel). --EugeneZelenko 13:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 9

[edit] Quality and copyright questions

There's currently a deletion debate going on at Commons:Deletion requests/Image:Palestine Mandate 1920.gif which raised a couple of questions in my mind - hopefully someone here might be able to answer them!

• Do we have any guidelines for image quality standards? The image is of very poor quality and has an embedded and lengthy English-language caption, which obviously reduces its portability across multiple Wikipedias. I voted to delete it because I felt - as a matter of gut instinct - that it fell below the standards we should expect, but having thought about it a bit, I'm wondering exactly what quality standards we apply. At the very least, it doesn't seem to be a good idea to embed a caption below an image. I've never seen any other examples of this sort of thing; is it something we're supposed to discourage?

• Where do we stand with derivative versions of copyrighted images? According to the image description, it's based on a number of fairly recent publications - the odds are that it's traced from a low-resolution printed map (which would explain the pixelation as the result of subsequent resizing). The US Copyright Office's guidelines on derivative works suggest that a slightly altered copy of an original work wouldn't qualify as a legitimate derivative work and would presumably be a copyright violation.

Any thoughts? -- ChrisO 00:31, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

See Image:BritishMandatePalestine1920.png, a higher resolution vector version. It should supercede the .gif one anyway, this should kill the problem. Michelet-密是力 06:23, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Information itself is not copyrighted. If a recent publication places a state border at some place, anybody can draw a map with a border at the same place, using the same information (for which there is no artistic creativity, it is not an expression of the author's personality). Theoretically, you cannot use the same map, the physical thing (for which there may be artistic creativity), in a reproduction or transformation process. Practically, a map like this one, simply showing a border position, is to trivial to be copyrighted, because there is no way to make the difference between the two processes. Michelet-密是力 06:31, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the quality question, my answer would be to only reject images because they are considered too low quality when there already is an alternative (of higher quality) available. How much better would depend on the degree of similarity between the pictures and the number of alternatives. Of course this is all just my opinion. - Andre Engels 14:30, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Coverage of political and social events

Hi there,

As you perhaps know, French Wikipedians and the French chapter, Wikimédia France, have made a special effort to cover the French presidential election (we obtained press access to some meetings, obtained good photographs of all 12 candidates, as well as of other politicians, etc.). I think we should sustain this effort with respect to the various political and social events (for instance, we obtained photographs of the post-election rioting from a person with a Flickr account).

There are a variety of events on which we are likely to have Wikipedia or Wikinews articles: elections, riots, protests, etc. We should try to cover these. Either go there if it is nearby (do not take unnecessary risks) or gently email people who put up photographs on Flickr or similar.

(Word of caution: I think we should not make faces too recognizable, think about taking photographs when people are looking elsewhere, or blur or pixelize the faces. We do not want to get people in trouble, be them rioters or law enforcement.) David.Monniaux 08:21, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Advice needed

I request from an author for the permission to use one of his image that already hosted on the internet and this is what I got, "Thanks for your enquiry. In principle I have no problem as long as you are not using the image for profit and the license does not allow people to reuse it for profit. As long as these conditions apply feel free to use it and attribute with my name."

1. Is this permission goes with the Wikimedia Commons policies?
2. If YES, could you people point out me the correct license template for it? Thanks 124.43.208.233 20:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

No, sorry. Non commercial licenses are explicitly not allowed on Commons and other Wikimedia projects. See Commons:Licensing. -- Bryan (talk to me) 20:39, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Ok thanks 124.43.214.136 21:50, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 10

[edit] Crystal Clear - computer icons

It seems like this page got a bit of traffic recently, thanks to Digg. There seemed to be a lot of appreciative and positive comments in the digg post.

It got me thinking, that it may be worth our while to spend some time organising all our computer icons a bit better. At the moment it's REALLY haphazard.

Gallery pages seem better suited to computer icons than most images, because it's quite reasonable to have 200 or 300 images and it's still quite a small page. In fact, it's *better* than a category listing, because the category introduces all that unnecessary whitespace.

So... I don't know, do people have ideas about how it is sensible to organise icons? Pages like this are obviously very useful. I was thinking maybe it might be useful to have a big table with columns=different themes, rows=icons for different functions. Any other thoughts? --pfctdayelise (说什么?) 14:48, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

There are many duplicates among computer icons. Those should probably be redirected to the preferred file names. Unfortunately many has already been deleted. /82.212.68.183 16:54, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

I often find myself trailing through the pages and pages of different themes of icons to find one suitable for my purpose. A table like you have proposed would ease this task incredibly. Lcarsdata 06:23, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

I think it would, too. --MichaelMaggs 17:12, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I made a start: Comparison of icon sets. It is quite hard work. There is a problem that I can't figure out, too: should be list icons by the function they likely represent, or what they actually visually show? Functions are not always represented the same way. For example the date/time function can be represented by an analog clockface, or by a calendar. (Probably other things too.) Tango has a useful document we should try and copy, I think: [[4]. --pfctdayelise (说什么?) 08:53, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3d Icons

Where can i find 3d icons for use with web applications on wikimedia?

[edit] May 11

[edit] Problem with rtl interface

I took a screener. The red shows the Comons logo fly sideways and the yellow shows the diff indent of the sidebar. This needs to be fixed. Yonidebest Ω Talk 15:56, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

By the way this is an internet explorer only bug, while I fully agree this should be fixed, it may be more productive for you to use a browser which displays this properly for the time being (for example Opera or Firefox). I will have a go seeing if I can fix this. Lcarsdata 16:01, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

This appears to be a bug with MediaWiki:Monobook.css/he after doing some tests on my testwiki. Fixing atm. Lcarsdata 16:05, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

I cannot see what is causing, the original rtl.css does not have this problem, it must be caused by some of the stuff not included in the 'light' version. Lcarsdata 16:10, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

I'll turn to Eran, the person who added the script. Yonidebest Ω Talk 16:58, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 12

[edit] Commons:Meet our photographers

Hello,

I created this page (thanks to David Gerard's suggestion) as a place where we can highlight, to outsiders, our best photographers, and show that we do have professionals and professional-quality work here. It is also a nice way to thank such superb photographers for donating their time and work to us, by letting them self-advertise a little bit.

You can see I put an example user promo there. Before we get started filling it out I guess we need some criterion for inclusion. So obviously this is only about people who donate their own work. How many FPs should they have before they should be included on this list? 5, 10, 15? Other ideas? (BTW I think we can make a similar page like Commons:Meet our vector artists for our SVG whizzes, too :))

--pfctdayelise (说什么?) 14:49, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually instead of discussing it here, please comment at Commons talk:Meet our photographers --pfctdayelise (说什么?) 14:52, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is this derivative work?

I have seen the image Image:Sisko-Zanaq.png, and I'm not sure if this can be considered a "derivative work" or not. It is a "fan art" version of a character from a Star Trek TV show, but it isn't a direct reproduction of the show (it isn't a screenshot, a promotional poster, etc.), neither it features (as long as I'm aware) strong trademarked things that would make a strong diference between fan art of a TV character or fan art of an actor.

You can check the original character at Star Trek Thanos 16:38, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

If faces are the works of god, then this is a derivative of one of his/hers works ;) Otherwise I think we just have a portrait here. Samulili 17:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Problem is that it is a portrait of a fictional character. A portrait of Patrick Stewart would be fine but one of Jean-Luc Picard would be more of a problem.Geni 01:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

This looks OK to me. --MichaelMaggs 17:10, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

As long as it does not inherit from another picture (poster, screenshot), there is no "derivative" from the Star Trek TV show involved: the piece of art reflects the artistic personality of its author, not of the actor or TV show creator. Beware, the analysis would of course be different for a comic strip character. Michelet-密是力 05:24, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New upload page bug

I used to be able to add many sound files quickly because I could return to the "Upload own work" page and it would still have the templates and selections in place. I merely has to select a new file and make a minor change or two to the information of the next file. Now each time I go "Back" to this page, it tells me I'm not logged in. I have to reload the page, re-enter all the file information, and re-select the permissions. This makes using the upload feature painful and annoying. --EncycloPetey 18:50, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Um... AFAIK no changes have been made to the upload form that would affect your edit session and log you out. Do you have "Remember my login on this computer" enabled at Special:Preferences? pfctdayelise (说什么?) 02:12, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I have never enabled that "remember me" thing for anything in my life, and yet I haven't had problems with the upload yet. I only have problems if I am not logged in the first time I go to the upload page--and obviously, every time I return to that page with the "back" button, I still get the info that I'm not logged in... but that shouldn't be your problem because once you got through to the upload form, that should be available via "back". Hm... --Ibn Battuta 03:54, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

That sounds like my problem. While I use "remember me", my computer had "forgotten" this time I went in, so I wasn't logged in before I went to the page. It may be a cache issue. --EncycloPetey 04:26, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Converting images to SVG in Inkscape

This was covered somewhat on a discussion thread higher up on the page, but my problem is with Inkscape. I can't figure out to convert basic pixel-based images into SVG. Other than manually tracing the lines, is there a way for the program to outline simple shapes? I'm starting with Image:Gaf.png, which is pretty basic. If anyone could point me in the direction of a tutorial or help page that would be great, or if there is a simple button or command in the program to use that would be even better. Thanks. ɪkiɾɔɪd | talk 20:13, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Inkscape has an auto-trace feature under path->trace bitmap but you will usually better results if you just draw new paths yourself. For very simple examples like the one you posted the trace bitmap feature may produce acceptable results. --Gmaxwell 20:51, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I got it working, and uploaded Image:Gaf.svg. Thank you so much! What is the name of the template that I put in Image:Gaf.png in order to indicate that a vector version is available? ɪkiɾɔɪd | talk 21:23, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

{{SupersededSVG}} Yonatan ^talk 21:47, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually {{vva}} or {{Vector version available}} should be used instead, if you just want to indicate that there is a vector available. If you've replaced all uses of the png with the vector and the png is no longer used, orif the png is a very low-quality image and the svg should be used for quality purposes, then {{supersededSVG}} is the right tag. The superseded tag was mostly used before when the deletion requests on superseded, unused images were still going on. -- Editor at Large • talk 00:54, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

You may be really interesting by this : Commons:Ancient_Chinese_characters:Tutorial, we do exactly tha same work than you (Image:Gaf.png=> .svg), but with chinese characters. --Yug (talk) 11:31, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I'll look into it, thank you for the link. I think it is ok to delete the PNG version--it isn't used anywhere and I'm the creator. So I guess I'll list it for deletion. ɪkiɾɔɪd | talk 15:26, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I used {{Superseded}}, is that a bad thing? CrazyPhunk 08:43, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] May 13

[edit] "Why DID you delete... ?"

For the first time I've found myself in the list of those saying "Why did you delete my picture?", and promptly I find that I'm not the only one using the past tense--it seems that uploaders of images suggested for speedy deletion are generally not informed (and I'm not sure about the others, I still have to gather some first-hand data on that :o))...

Wouldn't it make sense to have a software that automatically informs uploaders that their image has been deleted and why that has happened? i.e. something like "copyright violation, it was suspected that this was image was not taken by you", "copyright violation, it was suspected that the subject of this image was protected by copyright", etc. I'm imagining the sysops or whoever does the deleting just entering some short tag or clicking on a certain button or however you guys do this... and the rest should be automatized, so that there is essentially no additional work: The software should fill out the summary line (allowing you to add stuff, of course, but being sufficiently comprehensible if you don't) and post this info on the uploader's website. BTW, this would also have the advantage that user discussion pages would be even more informative about their past uploads than they are right now. (i.e. if I want to contact a user about a license issue, I get a quick overview unless he's archived his stuff...) - What do you think? --Ibn Battuta 03:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

We have several hundreds of deletions each day, while backlogs are still growing. Therefore, it is possible that a user is not notified of a deletion (actually quite often). It could be possible to create a bot, that fetches each day the deletion log and notifies users that a file they uploaded has been deleted, similarly to the notifications DRBot sends for a pending deletion. -- Bryan (talk to me) 14:25, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I always try to inform the uploader with {{speedywhat}} when I delete a picture. The job is rather tiresome indeed and I would be glad indeed if it could be auromatized. I feel we should also have more specific templates for straightforward and frequent cases, such as Fair Use pictures from en:, logos or press material. Of course I can just write "please don't upload logos/Fair Use pictures/anime pictures/press material, they're not free" but everyone cannot read English. A page like Commons:Administrator translations/Suspected copyvio, with several translations of short and to the point sentence, would be a great help as well. Jastrow (Λέγετε) 17:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

The following instructions should help you figure out what happened to your deleted media files (typically images) manually:

1. Access your long upload log.
2. Search it for redlinks (links to things that don't exist), or search the source for "=edit" without quotes. For instance, in your upload log I found Image:Henry Vaughan.jpg.
3. For each redlink found, click the redlink and then "deletion log" on the last line, or just paste the image name onto http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=delete&page= (spaces should be autoconverted to underscores), for instance http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=delete&page=Image:Henry_Vaughan.jpg.
4. The resulting deletion log entries should show you what happened, in this case the following single entry:

• 08:28, 14 April 2007 Herbythyme (Talk | contribs) deleted "Image:Henry Vaughan.jpg" (correct at Image:Charles I etching.jpg)

Thus, it appears in this case that Herby thought that Image:Charles I etching.jpg was a "correct" version of Image:Henry Vaughan.jpg. You'd have to ask him why he thought that. :)   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 16:45, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Jeff G., thanks for your help, but Herby deleted it because I marked it for deletion. The image that made me post here was Image:University of Virginia Cavalier mascot.jpg... but though I'm following up on it (which looks like becoming a rather tedious process...) that's actually not the point either because I'm more interested in the solution of the problem "users are not informed" than in my "personal" issue with that image. Thanks anyways!! --Ibn Battuta 16:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[prior editing conflict]

Sounds to me then that 1.) sysops should use standard words for typical reasons for deletion (so far: fair use, anime pictures, press material, derivative work, logos; BTW, please note that many German logos are free, probably also logos under other legislations).

2.) a bot should work through the deletion log and identify the uploaders of all versions of that image from its file history (unless the uploader is identical to the user who deleted--or does that rarely ever happen?)

3.) the bot posts an information on the userpage(s), if possible, explaining the reason (see 1); this info contains a clearly visible link (something like "You don't understand English?" or something similar?) to a page with more information in other languages, again possibly directly linking to the page about the particular reason for deletion.

4.) The information/ the deleted pages should be short and easy to understand (linking to more comprehensive information on the already existing pages) - the goal is to let the uploader understand what's happened, not to inform him about all possible caveats for the next time (okay or not?)

Would you agree? And if so--who could write such a bot? The owner of the DRBot, someone else, any volunteers, ...? And again, do you think further "standard cases" of reasons for deletion should be included? --Ibn Battuta 16:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm the owner of DRBot :) I'm currently still busy with Flickr, but only one part of that of what I wanted to do with Flickr is left, so I hope to finish that soon. Next on my list are a rewrite of DRBot, such that it also can archive COM:UDEL, do some more sophisticated archiving, and possibly also do the tasks described above. However, that won't be before June, and possibly even July. So if there is somebody else... -- Bryan (talk to me) 17:25, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I hadn't yet checked who the owner is... :o) - If you could do such an extension of the DRBot's activities, I think one or two more months wouldn't be a problem... but obviously, if someone else was willing to step in, I don't want to stop anyone! Thanks anyways for offering to do that! --Ibn Battuta 07:17, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Damaged Thumb

I have recogniced that some pictures uploaded in April/May 2006 have damaged thumb print. This can be fixed by reuploading this images. --Mik81 17:12, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Which images? Broken thumbnails can usually be fixed by purging the page (appending ?action=purge to the end of the link). Yonatan ^talk 18:41, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Usually. Unless it's this image: Image:Sawtooth Oak Quercus acutissima Trunk Bark 2008px.jpg

This image is ok as a thumbnail

This image is always broken in a gallery

I don't know why it doesn't work right. -- Ram-Man 17:15, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

I asked regenerated of the thumb using http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/thumb.php?f=Sawtooth_Oak_Quercus_acutissima_Trunk_Bark_2008px.jpg&w=120. Seems to be fixed now. -- Bryan (talk to me) 19:21, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Who knew that you could do that? Thanks! -- Ram-Man 19:25, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Password problems

Hello, I'm Danutz, an admin here. I can't seem to log on to Wikimedia Commons. It says the password I introduce is incorrect. When I created my account I didn't introduce an e-mail adress so i cannot have the pasword sent via e-mail. I'm the same Danutz from ro.wikipedia, you can see my letter of intention to become admin here on Commons back in December 2004 [5], where i have stated this (n.red.-that i'm the same with Danutz from the Romanian Wikipedia). Can my password be reset and sent to me via my e-mail adress that i inserted in my account information on the Romanian Wikipedia? --Danutz2 17:38, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

It seems you romanian guys like to choose insecure passwords. :P Please read this Commons:Administrators'_noticeboard/Attention#Secure_passwords and then try contacting a server administrator (possibly at #wikimedia-tech on irc.freenode.net) in order to have your password reset. If you don't know how to use IRC, you might like to try using this link to join that channel. Yonatan ^talk 18:40, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] File size

Hello. May I overwrite Image:Vinton Cerf-20070512.jpg with the 6.3MB original? The upload form suggested that I not do this (it gave a suggested limit of something over 4MB) so I reuploaded the image at low res. On second thought it is likely an important enough photo that deserves the best quality that is possible. Thanks for your thoughts (I notice the FAQ mentions 6MB). -Susanlesch 14:13, 14 May 2007 (UTC) Hmm. The Flickrreview already inserted the higher resolution copy automatically. How embarrassing. Thanks but why did the upload form stop me? -Susanlesch 14:22, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

It's just a guideline. Use your best judgement -- if the original, high quality image is over the suggested size, ignore the guideline. Higher quality originals are preferred over reduced resolution ones. ~MDD4696 15:49, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

MDD4696, many thanks for your help. -Susanlesch 01:41, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Interwiki links - whats happening?

I've noticed that a number of categories and galleries where I have added images and information have had the interwiki links removed.

1. Where was was the discussion as the edit summary doesnt point to it
2. what is the replacement
3. Why isnt it being added at the same time
4. Or do we now create article here to encompass the image subjects

Can someone help as I use this link heavily when I've uploaded new images to commons and want to use them in wikipedia articles. Gnangarra 03:06, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Commons:Deletion requests/Template:Wikipedia houses the discussion. The reason why it was deleted was because links to Wikipedia can just be wikilinked using [[en:Wikipedia:Village pump]] (this is an example for the VP) and the link will show up in the sidebar.