Commons:Village pump
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![]() Water pump next to the church in the town center of Doel. Doel, Beveren, East Flanders, Belgium. [add] | |||||||||||||||
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January 24
Vector 2022 will be the default skin
Hello. We are the Wikimedia Foundation Web team. We are here to announce that the Vector 2022 skin will become the default desktop skin here on 10 February. We will gladly answer your questions, concerns, or additional thoughts! We will also help you adjust things which Vector 2022 may not be compatible with. Check out our FAQ – you will find many useful answers there.
If you are using Vector legacy skin, you may find yourself receiving the Vector 2022 skin. You may select Vector legacy as your global preference to avoid seeing the change. Logged-in users can at any time switch to any other available skins, or stay with Vector 2022 and enjoy choosing between its light and dark mode. Users of other skins will not see any changes.
Why are we changing the skin now
For technical reasons (listed below), we need to deploy the skin soon. After deployment, we will continue discussing issues and questions about the interface, and we'll be ready to work with you on various issues like gadget compatibility.
- Due to releases of new features only available in the Vector 2022 skin, our technical ability to support both skins as the default is coming to an end. Keeping more than one skin as the default across different wikis indefinitely is impossible. This is about the architecture of our skins. As the Foundation or the movement in general, we don't have the capability to develop and maintain software working with different skins as default. This means that the longer we keep multiple skins as the default, the higher the likelihood of bugs, regressions, and other things breaking that we do not have the resources to support or fix.
- Vector 2022 has been the default on almost all wikis for more than a year. In this time, the skin was proven to provide improvements to readers while also evolving. After we built and deployed on most wikis, we added new features, such as the Appearance menu with the dark mode functionality. We will keep working on this skin, and deployment doesn't mean that existing issues will not be addressed. For example, as part of our work on the Accessibility for Reading project, we built out dark mode, changed the width of the main page back to full (T357706), and solved issues of wide tables overlapping the right-column menus (T330527).
- Vector legacy's code is not compatible with some of the existing, coming, or future software. Keeping this skin as the default would exclude most users from these improvements. Important examples of features not supported by Vector legacy are: the enriched table of contents on talk pages, dark mode, and also temporary account holder experience which, due to legal reasons, we will have to enable. In other words, the only skin supporting features for temporary account holders (like banners informing "hey, you're using a temp account") is Vector 2022.
How to request changes to the skin
We are guessing that some of you may want to see some changes to the skin. We are still improving Vector 2022 and the overall reading experience. If you have a feature request or a bug report, we encourage you to comment here or open a ticket in Phabricator. We will decide on the priority of these requests alongside our regular processes after deployment. Some fixes may be done via gadgets or user scripts, too.
About the skin

We encourage you to try out Vector 2022 by going to the Appearance tab in your preferences and selecting it from the list of skins. Getting used to it may take a few days, and that's the standard for interface changes.
Vector 2022 is the modernized version of the currently default skin Vector legacy. It is the default on almost all Wikimedia wikis (there are about 10 left now). Most of the active editors use it and do not opt out of the skin at statistically noticeable rates despite easy access to the opt-out link. (Check the source here.)
[Our 2022 answer to why is a change necessary] When the current default skin was created, it reflected the needs of the readers and editors as these were in 2010. Since then, new users have begun using the Internet and Wikimedia projects in different ways. Although there were changes to features the skin supported, the structure, navigation, visual layout, and overall readability of the skin did not change. The old Vector does not meet the current users' needs.
[Objective] The objective for the Vector 2022 skin is to make the interface more welcoming and comfortable for readers and useful for advanced users. It introduces a series of changes that aim to improve problems new and existing readers and editors were having with the old skin. It draws inspiration from previous user requests, the Community Wishlist Surveys, and gadgets and scripts. The work helped our code follow the standards and improve all other skins. We reduced PHP code in the other available skins by 75%. The project has also focused on making it easier to support gadgets and use APIs.
[Changes in a nutshell] The skin introduces changes to the navigation and layout of the site. It adds persistent elements such as a sticky header and table of contents to make frequently-used actions easier to access. It also makes some changes to the overall styling of the page. The analysis of the data collected concluded that these changes improve readability and usability, and save time currently spent in scrolling, searching, and navigating – all of which can be interpreted to create an easier reading experience. The new skin does not remove any functionality currently available on the old Vector skin. On wikis with this skin as the default, there are no negative effects to page views, account creation, or edit rates. On our project pages you will find findings and results in a nutshell.
A summary of findings and results
- On average, 87% of logged-in users on our early adopter wikis (incl. French Wikipedia) continue to use the new skin once they try it.
- The sticky header makes it easier to find tools that editors use often. It decreases scrolling to the top of the page by 16%.
- The new table of contents makes it easier to navigate to different sections. Readers and editors jumped to different sections of the page 50% more than with the old table of contents.
- The new search bar is easier to find and makes it easier to find the correct search result from the list. This increased the amount of searches started by 30% on the wikis we tested on.
- The skin does not negatively affect page views, edit rates, or account creation. In fact, there is observational evidence of increases in page views and account creation across partner communities.
How can editors change and customize this skin?
- We make it possible to configure and personalize our changes. We are happy to work with volunteers with technical skills who would like to create new gadgets and user scripts. So far, many gadgets and user scripts have been built by volunteer developers. These aspects include making the background gray, turning off sticky elements, bringing back the old table of contents, and more. We encourage you to check out our repository for a list of currently available customizations and changes, or to add your own.
- In Vector 2022, logged-in and logged-out users can change the font size and color scheme based on their individual needs. Dark mode is now available for logged-in users of Vector 2022, and we would like to make it available to logged-out users as soon as most articles are dark-mode friendly.
How will we go through the change
- Wiki page: we would like to kindly suggest creating a page similar to English Wikipedia's w:WP:V22. It may explain the basics like how to opt-out or customize the skin.
- CentralNotice banner for logged-in users: before and shortly after deployment, we will display a banner announcing the change. It will be linking to Commons:Vector 2022 if you decide to create such a page. Otherwise, it will be linking to this announcement. This should limit the confusion and the number of repetitive questions about the change.
If you think there are any significant technical issues, let us know – perhaps we've missed something. We're looking forward to your comments and reactions from readers after deployment. Thank you! OVasileva (WMF) and SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 01:06, 24 January; Unarchiving to keep this here SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 19:20, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- This is great news! I've been using Vector 2022 here for over a year now without issue, and it's important that Commons looks the same to users as the other Wikimedia projects. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:25, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- Personally I'm hating it.StarTrekker (talk) 07:06, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- I think I don't like some things either. However, it takes some time to get used to it and afterwards one likes it more than the prior skin. It would be good to name some things that may be problematic if there are any so it could get improved upon. For example, I think it may make the links to the Welcome and Community portal pages and possibly a few other things like the link to the page information page with the Pageviews link too hard to find. Prototyperspective (talk) 13:18, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- I think the links to the Wikipedia articles are now too hidden, especially for users not very familiar with the site. I think the Wikipedia article of the language the user has configured with a fallback to the English article if there's no article in that language should be linked well-visibly, for example right before the category description at the top of the page. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:14, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- It has been around for a quite long time in Wikipedia and other wikis. Software changes are often disruptive at first, but once you get used to them, you don't want to go back. MGeog2022 (talk) 18:30, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- I think I don't like some things either. However, it takes some time to get used to it and afterwards one likes it more than the prior skin. It would be good to name some things that may be problematic if there are any so it could get improved upon. For example, I think it may make the links to the Welcome and Community portal pages and possibly a few other things like the link to the page information page with the Pageviews link too hard to find. Prototyperspective (talk) 13:18, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- Amazingǃ Comfortable visual consistent across the projects. Thanks. Ong Kai Jin (talk) 13:02, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- @OVasileva (WMF) @SGrabarczuk (WMF): I think it makes sense as a whole. But there are a couple of things that I don't understand and that I think are relevant to all readers and users. I suppose this has been discussed before.
- I don't really see how other Wikimedia projects are "Tools." I doubt readers will look for them there. It also doesn't seem ideal to have to scroll in a drop-down menu, in a lot of cases. Why not a separate "In other projects" tab?
- In the file namespace, perhaps the "Download," "Use this file" etc menu shouldn't be to the right of the previewed filed, since it can overlap awkwardly with the default position of the "Appearance" settings. Or is it an intentional choice that "Appearance" can overlap with other elements?
- Sinigh (talk) 14:18, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
I've seen Appearance panel was overlapped on right side. [1] -- Great Brightstar (talk) 05:39, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- I've just edited Commons:File_renaming to match the new skin. Is the "More" menu completely replaced by "Tools"? CMD (talk) 08:28, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, I can see the "Rename" link in the "Tools" menu after logged in. -- Great Brightstar (talk) 17:43, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
January 31
Syrian flag, redux
I see that Commons:Village_pump/Archive/2024/12#Syrian flag has once again fallen off of this page due to inactivity, and with absolutely no resolution as to how to move forward. I think it is absolutely unacceptable that File:Flag of Syria.svg continues to show the flag of the toppled Assad regime, but that is how things are going to be until we reach some sort of agreement. My several efforts to move this forward have been rebuffed, including [`https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Syria.svg&diff=prev&oldid=974819463 this revert] by Ericliu1912. I agreed not to fight over that on the basis that the revert was temporary. It is now five weeks later. - Jmabel ! talk 22:04, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
- Well, I told you there would be complications :-) Rudolph Buch (talk) 22:33, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
- @Rudolph Buch: I've honestly forgotten: are you advocating some particular solution, or are you just here to remark that this is difficult? Because I do not believe that leaving things as they are is an appropriate solution. - Jmabel ! talk 02:39, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
- It may be one of those situations where ‘leaving things as they are ’ is not good, but any action from our side is even worse. As a matter of policy, Wikipedias can trust Commons not to make content changes to linked files. The exception is Template:Current, but the flags are not marked with this template. With the idea of a central flag update, Commons has imposed a problem on itself that it cannot solve and that it does not have to solve within the scope of its role. I believe that it is the local Wikipedia´s job to keep their articles updated, not Common´s. If they want dynamic content updates based on validity periods, they should make use of Wikidata, which is better suited to handle that. Rudolph Buch (talk) 12:02, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Rudolph Buch: I've honestly forgotten: are you advocating some particular solution, or are you just here to remark that this is difficult? Because I do not believe that leaving things as they are is an appropriate solution. - Jmabel ! talk 02:39, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
- OK, so I guess we could now: (1) add a "1980" variant to all the Country data Syria templates (~110s); (2) notify all communities which use Flag of Syria.svg, including an SOP on how to manually clean up the remaining local flag variant usage; (3) wait for a period of time for the communities to prepare as much as possible; (4) implement the redirect change. —— Eric Liu(Talk) 09:52, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- Agreed Trade (talk) 03:34, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- And there's another concern, that the small star version of the revolution flag has closer resemblence to what the transitional government actually uses in diplomatic occasions, so that's the more important issue. —— Eric Liu(Talk) 09:03, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- I think this is a sensible way forward. I'd only add that the wait time should not be long. The longer the wait time, the more jury-rigged workarounds are put in place to get the revolution flag to display, which will then have to be corrected back to the proper name. Wburrow (talk) 15:36, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
February 03
Brunei Darussalam Newsletter
Hello! I came across the Brunei Darussalam Newsletter, where some of the older issues contain a sidebar on the left side of page 2 that states: "Brunei Darussalam Newsletter is published fortnightly by the Department of Information. It reports on government, social and business events in the country. All money values are expressed in Brunei dollars $, unless otherwise stated. Any information in this newsletter may be reproduced; a clipping of the publication would be appreciated. For free subscription (Excluding postage) write to Information Department, Jalan Stoney, Bandar Seri Begawan 2041, Brunei Darussalam." An example would be here. So my question is whether the term "information" in that specific issue could also apply to images.
This has been previously used in "Category:Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brunei) News Digest issues". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pangalau (talk • contribs) 13:52, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
February 04
Discussion of sockpuppetry issue for Anonymous Hong Kong Photographer 1 on Meta
Hello. I recently opened a request for comment on Meta regarding sockpuppetry issue of User:Anonymous Hong Kong Photographer 1. You can join the discussion here. 興華街 (Hing Wah Street) - 💬 - 📝 13:48, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- @HingWahStreet: I opined there, thanks! — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:29, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- I reiterate: users should stop being hostile to other users because of their unusual working styles. RoyZuo (talk) 15:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- A sockpuppet account again: ApMalResbmou Tonuyz (talk · contribs) 興華街 (Hing Wah Street) - 💬 - 📝 06:24, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- A sockpuppet account again: Safoule 2558 LausldM (talk · contribs) 興華街 (Hing Wah Street) - 💬 - 📝 07:15, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- As this is primarily an issue on Commons (if it is really an issue at all), Commons:Administrators'_noticeboard/User_problems#User uploading own pictures over multiple usernames should be sufficient. I have no idea why this discussion had to be moved to Meta. By the way, I also agree with RoyZuo. --Robert Flogaus-Faust (talk) 14:34, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
Commons Walkabout: new site for browsing Commons' structured data
Check it out here: Commons Walkabout. Any feedback is welcome. Yaron Koren (talk) 21:53, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Yaron Koren: This is a very elegant way of filtering files with a visual interface.
- Some additional feedback:
- When selecting items from a large list (e.g. Valued image > location of creation) it gives me the option to write a custom value, but that field disappears the moment it loads the list of available locations. I think it would still be helpful to have that field there, and maybe have it auto-fill in based on which listed locations match.
- The button to go back is labelled "View list of items", which isn't very intuitive.
- It has a filter for "main subject" and "depicts", but after uploading something to Commons the structured data will only ask you what it depicts - and only ask you to add a maximum of 3 labels, presumably to prompt people to think about what the main subjects are rather than add items indiscriminately. So I think it might be better to only have a filter for "depicts"?
- ReneeWrites (talk) 22:26, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you for the feedback! The UI-related comments definitely make sense - I will keep those in mind. The only thing I disagree with is removing "main subject" - I can think of various ways where what is being depicted is different from the main subject; certainly I would think that's true for audio files, where nothing really is being "depicted". Yaron Koren (talk) 00:36, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- I tried it again and it still only returns 6 of 40000++ files with Creator search and none with contributed-by search. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 06:17, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- It comes up with only 1662 files for location "Berlin" (there are hundred thousends of Berlin images, I alone made more than that). With added filter "publication date" there are none (at least a large number of my uploads have a depicts value that does not contain the publication date, but the date the images or videos were taken at). For example File:FFF Berlin Fahrraddemo 092.jpg contains depicts "Fridays for Future protest in Berlin 6 September 2019" -> d:Q73150789 which contains Location=Berlin and point in time=2019-09-06 C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 06:27, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- In think the tool uses the query service that is not capable of recursive search. GPSLeo (talk) 06:54, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- Well, the main issue is that that data (location = Berlin, etc.) is on Wikidata, not on Commons; and Commons Walkabout only gets its data from Commons. (Except for the language-specific label of each Q and P item, which it does get from Wikidata.) It would be great if the site queried both - so that you could get every file depicting something that in turn is located in some country, for instance - but unfortunately that's not supported yet. Yaron Koren (talk) 15:36, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- More accurately, for the particular images, the data that would say that the picture was taken in Berlin is neither in SDC nor in Wikidata. @GPSLeo: I suspect you are looking at location (P276). The relevant SDC property would presumably be location of creation (P1071), which I'm sure is way underused. (Do let me know if you already knew that; I know you're an advocate of SDC and have looked at this more than most, so I wouldn't want to presume I know this better than you.)
- This gets back to something I've been saying for years: yes, we have the technical means to describe plenty of things in structured data, but the modelling is often unintuitive, is not documented in a manner that would give the average user much of a chance to get it right, and we have an almost complete lack of tools to help anyone through the thicket. - Jmabel ! talk 21:45, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- But even using location of creation (P1071) would not help here as I would never use Berlin (Q64) as a value there but the neighborhood or even the street as the value. GPSLeo (talk) 21:05, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- Well, the main issue is that that data (location = Berlin, etc.) is on Wikidata, not on Commons; and Commons Walkabout only gets its data from Commons. (Except for the language-specific label of each Q and P item, which it does get from Wikidata.) It would be great if the site queried both - so that you could get every file depicting something that in turn is located in some country, for instance - but unfortunately that's not supported yet. Yaron Koren (talk) 15:36, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- In think the tool uses the query service that is not capable of recursive search. GPSLeo (talk) 06:54, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you for the feedback! The UI-related comments definitely make sense - I will keep those in mind. The only thing I disagree with is removing "main subject" - I can think of various ways where what is being depicted is different from the main subject; certainly I would think that's true for audio files, where nothing really is being "depicted". Yaron Koren (talk) 00:36, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
- It works well with depicts. I looked up d:Q117075694 (rail vehicle door) and it works well. However I would like to use combinations such as train doors and d:Q22986165 (swerve-swing door). As seen in Category:Rail vehicles swerve-swing doors.
- Location is problematic. I only use location in a depict, if it is relevant. For example for train stations I only use station name in depicts if the station or part of the station is visible. If only a train is visible, and this picture could therefore have been taken anywhere, I use the station name in SD parameter location.Smiley.toerist (talk) 11:18, 7 February 2025 (UTC)
- By the way, you can use the interface to select multiple values for any one filter; here, for example, is the intersection you may have been talking about. Yaron Koren (talk) 20:25, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- Good to know. It would be nice if (OR) is also posible. Of course one can start a second screen with another search. One posibility is that the results are kept (and manualy delete some results) and add the results of the next search to the selection. And maybe export the final results.Smiley.toerist (talk) 12:51, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- By the way, you can use the interface to select multiple values for any one filter; here, for example, is the intersection you may have been talking about. Yaron Koren (talk) 20:25, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
February 06
More on the UK's Online Safety Act
Further to recent discussion of the en:Online Safety Act 2023, this new blog post about the OSA raises some interesting points; not least these statements from Ofcom (the body responsible for enforcement):
Whether you are an adult service that only provides that kind of content, or whether you're a [general service] that doesn't prohibit that kind of content, the requirement is the same: to use age assurance.
and
The requirement is if you allow this type of content, you need to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing it. [...] The act makes clear that this is now a cost of business to do that type of content and provide that type of content.
and:
If you've got a site that doesn't have any kind of login process [read: or allows access without one, as does Commons], you might consider age-assuring each unique user and doing it each time.
Is anyone (at WMF?) monitoring this? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:27, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hi Andy, thanks for this timely question. Yes, staff at WMF are monitoring this very closely, in collaboration with Wikimedia UK as the local chapter. We are particularly concerned about the Draft Regulations for Categorisation Thresholds, published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) just before Christmas. You can read the draft regulations at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2025/9780348267174 but in summary, the thresholds chosen by DSIT are based on the number of users, plus a broad swathe of "features" common to many/most sites - rather than an assessment of risk. This means that many sites with over 7 million UK users a month might be treated as a Category 1 service, regardless of actual "safety" considerations." Staff from the Global Advocacy and Legal teams at WMF are in regular contact with Ofcom and DSIT to try and mitigate the risk to the Wikimedia projects, and I'm hoping that there will be a more extensive communication to editors and others on all of this in the next few weeks. Best wishes, Lucy LucyCrompton-Reid (WMUK) (talk) 11:32, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
February 07
Us gov Flickr accounts
Hiball, I apologise ahead for this political post but I think it is worth attention.
The us govt Flickr accounts such as USAiD probably are at risk of deletion. As news say, the employees count have been reduced by 90%.
The files on the flickr accts are listed with copyrighted tag but ID imagine tney proabably are works of the us gov employees themselves.
Possibly treat them as public domain. SeichanGant (talk) 21:46, 7 February 2025 (UTC)
- You mean they will be deleted on flickr? --PantheraLeo1359531 😺 (talk) 14:47, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- I'm concerned they will be deleted. SeichanGant (talk) 15:16, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
- Fyi, @SeichanGant @Trade & @PantheraLeo1359531
- At least three U.S. Government Flickr accounts have already been heavily deleted. Many thousands of photos recently vanished from these sources of Public Domain photos. Unknown 1,000's of photos were never uploaded to Commons from these three Flickr accounts. -- Ooligan (talk) 10:35, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @|Ooligan, which three were deleted? SeichanGant (talk) 17:46, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Fyi, @SeichanGant @Trade & @PantheraLeo1359531
- Typically you need someone to manage a Flickr account to maintain it Trade (talk) 02:34, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- What would be the best solution? Should one user cover one USGov Flickr account and archive their images here? --PantheraLeo1359531 😺 (talk) 10:41, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Probably best to suggest it to Commons:Bots/Work requests and see if multiple bots can split the task. Ricky81682 (talk) 05:06, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- What would be the best solution? Should one user cover one USGov Flickr account and archive their images here? --PantheraLeo1359531 😺 (talk) 10:41, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- I'm concerned they will be deleted. SeichanGant (talk) 15:16, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
Ricky81682, I will go file one immediately. SeichanGant (talk) 17:46, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
February 08
About replacing File:75B.jpg with File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg.
Hi, I want to replace File:75B.jpg with File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg in the following pages in the Spanish Wikipedia: Jorge Westcha, Nicéforo Fernández, Roberto Ariel González, Víctor Acotto, Javier Antonio Becerra, Restituto Brito, Enrique Palomini.
As you might know, my IP has been blocked in the Spanish Wikipedia, which means I can't edit pages in the Spanish Wikipedia. I've contacted Platonides for the task but he didn't respond or act much. He and I talked about my IP block on the Spanish Wikipedia, and I've shown a screenshot of me editing the page there as a proof where you can see the notice of my IP block when I tried to edit. Other than that, nothing special.
I don't think it'd be worth waiting for a very long time just to have someone complete very simple tasks, in my opinion. Please, I'd like you to act quick and help me in replacing File:75B.jpg with File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg and delete the former, just to have more consistency. File:75B.jpg is a exact duplicate of File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg that was uploaded 5 years later (July 11, 2015) after the latter (December 19, 2010). I hope you hear me out and help me faster. Thank you. ★♚★♛★ 🅾🅿🅴🆁🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶6144 ★♛★♚★ 《♦ talk • ♥ contributions • ♠ global • ♣ rights》 04:28, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- But File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg says it has been superseded by File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba 2014.svg? Also, you IP is blocked there probably because of using an open proxy. --HyperGaruda (talk) 07:02, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- @HyperGaruda: I'm not worried about the supersession of the SVG file. Also, I'm really not using an open proxy for working on Commons and Wikipedia. Despite that, my IP is blocked somehow. Anyway, can you replace File:75B.jpg with File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg? I hope you'll help me in this. ★♚★♛★ 🅾🅿🅴🆁🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶6144 ★♛★♚★ 《♦ talk • ♥ contributions • ♠ global • ♣ rights》 09:12, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- Nothing here looks even slightly like an emergency to me, and I don't see why Commons should be involved in an edit you want to make to es-wiki. You should be contacting an es-wiki admin about this. Assuming the block was not directed at you, you presumably should be able to log in from a physically different location (a library, a coffeehouse, etc.). - Jmabel ! talk 19:37, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- @HyperGaruda and Jmabel: I contacted Platonides, who is also an admin in the Spanish Wikipedia, for that, but he didn't respond much, let alone act, except he talked about my IP block in the Spanish Wikipedia. As I said before, my IP is blocked in the Spanish Wikipedia, but your suggestion sounds kinda helpful to me. I'll try that if I'm outside home or using another computer with a different ISP. Anyway, it's indeed an emergency to me. So, I'd like you to rather help me fast than ask questions. ★♚★♛★ 🅾🅿🅴🆁🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶6144 ★♛★♚★ 《♦ talk • ♥ contributions • ♠ global • ♣ rights》 02:21, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
- It's not an emergency though and we don't arbitrarily replace jpgs with svgs. Abzeronow (talk) 20:31, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- @HyperGaruda and Jmabel: I contacted Platonides, who is also an admin in the Spanish Wikipedia, for that, but he didn't respond much, let alone act, except he talked about my IP block in the Spanish Wikipedia. As I said before, my IP is blocked in the Spanish Wikipedia, but your suggestion sounds kinda helpful to me. I'll try that if I'm outside home or using another computer with a different ISP. Anyway, it's indeed an emergency to me. So, I'd like you to rather help me fast than ask questions. ★♚★♛★ 🅾🅿🅴🆁🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶6144 ★♛★♚★ 《♦ talk • ♥ contributions • ♠ global • ♣ rights》 02:21, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
- Nothing here looks even slightly like an emergency to me, and I don't see why Commons should be involved in an edit you want to make to es-wiki. You should be contacting an es-wiki admin about this. Assuming the block was not directed at you, you presumably should be able to log in from a physically different location (a library, a coffeehouse, etc.). - Jmabel ! talk 19:37, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- @HyperGaruda: I'm not worried about the supersession of the SVG file. Also, I'm really not using an open proxy for working on Commons and Wikipedia. Despite that, my IP is blocked somehow. Anyway, can you replace File:75B.jpg with File:Bandera de la Provincia de Córdoba.svg? I hope you'll help me in this. ★♚★♛★ 🅾🅿🅴🆁🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶6144 ★♛★♚★ 《♦ talk • ♥ contributions • ♠ global • ♣ rights》 09:12, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
CSS Image Crop tool
{{CSS image crop}} is a valuable tool for cropping images directly. It allows you to use a specific portion of an existing image, eliminating the need to upload a new file for simple cropping tasks. However, a key challenge with this template is that it requires users to manually identify and input the exact pixel coordinates for their desired crop. I have developed a JavaScript tool, User:維基小霸王/CSSImageCrop.js, using Google Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking. This tool greatly simplifies the process. To install it, simply add importScript('User:維基小霸王/CSSImageCrop.js');
to your Special:MyPage/common.js. After installation, a "CSS Image Crop" button will be appear on each image file page. Clicking this button activates the tool, allowing you to select your desired cropping area directly within the image. Once you've made your selection, the tool instantly generates the template code for you. Furthermore, you can easily change the zoom level by entering a numerical value in the provided dialog box. This tool is also compatible with multi-page book files.--維基小霸王 (talk) 15:22, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- Very cool.
- One warning about {{CSS image crop}}: anyone who views the resulting image has to download the full image at the specified resolution, so for large files at high resolution this is rough on users who have slow connections. It's a good template to have, but use it judiciously. - Jmabel ! talk 19:41, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- @維基小霸王: Thanks. We use mw.loader.load to load such scripts now. — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:24, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
- OK. Thank you. 維基小霸王 (talk) 11:52, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- It seems importScript would not require entire url and more elegant.--維基小霸王 (talk) 11:59, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- @維基小霸王: You may do so at your own peril. See here for how I became aware of the change (over 3 years ago). — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:59, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- It seems importScript would not require entire url and more elegant.--維基小霸王 (talk) 11:59, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- OK. Thank you. 維基小霸王 (talk) 11:52, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
February 10
A Fully-Searchable Multimodal Dataset of the Illustrated London News, 1842–1890
Here is an interesting paper on the extraction and interpretation of images and their captions, from historical documents in the Internet Archive, which could equally be applied to those in Commons:
- “A Fully-Searchable Multimodal Dataset of the Illustrated London News, 1842–1890”, in Journal of Open Humanities Data (in en), volume 11, 2024, DOI: , ISSN 2059-481X, Wikidata Q132190119
-- Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:59, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
Pronunciation file and location of origin of the speaker
Where a person comes from and their accents/dialects are often related. How to record that relation on a commons audio file? sdc model? RoyZuo (talk) 16:51, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
February 11
Frame of the {{Decade years navbox}} disappeared
I've found today that in pages using {{Decade years navbox}}, the frame of the navigation boxe is no longer shown (example). The code of the template seems unchanged. Is this being caused by the new appearance setting of commons? --トトト (talk) 08:25, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- It seems so, the template uses
{|class="toccolours"}
, and I tested it. In the old skin,{|class="toccolours"}
displays the frame by default, but in the new skin, the frame will not display by default. Tvpuppy (talk) 09:29, 11 February 2025 (UTC)- toccolours is not guaranteed to be defined. Also this doesn't seem to be a navbox, so the template is misnamed. I advise rewriting it with TemplateStyles. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:52, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- Fixed for now by changing it to
class="navbox"
, which is styled via MediaWiki:common.css, making TemplateStyles unnecessary. (For very heavily used styles, common.css is more efficient than TemplateStyles; this template isn’t that heavily used, but if navboxen are already styled via common.css then we might as well reuse that here IMHO.) Lucas Werkmeister (talk) 20:34, 11 February 2025 (UTC)- Thank you all for the tips and the edit. But the template became always full-length in the page; it used to be flexible depending on the contents in the box. Isn't there a method to keep it as
class="toccolours"
but still displaying the frame? There are hundreds of local templates that need to be fixed (example). I am a little annoyed at why WMF did such a skin change which necessitates a large number of edits. --トトト (talk) 23:20, 12 February 2025 (UTC)- For the frame to be flexible around the content, the width has to be specified as automatic, like this:
class="navbox" style="width:auto"
. Tvpuppy (talk) 01:23, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- For the frame to be flexible around the content, the width has to be specified as automatic, like this:
- Thanks. I think I've found another solution. How abou not using any CSS class at all?
{| style="border-style: solid; border-width:1px; background-color:#f5f5f5;"
I have tested it at {{Kitakyushumonth}} (diff) --トトト (talk) 01:37, 13 February 2025 (UTC)- This is a good idea, but it doesn’t not work for users with dark mode. Tvpuppy (talk) 01:48, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- Alternatively, I found out that
class="catlinks"
also works. Tvpuppy (talk) 04:10, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- Beautiful! With
class="catlinks"
a fix will become minimal and easy. And it also works with the black skin. If it is OK to letting it be the ultimate solution, I will start fixing the whole lot of navigational templates. --トトト (talk) 09:46, 13 February 2025 (UTC)- Do know that .catlinks includes a clear:both;, which can be troublesome in some cases. Also, it's again a really hacky solution. Sjoerd de Bruin (talk) 14:05, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- Currently I see no problem with using
class="catlinks"
in navigational templates (example, diff). If a problem arises, then I'll think about another coding.00:25, 14 February 2025 (UTC)トトト (talk) 04:35, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Currently I see no problem with using
- Beautiful! With
- Thanks. I think I've found another solution. How abou not using any CSS class at all?
- Thank you all for the tips and the edit. But the template became always full-length in the page; it used to be flexible depending on the contents in the box. Isn't there a method to keep it as
- Fixed for now by changing it to
- toccolours is not guaranteed to be defined. Also this doesn't seem to be a navbox, so the template is misnamed. I advise rewriting it with TemplateStyles. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:52, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
Making dark mode available for logged out users
Hi, so now that Vector 2022 is available by default, I think we can make dark mode available to all logged out users. I have worked quite hard to help make Commons dark mode compatible, and so have other users through replacing everything with Codex tokens, CSS styling changes etc. You can test dark mode compatibility in beta features and I think it is ready, thoughts? —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? - uselesscontributions} 19:47, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Matrix: Would you please look into making VFC compatible with dark mode? — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 20:28, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- Sure —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
uselesscontributions} 20:42, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
- Sure —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
- support —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:23, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, please do that as dark mode is important and there are many large issues with the Commons app which already has dark mode. Prototyperspective (talk) 15:41, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Matrix: Thanks for doing that work, I'm using dark mode now. I'm noticing that the normal body text on this page is not using the intended color (--color-base / #eaecf0) in dark mode, but a much brighter and less confortable #f8f9fa (compare en:Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)). I'm not sure where this is happening, if I manually change the color to things other than #eaecf0 it sticks, but #eaecf0 is transformed to #f8f9fa somehow. – BMacZero (🗩) 19:57, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- @BMacZero: It works perfectly for me. Are you sure it's not a user script or something? —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
uselesscontributions} 16:06, 15 February 2025 (UTC)- @Matrix: Hmm, okay. I tested it on a blank copy of Firefox and I don't think I have any on-wiki appearance stuff. I'll try to dig more. – BMacZero (🗩) 17:23, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @BMacZero: The only place here using f8f9fa is the top header saying "Welcome to the Village Pump". I can't find anything else. Could you screenshot your browser console showing your CSS? If you need help with this let me know —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
uselesscontributions} 17:47, 15 February 2025 (UTC)- @Matrix: Well this is weird - today the body text is the correct #eaecf0 in Edge, Firefox, and Chrome for me, but section headings are still #f8f9fa in Edge and Chrome (but the correct #eaecf0 in Firefox). It does seem like those are also intended to be #eaecf0, so I grabbed that screenshot in case it's helpful. Pretty bizarre, if you do think it needs to be chased down more let me know if you want anything else.
- I will also note that I'm almost certain that subpixel rendering was not working on any of the text yesterday but is working on both the body text and the section header today. – BMacZero (🗩) 07:29, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Nevermind, --color-emphasized does seem to be intended for the section headings, so I think everything is working correctly on my end now. – BMacZero (🗩) 07:43, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- @BMacZero: The only place here using f8f9fa is the top header saying "Welcome to the Village Pump". I can't find anything else. Could you screenshot your browser console showing your CSS? If you need help with this let me know —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
- @Matrix: Hmm, okay. I tested it on a blank copy of Firefox and I don't think I have any on-wiki appearance stuff. I'll try to dig more. – BMacZero (🗩) 17:23, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @BMacZero: It works perfectly for me. Are you sure it's not a user script or something? —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
- phab:T386560 created —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? -
uselesscontributions} 16:09, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
February 12
Cropping Tool
This new layout has removed the link to the Cropping Tool. Why??? James Kevin McMahon (talk) 10:24, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
- The croptool link is in the right side "tools" menu. It is added only when you are in file namespace. (ie in image description page) --Zache (talk) 10:40, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
February 13
"Use this file"
UI question, unrelated to the new skin. Does anyone other than me find it weird that there are two different "use this file" links on file pages (one for using it in Wikimedia projects, one for using it elsewhere)? And that the help text for the former is "Use this file on the web", even though it is the only place we even vaguely explain how to attribute the file for print publications? - Jmabel ! talk 00:51, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Jmabel: I find that weird, too. — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 01:22, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
Anyone recognize this photographers mark in lower right corner?
File:Rosalind russell.jpg I want to see if they registered or renewed copyrights. RAN (talk) 02:56, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- I can see Ros. 17. That's probably not a photographer's signature but No. 17 of a series of pictures. -- Herbert Ortner (talk) 21:12, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- "The watermark in the bottom right corner of the photo appears to read "Ross 17." This likely refers to the famous classic Hollywood photographer Ernest A. Bachrach, who often signed his portraits with a style similar to this. However, "Ross" could also be a reference to another studio or photographer from that era, such as "Ross Verlag," a well-known German postcard publisher specializing in movie star portraits in the early 20th century." sic ChatGPT JotaCartas (talk) 22:58, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
Help reverting very large files
Due to an issue with ffmpeg, certain AV1 video files (using the grain-synth features) used to fail to transcode. This issue has now been fixed (see File:Zaza (1923).webm, for example).
I have a few videos for which I uploaded a newer, inferior encode while we were waiting for the fix to roll out. I would now like to revert them back to the better AV1-GS encodes (from which the inferior encodes were later made), but I'm running into errors when I try to do the revert. I figure this probably has to do with the large file size. The reverts in question are:
- File:Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).webm - to the version uploaded March 2, 2024
- File:Night of the Living Dead (1968).webm - to the version uploaded March 2, 2024
Would an administrator be able to help revert these files? D. Benjamin Miller (talk) 18:35, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- @D. Benjamin Miller: I tried with the second file (I had visited it before) and got: "Request served via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 377035162" and "Error: 503, Backend fetch failed at Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:45:22 GMT". Similarly, with the first file, I got: "Request served via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 370271423" and "Error: 503, Backend fetch failed at Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:51:37 GMT". — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 18:46, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- I get the same error. GPSLeo (talk) 19:15, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- Is there a phab: task yet? — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 19:17, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
- Error logs:
- I get the same error. GPSLeo (talk) 19:15, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
Wikimedia\FileBackend\FileBackendMultiWrite::doOperationsInternal: failed sync check: mwstore://local-multiwrite/local-public/2/24/Night_of_the_Living_Dead_(1968).webm, mwstore://local-multiwrite/local-public/archive/2/24/20250213183518!Night_of_the_Living_Dead_(1968).webm, mwstore://local-multiwrite/local-public/archive/2/24/20250101022713!Night_of_the_Living_Dead_(1968).webm [b90a47bf-c3d4-4a3d-92f0-a7958d29f32e] /w/index.php?action=revert&title=File:Night_of_the_Living_Dead_(1968).webm Wikimedia\RequestTimeout\RequestTimeoutException: The maximum execution time of 200 seconds was exceeded
- You might have better luck downloading the old version of the file, and then reuploading with chunked upload. I know that is silly, but that will make the timeout be longer than 200 seconds. Bawolff (talk) 04:35, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Bawolff: Where to see this logs? Phương Linh (talk) 15:26, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- Its the private WMF logs. You need special access to see them Bawolff (talk) 17:51, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Bawolff and @D. Benjamin Miller: I finally was able to finish reuploading File:Night of the Living Dead (1968).webm and File:Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).webm for you. It seems that chunk size over 10MB contributed to my many failures. — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:29, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks to @Racconish, @D. Benjamin Miller and @Jeff G. for the original and subsequent uploads of these great films here on Commons. Cheers, -- Ooligan (talk) 20:56, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Bawolff: Where to see this logs? Phương Linh (talk) 15:26, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
- You might have better luck downloading the old version of the file, and then reuploading with chunked upload. I know that is silly, but that will make the timeout be longer than 200 seconds. Bawolff (talk) 04:35, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
February 14
Request for a simple drawing of a passenger train
I would like to ask for help in constructing a simple train shape . I am enriching the article on the Tempi crash train and constructing a train with the wagon numbers I think would greatly aid in understanding the article. The relevant material is here https://www.onlarissa.gr/2023/05/09/tempi-nea-stoicheia-apo-tin-erevna-ton-pragmatognomonon-ton-oikogeneion-oi-theseis-sta-trena-pou-eginan-pagides-thanatou/ Lord Mountbutter (talk) 18:53, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
February 15
Category for passage from street to courtyard


looking for the commons cat for the thing discussed in https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/9bxcqd/ask_what_is_such_a_passage_called_that_connects/ , which is said to be "de:wikt:Hauseinfahrt" in german.
also, this pic shows tracks laid with steel plates. any jargon for this?--RoyZuo (talk) 08:03, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Category:Passageways? (The steel plates are probably just for underground water runoff). --Adamant1 (talk) 08:12, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- The steel plates are for the wheels of motor vehicles or carriages to avoid damage to the tiles on the floor. They are very common in older German mixed residential and industrial/workshop buildings. I do not know if there is a special term for these but something like "Building passageway carriage tracks" could be a reasonable name. I would not use only "tracks" to not mix them with railway tracks. GPSLeo (talk) 09:50, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @RoyZuo and Adamant1: See also Commons:Categories for discussion/2020/02/Category:Passages (architecture). — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:35, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Also, if it's wider, it's a breezeway, but I see Category:Breezeways has some that are far narrower than where I think a native speaker would use that term, and should be recategorized as passageways. File:Seattle U - Engineering Building breezeway, looking south 03.jpg (at right) is close to the minimum to be properly a breezeway. - Jmabel ! talk 19:32, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Jmabel: Can you change the size of your image so it's not a part of my post? I tried to resize it but nothing happened. Thanks. --Adamant1 (talk) 04:36, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Also, if it's wider, it's a breezeway, but I see Category:Breezeways has some that are far narrower than where I think a native speaker would use that term, and should be recategorized as passageways. File:Seattle U - Engineering Building breezeway, looking south 03.jpg (at right) is close to the minimum to be properly a breezeway. - Jmabel ! talk 19:32, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
February 16
The whole category scheme of organizing things by "association" with Category:Categories by association seems rather half-baked and to ambiguous to be meaningful. It also goes against multiple things in Commons:Categories. So I was thinking of either axing it myself or at least started a CfD. But it's pretty well established and the CfD process seems to be totally worthless at this point. So I was wondering what other people think about the whole category scheme.
Just to give a couple of my issues, it's a child of Category:Clubs and societies when most of the subcategories have nothing to do with either one. I could just remove the parent category, but that would just leave Category:Categories by parameter which seems less then ideal. More importantly, it's not really clear what makes two subjects "associated" with each other or how organizing things this way is any different then doing it the 100s of other ways that already exist. I. E. by type, subject, topic, Etc. Etc. Everything in a subcategory is inherently "associated" with everything else in the category anyway. Therefore making something like Category:Categories by association totally pointless to begin with. Anyone else have an opinion about it though? Adamant1 (talk) 04:33, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Yup, that is a total clusterf***. Also looks like it had nothing to do with clubs and societies for over a decade until W like wiki added that about 2 years ago. I suspect multiple intentions here, some of which might merit categories, but this shouldn't be the name of any of them. - Jmabel ! talk 05:35, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- The "Categories by..." title should be a warning sign. If the only way to sum up the contents of a metacategory is to describe the children as "categories", the category is probably too abstract. Categories on Commons exist to organize files - they shouldn't exist just for the sake of organizing other categories. Omphalographer (talk) 07:47, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
Duplicate Sanborn maps
What should be done with Category:Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Middletown, Butler County, Ohio, 1901 and Category:1901 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Middletown, Butler County, Ohio? I don't have any issues with the images which seem to be from separate sources but I assume to merge the categories. There has been numerous categories organized with either naming convention but rather than a single vote, just a general poll of (a) keep separate; (b) Sanborn first; or (c) 1901 first or (d) something else. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ricky81682 (talk • contribs) 08:40, 16 February 2025 (UTC)