[WikiEN-l] Re: Deletion of my images

Mon Mar 7 11:05:24 UTC 2005

(CC to commons-l)

Ant-

> * wikimedia projects do not respect the license by not always 
> displaying clearly that images uploaded on wikicommons are under gfdl 
> nor by mentionning authorship on the local projects

In MediaWiki 1.5, a backlink to the Commons is automatically inserted. 
In 1.4, this was not the case, and it had to be manually put into the 
MediaWiki: message - some wikis therefore still lack the backlink. This 
will be fixed once 1.5 goes live, but can also be fixed by any sysop on 
the project in question. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Sharedupload is a good example to 
use for this.

You are correct that image license information should be displayed 
directly on the image description page. This is likely to happen soon.

> * wikicommons does not provide a link to where the images are used, so 
> do not allow editors to check whether the way images are used are 
> following legal requirements or not

Unfortunately, that is correct. Alongside automatic transclusion of 
image information pages, an EXTLINKS table on the Wikicommons might be 
used to store usage information. A quick hack using absolute URLs might 
be sufficient for now.

> * uploading images unfortunately takes time, even more on wikicommons 
> where issues of duplicate in names begin to appear

It is generally a good idea to make a name unique, for example, by 
adding your username at the end. No matter how large a wiki is, a 
filename like [[Image:Flower.jpg]] is simply not unique enough. Still, 
there are ways to improve the handling of the situation, for example, by 
providing an "Alternative filename" input box when a filename already 
exists.

> * wikicommons is in english only, hence limiting access to those non 
> english speaking

That is not a fair comment. The Main Page alone has been translated into 
over 30 languages. For gallery page titles, a carefully thought out 
policy is used (e.g., use native names for specialty foods, use latin 
binomial for animals and plants). The interface language of the wiki can 
be selected in the user preferences. Templates have been created to show 
what languages a user speaks and are actively used.  Filenames are 
accepted in all languages. The main problem is with categories, which 
are, unfortunately, not easily internationalizable due to redirects from 
one cat to another not working -- a technological problem.

> * wikinews does not allow uploading images, hence preventing the easy 
> use of images to non english speakers (since they can not easily 
> manage wikicommons)

I do not see how limiting Wikinews to the Commons excludes non-English 
speakers, see above, though certainly it is a little more difficult. As 
you know, this is strictly for legal reasons until the fair use 
situation has been sorted out:

http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-February/002217.html

This procedure has been directly approved by Jimmy.

> The more time goes by, the less motivating it is to provide images imho.

Personally, I find it more motivating to upload images now, because 
thanks to the Wikimedia Commons, I know that anyone on any project can 
easily use them. I agree with you that certain functionality would be 
useful and fun. I've only ever pledged to implement the baseline 
functionality for the Commons, which I have done. I'll try to find time 
to add some of the above discussed features, but frankly, coding and 
testing a new feature is not a lot of fun, and as I've said before, 
until the WMF goes into the habit of handing out development contracts, 
projects like Wikinews and Wikicommons will stagnate technologically. 
All of the above, plus more, could be fixed with a few strategic 
investments in developer resources. Single login alone would greatly 
increase cross-project usability, as language preferences could be 
persistent, and you could easily upload files directly from a local wiki 
to the Commons.

As an elected Board member, you have the power to speed up the pace of 
innovation. I have offered many times to help with that. A handful of 
active developers will *NOT* be able to keep up with the needs of 
thousands of users.

All best,

Erik