[WikiEN-l] Vandalism concerns with commons images

Wed Sep 14 19:18:26 UTC 2005

In an effort to start some serious discussion on this, I present
herewith some pros and cons of granting some form of commons adminship
to wikipedia admins (including en, de, fr, and possibly other large
wikipedis).

Pros

1.  The wikipedias would benefit from better handling of commons
vandalism that affects them.  In particular, prominent non-main page
vandalism could be addressed more quickly.
2.  Commons would benefit from an influx of editors.  Wikipedia editors
would be more willing to become involved in commons knowing that they
need not spend some weeks or months "paying their dues" as a non-admin
editor.
3.  The process of transfering suitable images to commons may go faster,
benefitting all projects, due to an atmosphere of increased trust.
4.  Wikipedia editors would become more aware of other languages and
sister projects by virtue of working with their peers from these
projects at commons.
5.  I believe that there would be more rapid growth at commons, which I
believe would be a good thing.

Cons

1.  Some care would have to be taken to be sure that wikipedia admins
are familiar with the differences between their wikipedia and commons,
particularly the multilingual environment and the more restrictive
copyright policy.  A page on the differences between commons and each
of the major wikipedias could be written to address this, much as was
once done for h2g2 an Everything2 authors joining Wikipedia.
2.  Some existing commons admins don't support the idea.
3.  The "small wiki" culture at commons would change, and some people
who moved to commons due to frustration with the size of their home
Wikipedia may find that discouraging.

uc