[Commons-l] Getting rid of "best before"

Wed Nov 15 18:40:38 UTC 2006

On 11/15/06, Magnus Manske <magnusmanske at googlemail.com> wrote:
> When I just read about admins getting scolded for deleting an image
> that was long past its "due date", I thought about the nature of the
> templates and the message they convey.
>
> Currently, they say something like "this image needs more source info"
> etc., and give the date the template was added. If nothing changes,
> the image *may* be deleted after, what, a month? This would be the
> equivalent of "best before" - in reality, it might last a lot longer
> than that.
>
> What if the attitude of the templates were changed? "This image lacks
> this and that. It will be deleted on XXXX-YY-ZZ unless this
> information is provided." My tool [2] can be used to find images that
> have reached their final use-by date, and could be deleted with good
> reason.
>
> Theoretically, one could write a bot which could do the deletions, so
> no admins get scolded. The idea of a deletion-bot with admin rights (a
> virtual equivalent of [2];-) might sound scary, but setting it for "no
> edits for a month since addition of the template", combined with the
> image resurrection capability, should calm this.
>
> Magnus
>
>
> [1] http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/bad_old_ones.php
> [2] http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/samsung_develops_machine_gun_sentry_robot_costs_200k.php
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Actually, the template said "the image  WILL be deleted" ...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:PD-Soviet&oldid=3049387