[Wikipedia-l] images on commons and gfdl

Mon Jan 17 15:28:13 UTC 2005

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 16:15:11 +0100, Magnus Manske <magnus.manske at web.de> wrote:

> Neither is the GFDL or the author list on any wikipedia article. You'll
> have to click a link (GFDL or "history", respectively).
> 
> Those who care about license information will find the link. Those who
> don't care wouldn't be helped with the text in plain sight either.

Sure, but the situation with the commons _is_ different.  You have to
follow _two_ links to find the GFDL: one to the image page on the
Commons, and another to find the link.  The real problem, however, is
that the license information is not even _mentioned_ on the
language-specific page.  For example, see:

http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Liliuokalani_of_Hawaii.jpg
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Liliuokalani_of_Hawaii.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Liliuokalani_of_Hawaii.jpg
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Liliuokalani_of_Hawaii.jpg

As well, the image page on the Commons is likely to be in English,
which makes it difficult for non-English speakers.  The obvious
solution is to translate the license information on each of the
language-specific pages from whatever is used on the Commons to the
given language.  But an automated solution would be preferable:
perhaps a template which depends somehow on variables set by
user-specific language settings.

Steve