Commons:Village pump

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Welcome to the Village pump

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# 💭 Title 💬 👥 🙋 Last editor 🕒 (UTC)
1 Long-term disputes on various wikis involving a cross-wiki IP author 19 3 MicBy67 2024-12-07 02:55
2 New calendar templates 2 2 TheDJ 2024-11-30 12:32
3 Defective old files 7 3 RoyZuo 2024-12-01 18:54
4 Odd categorisation by user 27 6 Enhancing999 2024-12-01 17:39
5 iOS Commons app is no more 11 5 Prototyperspective 2024-12-02 11:45
6 Category:Snow tires vs. Category:Winter tires 5 4 Jmabel 2024-12-02 01:13
7 Template:DeepcatSearch 10 3 Prototyperspective 2024-12-01 19:56
8 Tmbox improvments 3 2 Matrix 2024-11-30 12:04
9 Commons Gazette 2024-12 1 1 RoyZuo 2024-12-01 08:56
10 I found a really strangely formatted file 4 3 RadioKAOS 2024-12-01 22:49
11 CropTool not working again 1 1 RadioKAOS 2024-12-01 23:13
12 A type of monument that needs a category 11 4 Donald Trung 2024-12-04 20:51
13 Brakes 12 6 Thgoiter 2024-12-02 20:14
14 Search for image orientation and similar parameters 1 1 Grin 2024-12-02 16:22
15 RIP JarrahTree 4 4 Abzeronow 2024-12-03 18:03
16 Clarification Regarding the Appearance of the "Infobox" Template 3 3 Mike Peel 2024-12-04 08:17
17 Cooked food in supermarkets 7 6 Jeff G. 2024-12-06 13:04
18 Similar images with very different licences 5 2 Chipmunkdavis 2024-12-04 15:06
19 Commons:What is this? (Get help with file categorization) 9 4 Prototyperspective 2024-12-05 11:52
20 Minor changes coming to UploadWizard 1 1 Sannita (WMF) 2024-12-04 11:38
21 Conflicting info on sculptures 4 3 ReneeWrites 2024-12-05 15:05
22 Temporary Accounts - introduction to the project 1 1 SGrabarczuk (WMF) 2024-12-05 02:10
23 Admin as supervoter 11 4 GPSLeo 2024-12-05 18:28
24 to flip or not to flip 4 3 Jmabel 2024-12-06 17:57
25 Unneeded bloated category tree 11 4 RoyZuo 2024-12-07 11:37
26 Appeals of decisions in Commons:Categories for discussion 9 5 Jmabel 2024-12-07 18:05
27 Opinion on mass request for deletion 6 4 PantheraLeo1359531 2024-12-07 10:38
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Water pump in the village of Jestřebice, Czech Republic. [add]
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November 13

Long-term disputes on various wikis involving a cross-wiki IP author

There are numerous disputes involving an IP user indulging in cross-wiki spam, particularly articles on West Germanic varieties. I am hounded for a while.

The probable IP adresses indlude:

2003:de:3717:716f:e95b:e6c7:5bb:48f5
2003:DE:370C:38E4:4448:5249:EA82:E5FA
2003:DE:3717:718E:65C8:BEBB:58D6:1D36
2003:DE:3717:716F:5DCE:8967:6BA9:C376
2003:DE:3700:A013:B8D1:4127:BE29:FBC6


https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/2003:DE:370C:38E4:4448:5249:EA82:E5FA has a current block. This probably is the same person. A particular hobby of this user is to revert me on wiktionary, if I write that Hollandic isn't part of Low German. What shoukl — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sarcelles (talk • contribs) 17:46, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Sarcelles: Is this some sort of request for administrative action? If so, it belongs on the appropriate Administrators' noticeboard, not on the Village pump. Conversely, if it is something you are just bringing up for general discussion, I don't know what you want discussed. - Jmabel ! talk 18:37, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
None of these accounts have edited in recent weeks, some not in as long as half a year, so it is hard to imagine what anyone can do about this at this point. - Jmabel ! talk 18:40, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
2A01:599:30A:8340:4A39:F118:FF32:1257 is a recently used reincarnation. Sarcelles (talk) 18:45, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/2003:DE:371A:22A6:78F9:E411:9550:9ED4
the block log says:
8.11.2024, 21:12:36: Surjection blocked 2003:DE:0:0:0:0:0:0/32 (block log), expiring 8.12.2024, 21:12:36 (Abusing multiple accounts/block evasion: 2003:DE:371A:22A9:319A:E2C4:1B5A:C283)
5.11.2024, 06:03:47: Surjection blocked 2003:DE:3710:0:0:0:0:0/44 (block log), expiring 18.11.2024, 21:40:20 (Disruptive edits: xwiki povpushing: see w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Naramaru) Sarcelles (talk) 20:25, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/2003:DE:371A:22A9:319A:E2C4:1B5A:C283
8.11.2024, 21:12:36: Surjection blocked 2003:DE:0:0:0:0:0:0/32 (block log), expiring 8.12.2024, 21:12:36 (Abusing multiple accounts/block evasion: 2003:DE:371A:22A9:319A:E2C4:1B5A:C283)
5.11.2024, 06:03:47: Surjection blocked 2003:DE:3710:0:0:0:0:0/44 (block log), expiring 18.11.2024, 21:40:20 (Disruptive edits: xwiki povpushing: see w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Naramaru) Sarcelles (talk) 20:49, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ADeutsche_Mundarten.png&diff=948595578&oldid=946447257 was a removal of the deletion message, probably by the same IP. Sarcelles (talk) 20:22, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Whatta bunch of nonsense … -- MicBy67 (talk) 00:14, 17 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
File:Niederfränkisch.png is a file of this kind. It attempts to picture Low Franconian varieties in Europe. It has the following threefold-division:
  • A minor transitional area to Low Saxon, in the Netherlands
  • East Bergish running from near the city centre of Essen to Westphalia, also quite small#
  • A somehow larger area cutting through all of the following: an arrondissement bordering to Brussels, Antwerp province, Dutch Limburg, Belgian Limburg, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, German-speaking Belgium and French-speaking Belgium.
Sarcelles (talk) 19:17, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I missed the part covering most of the area. Sarcelles (talk) 11:36, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is called Nordniederfränkisch (North Low Franconian) and running from France to Holland, Friesland province, Brussels and Westphalia. Sarcelles (talk) 11:45, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nederfrankisch.png is a typical example. It includes the concept of South Guelderish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:South_Guelderish casts major doubt on the feasability of the concept. I have started to link this section on Wikipedia talk pages, the most recent example being https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Limburgish. Sarcelles (talk) 16:13, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have mentioned this issue on https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overleg:Limburgs as well today. Sarcelles (talk) 12:08, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Dialects of Dutch and German
This is a typical German map of some of the dialects from Italy to Denmark. The author is MicBy67, User:Postmann Michael (The discussion creator's blatant and deliberate lie has been corrected! The map creator was not the Commons accounts mentioned, but the account User:Et Mikkel~commonswiki! Let's stick to the truth for once! --MicBy67 (talk) 02:34, 7 December 2024 (UTC)). There should be a further discussion of this issue. Sarcelles (talk) 20:07, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yawn!
Cook up a fresh idea! ;)
Hey, did you happen to catch the latest post on the discussion page? Just checking!
I'm a bit shocked your mentor hasn't swooped in to save the day yet… -- MicBy67 (talk) 01:03, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@MicBy67: consider yourself formally warned that the wording of your posts here has been unnecessarily uncivil, and continuing in this vein will probably result in me (or someone else) blocking you. - Jmabel ! talk 17:53, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Jmabel: I take note of that. And I'm aware that the discussion creator (or his mentor) will bring up the old story again with the original account (Postmann Michael) was blocked on the German-speaking Wikipedia because of POV from dubious sources, trivialization of National Socialism. Harmful to Wikipedia on the one hand, and with the successor account (Et Mikkel) was permanently blocked on the German-speaking Wikipedia as a way to circumvent the blocking on the other hand.
Nobody really cares about the past two decades anymore!
What is striking, however, is the fact that the discussion creator is trying to construct a connection between the IP's and me. And is cross-wiki hounding actually allowed on Wikimedia Commons? I am asking now for an interested friend … --MicBy67 (talk) 02:55, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

November 26

New calendar templates

I made 2 new templates Template:Monthly archive table Template:Monthly calendar which can be customised to automatically make calendar-like tables of contents. Monthly archive table is partly inspired by https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Village_pump_archives&oldid=908053133 .

I hope these templates are more mobile friendly than text based TOC, which often is not auto adjusted to page width. The TOC should also be new on top and old on bottom, since more recent archives are more relevant for current users.

You can see their effect on com:motd (as long as the new design is kept).--RoyZuo (talk) 17:22, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nice work ! Thank you for doing this. —TheDJ (talkcontribs) 12:32, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

November 27

Defective old files

What to do with defective files like Special:Redirect/page/22745428? it was surely once used, but it's not used anymore and maybe became defective because of svg code incompatibility? RoyZuo (talk) 16:36, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Keep it as an archive. It's the vector source for File:Guangzhou west.png and File:Guangzhou east.png, so if anyone ever wants to update those, they'll need this file. It's not actually defective either. It's not rendering properly on Commons, but it was never meant to in the first place. El Grafo (talk) 11:17, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
But it doesnt render well in firefox or chrome either? RoyZuo (talk) 12:51, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
✓ Done The file should render correctly now. ReneeWrites (talk) 23:02, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ReneeWrites thx for fixing! is there a template to mark these SVG? i found more. RoyZuo (talk) 09:27, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RoyZuo: I couldn't find a template like that, so I made {{BrokenSVG}}. ReneeWrites (talk) 12:42, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ReneeWrites thx a lot! I just found out that it's possible to use {{Broken file|filetype=SVG}} which puts files in Category:SVG files with errors. RoyZuo (talk) 18:54, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Odd categorisation by user

I'm not sure where to report it, but my watchlist is flooded by a user who obsessively moves photographs I took from normal categories, then removes these categories, and then tags these categories as "Unuseful empty categories" (another example here). They tend to have a very idiosyncratic way of organising and I wanted to ask in the village pump regarding a different matter, but I just find this behaviour quite weird. As far as I know, I follow the same category system as already existed at the Wikimedia Commons and nobody had any issue with it until I photographed parts of Rotterdam, which this person seems to see as "his city" or something. Emptying categories like this seems like a form of vandalism. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:13, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The original issue I wanted to bring up was their odd categorisation where they ascribe their own definitions to the boundaries of neighbourhoods, despite official sources disagreeing and when I pointed this out they just appealed to Wikipedia as authority, despite Wikipedia not even backing up what they claimed. Though I still wanted to bring this up at a later point as I'm both too busy IRL and with other projects for these kinds of unproductive drama, so I'll discuss that in detail when I'll nominate the category for a CfD. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:17, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Donald Trung: Hi, Did you talk to this user? Yann (talk) 18:19, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yann, I've tried in the past but they rarely respond and often seem hostile. A recent example is here where they claim that the name they chose is "gangbare taalgebruik" (how people call it) despite the website of the government of Rotterdam itself disagreeing with these terms being synonymous and they claiming that Wikipedia is correct, but the map Wikipedia uses doesn't even mark it under the same name and the website of the municipality notes that it's only a part of it. But that isn't the issue, the issue is them removing categories simply because they don't want my works to show up in any of the main categories. This is odd, imagine if someone would remove all categories of a work you published and simply replace it with "photographs by Yann" which would normally even be a hidden category. I've just never seen a user act like this. -- — Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:26, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Another example, this category had dozens of files before it was nominated as "The given reason is: CSD C2 (unuseful empty category)". The files weren't placed in any other sign categories, just completely removed. This category itself had a number of sub-categories, all emptied and tagged as "Unuseful empty categories". --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:33, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Donald Trung: As I recall our contact started on a fair and friendly base, yet I was (and I am) critical towards your work , see here. -- Mdd (talk) 16:30, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
OK, thanks. I requested Mdd to come here to discuss this. Yann (talk) 18:43, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Screenshot of Category Delfshaven 27 nov 2024 at 19.45

Thanks for sharing your concern. I uploaded a screenshot of the current state of the Category Delfshaven. I brought it back to the basics to start expanding it again on lower levels. -- Mdd (talk) 18:54, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mdd, and how are signs, for example, not a good category for Delfshaven? Why are street signs in Delfshaven not a sub+category of street signs in Rotterdam? — Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:56, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Also, I fail to see how "Symbols of Delfshaven" fits into "Views of Delfshaven". Symbols of a place are an important top level category as it includes things like coats of arms, emblems, logos, Etc. while a "view" sounds more like a photograph. -- Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 19:10, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Comment I reverted some speedy deletion requests by Mdd. Such issues require a discussion, and cannot be speedy deleted. Yann (talk) 19:38, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Fair enough. I can restore the content of those categories (and list those categories in a separate Category Objects in Delfshaven like I did before in the Category Kleiwegkwartier) if there are no objections. Then a fair assessment can be made. Even more, I might supplement those content with some new works (yet to be made/or uploaded) and then most discussion might not be needed (yet). -- Mdd (talk) 15:19, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Mdd: Please stop replacing topical categories such as Category:Bus stop signs in Delfshaven with user categories you created on behalf of the user such as Category:Photographs in Delfshaven in 2023 by Donald Trung.
when creating users categories, please ensure the user is ok with that. Also, don't mix them with topical categories.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 09:35, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Comment To add to this, user categories are treated as separate from mainspace categories. So files in Category:Photographs in Delfshaven in 2023 by Donald Trung should still be in Category:2023 in Delfshaven - this is not considered overcategorization. And like Enhancing999 said, user categories shouldn't be mixed with mainspace categories, Category:Photographs in Delfshaven in 2023 by Donald Trung isn't a subcat of Category:2023 in Delfshaven, see COM:USERCAT for a more detailed explanation. ReneeWrites (talk) 16:43, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thx @Enhancing999: , yet I didn't replaces the Category:Bus stop signs in Delfshaven. I just removed its content ( and now just offered to restore that situation) What I did was moving one part of Category:2023 in Delfshaven to the subcat Category:Photographs in Delfshaven in 2023 by Donald Trung, which is indeed meant in this way as a service to all audiences. People can see the contributions of Donald Trung that year and can get a clear overview of other contributions.
So I disagree with your addition turning the sub-category into a user-category, and would like to have this restored (as ReneeWrites also suggest if I am not mistaken). In this matter I agree with Donald Trung initial statement that this is an odd/other way of categorizing. I can explain, but will leave it with this fo now. -- Mdd (talk) 15:41, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My main issue is with the fact that you essentially try to "hide" these works under non-topical categories, you seem to be under the impression that this is some sort of "art project", but I was inspired to take photographs of "the mundane" and "the every day" after I read a number of local history books while I was volunteering at an elderly care facility, those books often contain images of old signs, old infrastructure, streets, Etc. Most photographs I see at the Wikimedia Commons tend to be of already well-known art or monuments, sometimes WikiPhotographers would go to a village, take the same pictures of the same church or windmill everyone else has already photographed while ignoring all the things people deem "too mundane". I believe that it is precisely these "mundane" things that have more educational and historical value than monuments that are largely unchanged for decades or centuries and will remain largely unchanged for decades or centuries. This isn't a "genre" of photography and I doubt someone looking for "old" (from a future perspective) street name signs or manhole covers would be interested in shops or vice versa as being somehow something special. In fact, in case of outdoor electrical enclosures many are being replaced as we speak / write and can already be considered "an obsolete / a historical" version. As for your criticism of the quality, I use a smartphone and I can't always get the best lighting, but plenty of newspapers from all over the world have found my works good enough to be included in them, yet the last time you criticised me for providing works that "aren't used as much on Wikipedia", the Wikimedia Commons is more than just Wikipedia, plenty of images of mine I've seen in local newspapers, the NL Times, or DutchNews.com wouldn't necessarily be used for Wikipedia, educational works have more use cases than just an online encyclopedia. The topical category system helps people find what they want or need, "works by a specific photographer in a specific location" isn't as handy of a category to use. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 17:19, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Another thing I noticed is that people often miss areas of monuments they photograph, like angles, and I often take a horizontal and vertical picture because those have separate use cases, for example when people make vertical videos on on-line services like Instagram and TikTok, or small columns in a newspaper, while horizontal works are a better fit for example videos on Google's YouTube or books. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 17:23, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think there is a slight misunderstanding. User categories are categories specific to Commons users, and the category you created for Donald Trung's photography is a user category. These categories aren't treated the same way "Photographs by photographer"-subcats are treated for non-Commons users. ReneeWrites (talk) 18:07, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Here is a diff for my comment about replacing topical categories with user categories: [1].
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 12:15, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ReneeWrites indeed I think I misunderstood your comment. I beg the difference. To make my self more clear I have made an demonstration by creating the Category:Photographs in Rotterdam in 2024 by Marcel Douwe Dekker. This is also not a user-category, but just subcategory. I will proceed... -- Mdd (talk) 18:31, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In this particular matter the person, the photographer Marcel Douwe Dekker, is just the same as the person, the photographer Donald Trung. There is an artist who just died, Q.S. Serafijn... which wasn't its real name. There ar tons of authors publishing under a fancy name... etc., etc. This is all the same. -- Mdd (talk) 18:36, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Usercats can utilize both a person's username or real name (see COM:USERCAT), but they're still usercats. The categories you created for yourself are usercats, as well. ReneeWrites (talk) 18:48, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Yann: Sorry for bothering you about this, but I think it would be helpful if someone more knowledgeable on Commons policy could take a closer look at the situation. The issue is user categories and whether these categories (for Mdd & Donald Trung) are considered user categories, or not. ReneeWrites (talk) 21:08, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, these are user categories. I added {{Hiddencat}} to both of them. Yann (talk) 10:58, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Do note that user categories are already hidden. For user categories, {{Hiddencat}} really just adds a note saying that they are hidden. - Jmabel ! talk 17:29, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The general approach by Mdd to categorize images by year rather than by topic within Category:Rotterdam is also not helpful.
Replacing actual topical subcategories with year or date subcategories should be a no go.
To fix this mess, one could readd to the main category all images that haven only been added in subcategories by date/user/photographer/collection/etc.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 12:23, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are now CfDs on two aspects:

 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 17:39, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

November 28

iOS Commons app is no more

Dear ALL it seems that since few days ago (independent) iOS Commons app Wiki Uploader is no more (has not been maintained since a while, but now gone from Apple's App Store).

As F/L/OSS advocate I am always favoring open hardware/software/services/standards (understand communal preference to focus on Android as platform), but this is second time that we do not have any mobile app for iPhone (in the time when iPhone is literary celebrated by professionals for its lens quality and software).

Is there a way to do something about cross-plaform portability of the Commons App code so that iOS can have at least basic app supported by WMF or establish a minimal support for indy developers to have one maintained in sustainable way?

--Zblace (talk) 16:52, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is a current wish at m:Community Wishlist/Wishes/IOS Commons App that you could support. Commander Keane (talk) 21:26, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Commander Keane how exactly can I support it? It does not look like and active process. Zblace (talk) 15:45, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As a former app developer (and one of the developers working on the first versions of mobile Wikipedia)... Cross platform development is not really a golden ticket. Or rather.. that is what the web is for.
If you want a cross platform app, there are some solutions, but it should not be underestimated how much time you will still have to spend working on very platform specific things, that now have to fit into a multiplatform straightjacket.
What you are seeing here is the cost of quality. Development (esp mobile) is expensive. And the few very good floss mobile apps you see, are essentially built on the backs of a lot of available time and dedication by singular very skilled developers. These are the exceptions, most apps lack either the time, the skill or the interest of people. The point here being, that i would not focus on the technology too much. The right people tend to be a bigger differentiator here (or money, but that isn't going to happen). —TheDJ (talkcontribs) 12:28, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@TheDJ not sure I understand your arguments. We had several unofficial but non-terrible iOS apps for Commons photo uploads, but it seems none were given any support in any way. Zblace (talk) 15:48, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The best solution might be to make file uploading an add-on for the official Wikipedia app. GPSLeo (talk) 17:22, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Zblace I will reply down here if you don't mind. Regarding supporting the wish, I would recommend adding a {{Support}} to the talk page and a comment on why you think it is important. I am pretty sure the WMF looks at activity on the wishlist. Commander Keane (talk) 21:53, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Commander Keane really? Is there an example of wishlist item being taken on based on this (sorry if I sound cynical but historically it was not the case AFAIK) Zblace (talk) 11:00, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@GPSLeo easy to agree to extend Wikipedia app with photo upload, but I kind of doubt that will be done unless there is huge preassure from contributing and developer communities to extend the app in that direction. Zblace (talk) 10:58, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Zblace, perhaps adding {{Support}} for the wish was a bit misleading (WMF employees don't want that action for some unknown reason) but still I think the wishlist is the main way to get attention for an iOS app, with adding a love token on Phabricator and directly approaching WMF board members the only other ways I can think of. Anecdotally I have noticed a WMF product manager participating, hence my assumption that the WMF is watching the wishlist. Take a look at the status column at m:Community Wishlist Survey 2022/Results to see examples of wishes from a previous year that were taken on. Dark mode would be another example of something implemented. Having said all that I am also cynical about the situation, but you can only try and stranger things have happened. Commander Keane (talk) 05:30, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]


Agree with what you said Keane. As for adding things to the Wikipedia app (which has an iOS version) I don't know if it's feasible to make the WP app extendable – one could install a plugin for iOS Commons features or even Commons to the much better known more popular iOS-compatible Wikipedia app (but it would require a lot of development to match the Commons app functionality so I think it's probably easier to convert the app to iOS which may be readily possible with some effort despite that it's not been developed with some cross-platform framework with which it would have been very easy.) Prototyperspective (talk) 11:45, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is it the same and should be merged? To me (and my dictionary) both expressions are synonyms. Or if there are differences, they should be defined/explained. And the categories should be somehow linked or in the same category tree. --тнояsтеn 18:04, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Btw, the wikipedia article en:Snow tire does not differentiate: "Snow tires, also known as winter tires, ..." --тнояsтеn 19:04, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Comment I think those two categories can be regarded as same.
This site mentions to the topic, but I still don't know what the difference is in the end. In any case, they can be merged as the categories are not so bloated that they need to be differentiated. --Tmv (talk) 10:45, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
 Support merging the two. ReneeWrites (talk) 23:36, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Merge. Even if there is a subtle distinction in how some people use the term, having future uploaders obey that distinction is hopeless. - Jmabel ! talk 01:13, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

November 29

Template:DeepcatSearch

Template:DeepcatSearch i made this template (reusing idea behind MediaWiki:Gadget-DeepcatSearch.js) which can be added to cat pages to give links for everyone to quickly preview files scattered across all subcats, so now not only registered users using the gadget but every single visitor of the website can have this functionality. you can see a demo at Category:Kylie Minogue by year. RoyZuo (talk) 11:57, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea, looks great! It's important to note that it currently doesn't yet work for all categories, see phab:T376440 including the comment with 3 ideas for how users could be enabled to configure what is / is not shown & how many levels it should scan.
I'm not sure if that second button "Preview all files (detail)" is useful however, the page it leads to looks old and outdated and the info shown is not really useful (in your example it's This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. You are free: to share and the filetitle; it may be better to enable users to see the filetitle in the MediaSearch…maybe even a toggle-type button to see filetitle & first x chars of file description in the MediaSearch wall of images).
Furthermore, I don't know how the files are sorted on the results page (Relevance) and here are several proposals for improving the sorting. Lastly, I think it would be better if this was some sort of integrated functionality rather than a manually added template (e.g. because there's so many categories) and maybe the category search box could be added along with it or get integrated into this template (see an example for that at Category:Our World in Data). Prototyperspective (talk) 12:54, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
1 template does 1 thing.
for a jumbo tool, i also made Template:Category helper putting everything i like together.
it could possibly be integrated with {{Metacat}} so that it gets automatically transcluded to all cat pages with "PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname|subcats"<256. all the "xx by yy" cats are what needs this feature the most.
before wmf takes on development of these much needed functionalities, we can only survive on these little hacks, lol. RoyZuo (talk) 14:03, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Okay. Adding it to a widely used template like Metacat may be a good idea but many of the relevant cats don't have it. Still I don't think the second link is useful rather than very-rarely-useful bloat that often confuses users.
Another issue is that by default it opens the image tab but this may also be useful for video categories and cats with mixed contents etc so I think these two things would be very useful: 1. a way to see or tab for 'all media' in MediaSearch 2. a parameter to specify which mediatype to open for this template when the user clicks "Preview all images" (currently it opens the image tab). Both of these would also be useful for the category-searchbox as it could then use the better newer MediaSearch. See phab:T378756; also asked about it here. Prototyperspective (talk) 21:10, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, I dont think it's possible to build interactive templates that can allow users to pick filters and then generate a corresponding link. such things have to be built with js. on one hand i dont have the knowledge; on the other it's not sure a gadget would definitely be enabled for all website visitors. I'm motivated to make these little tools to save my own time clicking/typing, and just happy that they can also help some users along the way. RoyZuo (talk) 19:18, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure which part of my comment you were addressing. In the searchbox template for example it's specified that the file namespace is searched. In the same way one would specify which media-type is searched when clicking the button so that when adding it to category Videos of xyz the Video tab is opened instead of the image one. The phab issue is probably about a code change. I did not write about a gadget so I don't know what you were referring to there. Prototyperspective (talk) 19:56, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I tried adding it to Category:Logging in Washington (state) by county and it doesn't seem to work usefully there. (On the other hand, it worked fine on Category:Pike Place Market by decade). - Jmabel ! talk 02:46, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What's the issue with the first cat? It seems to work fine and seems to show all images. Prototyperspective (talk) 09:52, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, working now. It wasn't (said there were no images). - Jmabel ! talk 18:22, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Seems like the subcategories were added just recently to the cat: it always takes a while like a day or so until deepcategory shows newly added files or subcategories. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:33, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tmbox improvments

Hello, so I wanted to share some proposed changes to Tmbox that would harmonise it with mbox. This would be useful when we decide to migrate Mbox to Module:Message box. Due to the unfortunate way templatestlyes works, I can't show changes side-by-side, but here's the changes with old Tmbox and my version. With the old version, there is quite a bad contrast with mbox since one has an inline border but one doesn't, which is especially noticed on talk pages, but my version fixes that. Also, it synchronises the colours with mbox with design tokens. —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? - uselesscontributions} 19:17, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

For me this looks fine but with this I would also change all colors to use the codex colors. GPSLeo (talk) 10:52, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I did, however some of the border colours can't be codex since codex doesn't have a good equivalent. See Module:Message box/sandbox/tmbox.css. —Matrix(!) ping onewhen replying {user - talk? - uselesscontributions} 12:04, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 01

Commons Gazette 2024-12

  • Currently, there are 180 sysops.
  • Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is hosting a series of community calls to help prioritize support efforts for 2025-2026 Fiscal Year. Next calls will be held at 08:00 and 16:00 UTC, 12 December 2024. Join and have your say!

Edited by RoyZuo.


Commons Gazette is a monthly newsletter of the latest important news about Wikimedia Commons, edited by volunteers. You can also help with editing!

--RoyZuo (talk) 08:56, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I found a really strangely formatted file

This file File:Shikaumi Jinja Torii up20060426.jpg was uploaded in 2006 and appears to not have standard data formatting. Can someone fix it? Immanuelle ❤️💚💙 (please tag me) 15:51, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Immanuelle: Do you mean with regards to the Summary section? I'm afraid you'll find a tremendous amount of files that were uploaded in the early days of Commons before upload forms were standardized that look like this. I'll fix this one but this is an expansive job to correct all of them. Bastique ☎ let's talk! 16:19, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Bastique Yeah that is what I meant. Thank you for fixing it. Is there any proposal to make a bot that fixes these early uploaded files? Immanuelle ❤️💚💙 (please tag me) 17:03, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Since most of the files in question were uploaded more than 10–15 years ago, the clear answer would be obviously not, or the problem would have been corrected by now. Then there's still the problem of mass uploads that are poorly described and/or poorly categorized. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 22:49, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

CropTool not working again

I've tried to use CropTool a number of times lately. Instead of simply opening up the file, it takes me to a dialog box asking me to enter the filename. Nothing happens when I do that and press the "Go" button. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 23:13, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 02

A type of monument that needs a category

All of the above are examples of a type of monument very common in Washington State, and which I'm sure also exists elsewhere: a cross-section of a large tree, covered by a shed. They are variously monuments to loggers who died in work accidents, monuments to the logging industry in general, or even just science/history-oriented displays of the trees themselves. We should have a category for these, but I don't know what to call it. I suspect there is no standard term, but if there is then I'd love to get it right. - Jmabel ! talk 02:16, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

waymarking.com (Internet Archive's Wayback Machine) defines them as "Tree ring displays" "Tree Growth Ring Displays", but this category also includes tree rings without sheds. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 05:20, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Donald Trung: that would apply to the last one (File:Mt Rainier Nat'l Park — Douglas Fir Historical Timeline (2021-09-04), 01.jpg) because it labels dates on the growth rings, but I think not to the others. - Jmabel ! talk 19:00, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Jmabel: , according to the Tyrolean website www.Kaiserhotels.com (Internet Archive's Wayback Machine) uses the term "Wooden fountain", though I'm not sure if they're talking about the display or an actual fountain made of wood, the Tyrolean hotel's wooden fountain is apparently the largest in the world, but searching for the term I only find actual fountains made of wood... According to the American website m.Wikipedia.org the one on display here is called a "cross section on exhibit", so following this website's model we could use the category title "Cross sections on exhibit", but that would also include tree cross sections not covered by a shed, so it's still more ambiguous than what you intend to categorise, but it should be a sub-category of that ("Category:Cross sections on exhibit"). You could make the broader category provisionally and then move it to the more narrowly defined category after you've discovered the correct term.
For context, I use Google Lens in Google Photos to search, I just take the image and look for similar images, if I find a term used in Google Photos I then Ecosia it for similar results, unfortunately, no name has been consistent. I can't find a name that has been repeated a lot with this specific type of image, if I can find something better using Google Lens I'll write about it here. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 19:31, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The "wooden fountain" is a fountain, that's why it is called like that. Doesn't help in our case. --тнояsтеn 20:10, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I asked Google Gemini to define the structure, this is all the robot told me. "The structure in the image is a cross-section of a redwood tree. - A cross-section is a slice through an object that reveals its internal structure. In this case, the cross-section shows the tree's rings, which can be used to determine its age." - Google Gemini. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 19:40, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I also asked Google Gemini to describe the first image for me, it said: "The image shows a large cross-section of a tree trunk displayed under a wooden shelter. - The structure is likely a tree stump display or tree stump exhibit." All these terms are a lot more ambiguous as they can include displays without the wooden shed, for example inside of a museum or on a sort of pedestal or podium. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 19:42, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'll add Category:Cross sections of trees on exhibit so we at least have a place to gather these, even if not ideally named. We do already have Category:Cross sections of trees. - Jmabel ! talk 19:44, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I feel like that name would invite some confusion with tree cross sections which are on display in other contexts, like in natural history museums - the "monuments" you're describing in Washington State are something a bit different, and I feel like it does make sense to keep them separate for the moment. Perhaps Category:Logging monuments in Washington State? Omphalographer (talk) 20:00, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Omphalographer: I gave it subcats. Have a look. - Jmabel ! talk 20:20, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I also stated that, but this type of monument is not unique to the State of Washington and none of us know what the exact name of this monument is, I even asked a robot 🤖 and it kept giving me differing answers. "Category:Cross sections of trees on exhibit as monuments and memorials" is a good category that explains what these are, but it's not the exact name for this kind of monument, it's essentially the "good enough" until an expert (as in someone with the knowledge) can name these things. Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 20:51, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Brakes

I must be using the wrong search word, as I cant find find a category for brakes. Also File:Brakes Valve1.jpg has no category.Smiley.toerist (talk) 10:09, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See Category:Brakes Wouter (talk) 10:16, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
thanks, Smiley.toerist (talk) 11:30, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect File:Brakes Valve1.jpg is in the Category:Brake master cylinders.Smiley.toerist (talk) 11:30, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's inappropriate to ask about this at villagepump, even more so when the category is just called "Brakes" like the section title and basically the first thing one would look for, and further even more so to remove the issue is solved template despite it obviously being solved. I suggest categories you find interesting are promoted elsewhere, if no place for that exists you could create such a category. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:00, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
disagree. I find Smiley.toerist's questions frequently interesting. Users who don't like them can read some other stuff.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 16:28, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is lots of stuff on villagepump, maybe it would be good to have a separate page about casual talk. I was not talking about Smiley.toerist's questions. I was talking about this question. Lots of people watch VP. Prototyperspective (talk) 16:31, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How to categorize, where was a picture taken, what does it represent are useful questions.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 16:33, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Like I said 1. if the solution is pretty self-explanatory and in the section title it's not a good thread to begin with 2. it's pretty niche and doesn't need this much attention etc when there are lots of problems to solve etc 3. again, if it was a valid thread that doesn't mean it does to bloat this long page more by inappropriately removing the thread solved template when the thread is solved.
Moreover, maybe it would be a good idea to put these kinds of questions onto a separate page so this here is more focused on e.g. project-wide subjects and only get the question if it remains unsolved where it was asked earlier. Prototyperspective (talk) 16:39, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Re the image, I don't think that the depicted part is a brake, it looks much more like a "PZB-Fahrzeugmagnet" to me - the device over which the vehicle's train protection system communicates with the infrastructure (via electromagnetic induction). See the second image on de:Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung (or en:Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung) Looks like Category:Intermittent train control systems is a better fit. ~TheImaCow (talk) 18:09, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May be best to ask about what this is (different question than what has been asked here) at en:Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains or in this case with this info at en:Talk:Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:20, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You are right. It is an "Indusi" not a brake. For a magnetic track brake also the mounting would be too weak (and badly positioned outside the bogey). --тнояsтеn 20:14, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Search for image orientation and similar parameters

I've got an interesting question: "How can I search for a specific topic and only images which have portrait orientation?"

Seems normal search is not very smart, it can at least use semantic data somewhat, but not complex parameters, including image size, aspect ratio and orientation. Is there any way to search based on media technical data as well? --grin 16:22, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 03

RIP JarrahTree

I'm sad to announce the passing of JarrahTree, an admin and regular contributor here. There's an English Wikipedia obituary of him and someone here might want to create one on Commons too. Graham87 (talk) 10:05, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still in shock, even though I received the news a couple of hours ago. I have added JarrahTree to Commons:Deceased contributors. He will be dearly missed and my condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues. Bidgee (talk) 10:34, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
rest in peace. my condolonces to his family. modern_primat ඞඞඞ ----TALK 11:30, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for notifying us, Graham. My brief interactions with him were pleasant. Condolences to family and friends. Abzeronow (talk) 18:03, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification Regarding the Appearance of the "Infobox" Template

When the site is displayed in the Arabic language, the "Infobox" template is shown by default on the right side of the page. However, there may be a need to adjust this layout to appear on the left side, either to suit specific design preferences or to ensure consistency with content in other languages.-- Mohammed Qays  🗣 19:48, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Mike Peel: This would be a good idea for languages that read right to left. Abzeronow (talk) 20:25, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a stylesheet entry for this? The infobox already uses "mw-content-<ltr/rtl>" as appropriate, is that not also doing this? (In general it's best to post such questions at Template talk:Wikidata Infobox, BTW). Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 08:17, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cooked food in supermarkets

Category:Cooked food in supermarkets is now used for a concept in Chinese supermarkets. I'm not sure how applicable this is for other countries.

The concept is, food that is sold like those sold in food shops/restaurants. They are ready for consumption. They can be consumed on site; or within a few days, usually not more than a week. Factory-packaged cooked food like canned food, frozen pizzas, frozen nuggets, biscuits, chips, tiramisu, ice cream etc. is not the scope of this category. For cooked food for sale similar to this concept but in other countries, I've only seen "siu mei" and roast chicken sold in Singapore NTUC fairprice, and sushi and baked goods sold in German supermarkets. In very rare cases I saw a German supermarket with a few food shops inside selling sandwiches, pastry and drinks.

There's the potential ambiguity of the current cat title (which can refer to all packaged non-raw food). What's your suggestion? Should we keep this title, or do you have an alternative proposal? RoyZuo (talk) 22:52, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of US supermarkets have onsite delis with cooked food like this. Actual seating is more rare, but I recall seeing it. Complicating it some is places like Walmart and Target often have Subways or McDonalds or Pizza Huts or Starbucks inside them.--Prosfilaes (talk) — Preceding undated comment was added at 00:04, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Onsite seating is more common in co-op markets than the big U.S. chains, but not that unusual. I think pretty much every Whole Foods has it.
Prepared food is pretty standard in any larger UK supermarket as well. - Jmabel ! talk 06:52, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In Germany this concept is called Mittagstisch as it is mostly used for lunch. If in other regions this is also primarily for lunch and not for dinner „Lunch in supermarkets“ could be a good and not that ambiguous category name. GPSLeo (talk) 07:09, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see any connection in the delis I've been familiar with. I'm sure there's a lot of lunch, but there's some breakfast foods in the morning, and they sell a lot of rotisserie chicken for dinners. When I worked the job 20 years ago, we sold a decent amount of dinner food.--Prosfilaes (talk) 20:36, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Prosfilaes: I have seen US supermarkets with seating, hot rotisserie chickens (available in preparation for dinnertime, with the remains resold the next day cold and packaged at a discount), and a hot chicken wing bar (available around lunchtime) that doesn't just serve wings (again, with the remains resold the next day cold and packaged at a discount). The ready-to-eat food is very popular with employees who have very short breaks.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:04, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Commonly used terms for this in US supermarkets are "ready-to-eat" or "grab and go". Sometimes also "prepared meals", although that's ambiguous with packaged items that need to be heated before consumption. Omphalographer (talk) 03:59, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 04

Similar images with very different licences

Hello, recently File:Emblem of the Korean National Youth Association.svg was uploaded as a PD-geometric shape. If this is true, there is a larger flag version on en.wiki at en:File:KoreanNationalYouthAssociation.jpeg. Would the PD also apply to that, and if so should that be imported here too? Pink Mrmw and NorthTension. Best, CMD (talk) 03:37, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's in PD because the party was founded 77 years ago, and Korean copyright law dictates "70 years from publication (anonymous or pseudonymous work)". Whoever uploaded that other file originally never checked this. NorthTension (talk) 03:39, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! I will see about getting the flag to Commons too then. CMD (talk) 05:33, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I set the copyright status of both files to the South Korean PD but I'm not sure if I did it correctly, would it be fine if you took a look at that? NorthTension (talk) 12:36, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Looks correct to me. CMD (talk) 15:06, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Commons:What is this? (Get help with file categorization)

This is a new page intended to become a place where users can ask about what is shown in an image/video so that fitting categories can be added or for people knowledgable about a subject to add requested fitting categories:

Commons:Expert identification or categorization requests

I created it due to recurring posts on this page asking about what individual pictures show where having a separate page could make this page here more focused on project-wide issues and all of the remaining discussions. It could become more overseeable (shorter) as well as to enable users (only or especially) interested in such requests to have a separate dedicated page they can watch.

Requests that for some time remain unsolved there could be asked about here in a brief post that bundles several requests. These could look like the photo challenge results posts.

If you're interested in these kinds of requests, please watch that page. It probably won't work well early on for some time but that may change over time. If you have any media files where you think a category is missing and you'd like to know which, just create a new section on that page. There also probably is a better name for that page, I'll try to think of a better one and if you have any suggestions please name them. Prototyperspective (talk) 09:59, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What problem are you trying to solve?
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 10:54, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
1 The lack of such a place. 2 This place being overcrowded. 3 Insufficient resources for the large backlog & open VP issues/discussions. 4 Files missing categories and missing categories for files. Prototyperspective (talk) 10:57, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Seems to me the main effect of this is that it is less likely that someone with expertise is likely to see the requests. - Jmabel ! talk 19:57, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nor is Village pump really "overcrowded".
The main problem of Village Pump, as I see it is that Proto closes threads they don't seem to fully understand while hiding in edit summaries that they are closing such threads and then complain when knowledgeable people reopen them, bloating these threads with meta discussions about the threads.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 08:23, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Than if one was to post here. Yes, that is obviously true and also clarified in my post above as well as on the page. Moreover, imagine if everybody who had put a file into Category:Unidentified subjects had posted about it on VillagePump. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:40, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If there was so much interest in that, the category would probably be empty.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 11:50, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't create this page because there is so much interest of people to find fitting categories. And I also never said there was "so much interest". Prototyperspective (talk) 11:52, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I like the idea, but it needs to be properly advertised. Perhaps the MediaWiki Upload Wizard could include a line like "If you don't know what categories you should use you can ask experienced users" or something like that. The main issue is that a lot of power users don't even know where things are, for example I know a good map maker who didn't know about the Maps Workshop. Another example is how the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) "hides" are their projects and places by not putting it in a highly visible navigational template. For this page to be successful, it should be advertised in the help desk, community navigational templates, and the MediaWiki Upload Wizard. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 21:04, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Minor changes coming to UploadWizard

Hi all! This week we will release some minor improvements to UploadWizard, mostly concerning the “not own work” option in the “release right” step.

More specifically, we will:

  • improve slightly information about CC licenses (phab:T375494)
  • add a “I don’t know” option (phab:T375790)
  • fix the style of the warnings (phab:T374165)
  • remove the question about “personal use” for auto-confirmed users (phab:T370104)
  • remove the checkbox about media not including copyrighted material (phab:T370105)

We will also do some more revision of the texts of the “own” and “not own work” section, to give more information to the user about the options they are choosing (phab:T370103), and to match the new “describe” step style (phab:T361055). Plus, we are improving the options to choose a custom license/PD-tag (phab:T371050), and fixing some minor bugs (phab:T373567, phab:T373568 and phab:T380922).

If you have questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to reply here or on our project’s talk page. Thanks in advance! Sannita (WMF) (talk) 11:38, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Conflicting info on sculptures

I uploaded two pictures of sculptures, you can find the images here and here. The relevant article on the Dutch Wiki states that the figure on the right is Hannibal Barkas, and the figure on the left is Philip II of Macedon, however a small number of files in the category for these sculptures (Category:Bearers of memorial tomb of Engelbert II of Nassau) are named/categorized the other way around. Can someone help me figure out which is accurate? ReneeWrites (talk) 22:15, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe the references in the Dutch article can help?
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 08:43, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Renee. It appears that the identity of these two figures is uncertain; there's no way to know for sure who they represent, much less which one is "Hannibal" and which one is "Philip". The figures of Caesar and Regulus on the other side of the tomb are identified by inscriptions, but the inscriptions for the two in your photographs are lost, and the tradition that they represent Hannibal and Philip, although frequently repeated, does not seem to have any contemporary (i.e, 16th-century) evidence to support it. See, e.g., E. M. Kavaler, Actors Carved and Cast: Netherlandish Sculpture of the Sixteenth Century, p. 84. This is the reason for the confusion in your sources: no one really knows who these guys are, and they may not be Hannibal and Philip at all. A quick Google Books search turned up several different suggested identifications in 19th- and 20th-century sources: Hannibal and Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Scipio (which Scipio is not stated, but presumably Africanus), Achilles and Ulysses, or simply "two Grecian heroes". Like the traditional attribution to Michelangelo, which was common in the 19th century but is unanimously rejected today, this is just a story that has become attached to the tomb: maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but without more evidence, you're never going to be able to put definitive names to your photos. – Cheers, Crawdad Blues (talk) 14:09, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is a fantastic answer, thank you so much for taking the time to find all of this out, and even providing a source. ReneeWrites (talk) 15:05, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 05

Temporary Accounts - introduction to the project

A temporary account notification after publishing the first edit

The Wikimedia Foundation is in the process of rolling out temporary accounts for unregistered (logged-out) editors on multiple wikis. The pilot communities have the chance to test and share comments to improve the feature before it is deployed on all wikis in mid-2025.

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We will do our best to inform everyone impacted ahead of time. Information about temporary accounts will be available on Tech News, Diff, other blogs, different wikipages, banners, and other forms. At conferences, we or our colleagues on our behalf are inviting attendees to talk about this project. In addition, we are contacting affiliates running community support programs.

Subscribe to our new newsletter to stay close in touch. To learn more about the project, check out the FAQ and look at the latest updates. Talk to us on our project page or off-wiki. See you! NKohli (WMF) and SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 02:10, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Admin as supervoter

What's the correct approach to resolve an issue with an admin, who I feel systematically misapplies our deletion policy? See discussion at User_talk:The_Squirrel_Conspiracy#CfD_closure.

It seems that admin hasn't followed the update of our deletion and speedy deletion policies no longer mandating deletion of empty categories (see summary by Clindberg at Commons:Village_pump/Proposals/Archive/2024/10#c-Clindberg-20241027012000-Giftzwerg_88-20241026204400).

My attempts to resolve this in a civil manner with the admin resulted in them seeking my block.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 12:03, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

While I often disagree with TSC, the closure was according to policies, perfectly fine and clearly clarifies that it can be recreated if photos are taken already in the CfD and again in a well-written response on the talk page that addresses your point. What you linked to was some talk page discussion, I just didn't address the good points in that comment because I thought it was best to rest the case for now and there is no reasonable chance that the categories will be re-populated again here anyway. Either way that's just a user's comment on a talk page. I wonder what makes you think that overrides well-reasonable established policies. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:24, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What well-reasoned policies are you referring to? (a policy at Commons is a written page with a policy tag, not what an admin writes in their explanation).
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 12:27, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Commons:Criteria for speedy deletion. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:31, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, thanks for clarifying your POV. This even if it's unrelated to a regular deletion not being handled appropriately (see applicable policy in the linked discussion).
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 12:37, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What was the deal with the category to begin with? Like was there an image in it that got deleted at some point or was it always empty? --Adamant1 (talk) 12:54, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Besides there being no consensus for its deletion, it was well-defined and "obviously usable for the future" (so not eligible for speedy deletion either).
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 13:13, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I mean, I get that's your argument. It's not what I asked though. Regardless, there's only one Lamborghini Invencible in existence and I just spent 20 minutes looking for a freely licensed photograph of it with no luck. Really, there's barely any photographs of the car to begin with. So I don't think the whole "obviously usable for the future" thing is met here and it's your standard. But that's why I was asking if there was an image in the category at some point. If there was then maybe it would be possible to find another one somewhere, upload it, and just recreate the category that way instead of trying to Wikilawyer. --Adamant1 (talk) 13:20, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It happens that we have well defined categories and then all content gets deleted and at some point users upload other pictures. Nothing really particular about this one. That's why we check such things at CfD and some admins handle the requests with the necessary care. Otherwise we could just use a bot instead.
 ∞∞ Enhancing999 (talk) 13:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
All content gets deleted and at some point users upload other pictures Or they don't. It doesn't matter what the guideline says anyway. All that matters is that multiple people say your wrong. So you are. That's it. Citing policy only works when there's people on your side and no one agrees with you. It's totally pointless to discuss this beyond that. --Adamant1 (talk) 13:55, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You are complaining about missing care when handling deletion requests on categories but the example you are referring to is perfectly aligned with the current guidelines. It is nearly impossible to get a photo of this car. GPSLeo (talk) 18:28, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

to flip or not to flip

usually selfies are mirrored images, e.g. File:Grossglockner 2021 Signor Vespa.jpg (compare the lake with File:20190624.Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Höhe, Grossglockner.-011.jpg to be sure). They show the backround mirrored. Shall we flip them or not? Shall the image be marked with {{Flopped}}, shall this be done in the root category for selfies? best --Herzi Pinki (talk) 23:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

For most photos that are flipped at the source (ex. File:Mystic river drawbridge no. 7.jpg), I think it's best to flip to the correct orientation and note that in the file description. For selfies, given how common flipping is (and how difficult it can be to tell lacking a telltale background clue), I'm not sure. I'd certainly welcome a discussion.
The specific image you linked was self-promotion by a non-contributor; I've deleted it as such. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 00:07, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
thanks for speedy. --Herzi Pinki (talk) 08:31, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It can be really tricky to decide which version is preferable when it was a mirror image in the first place. You can always upload the "corrected" version as a separate file. - Jmabel ! talk 17:57, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 06

Unneeded bloated category tree

We have a nice category:Forests by country category tree, but one person also created this horrible category tree for only one city - Berlin (category:Forests by city). I propose to delete this entire category structure. MBH 11:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  •  Support I don't know why, but from what I've seen there's some pretty obtuse category trees on here having to do with Germany. Way more so then with other countries for some reason. This category structure being an especially horrible example of the wider problem. So I say delete it. --Adamant1 (talk) 12:10, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Unfortunately this happens not only for forests, but for any object that may be categorized by several variables. For example, in football matches we have at least something like this for only THREE variables (one of which is a "children" (club of country) of another, so closer to 2.5). It is even worse in reality, as e.g. cities or stadiums aren't counted here.

    Matches by year by country
    Matches by country by year
    Matches by year by club
    Matches by club by year
    Matches by club by country
    Matches in N [year]
    Matches in N [year] by country
    Matches in N [year] by club
    Matches in N [year] by date ("shallow" category — i.e. one that is used to view all of recursive items of a category)
    Matches in N [country]
    Matches in N [country] by year
    Matches in N [country] by club
    Matches in N [country] by date ("shallow")
    Matches in N [country] in N [year]
    Matches in N [country] in N [year] by club
    Matches in N [country] in N [year] by date ("shallow")
    Matches of N club
    Matches of N club by year
    Matches of N club by date ("shallow")
    Matches of N club in N year
    Matches of N club in N year by date ("shallow")

    (Another user more experienced at Commons, though, told me that here shallow categories aren't used to be used — but in my opinion that is also problematic because make it significantly harder, for example, to list all football matches in Ukraine in 2015 — here I solved it by making that same category shallow, but that results in requiring to place a file simultaneously in a category and its parent — e.g. FC Shakhtar Donetsk vs Fenerbahçe S.K.Matches of FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 2015Association football matches in Ukraine in 2015.) Well very well (talk) 12:12, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's largely due to the whole "Double meta categories" thing. Although like everything on here there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it. This being an example of the wrong way. but ultimately "Double meta categories" should just be axed if people don't want weird category trees like these ones to be created in the first place. --Adamant1 (talk) 12:15, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Do you mean by the "double meta categories" the first 5 categories from this list? 16 remain though. Well very well (talk) 12:18, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Category:Double meta categories or "three subject categories" I guess. If I'm correct all the categories you listed would be double meta cats. The same goes for something like Category:Forests by city by season and it's subcats. Forests=subject 1, city=subject 2, season=subject 3. Or one main category and 2 meta cats? I don't know but I'm sure you get it. Either way cross sectional categories should only have two subjects at most. Really, even that can be over kill sometimes. --Adamant1 (talk) 12:24, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So, do you think it should ideally be closer to something like this?

Matches by year by country
Matches by country by year
Matches by year by club
Matches by club by year
Matches by club by country
Matches in N [year] (functioning as both normal category and shallow)
Matches in N [year] by country
Matches in N [year] by club
Matches in N [country] (normal & shallow)
Matches in N [country] by year
Matches in N [country] by club
Matches in N [country] in N [year] (normal & shallow)
Matches of N club (normal & shallow)
Matches of N club by year
Matches of N club in N year (normal & shallow)

Well very well (talk) 12:34, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know. It depends on the category, but if it were me I'd probably just axe them outright. There isn't enough sub-categorise to justify these types of categories in a lot of instances anyway. There's just a weird obsession on here with making every category only contain a single sub-category no matter how pedantic the whole thing is. Ergo things like Category:Association football matches by club by country ---> Category:Association football matches by club in Hungary ---> Category:Matches of association football clubs in Hungary in 2016 ----> Category:Matches of association football clubs in Hungary in 2016 ---> Then ending with Category:Beitar Jerusalem FC vs. MTK Budapest FC 2016-06-18 before someone can find an image. There's no reason most or all of the intermediate categories need to exist though. Let alone Category:Association football matches by club by country. Categories aren't Russian nesting dolls. --Adamant1 (talk) 12:49, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Myself I don't really see a difference between "Association football matches by club" and "Matches of association football clubs" so I'd remove the second in favor of the first (and the unification). I agree though that there is no need of a category when there is just one item and categorization by club is in most cases an example of this. So maybe something like this?

Matches by year by country
Matches by country by year
Matches by year by club
Matches by club by year
Matches by club by country
Matches in N [year] (functioning as both normal category and shallow)
Matches in N [year] by country
Matches in N [year] by club
Matches in N [country] (normal & shallow)
Matches in N [country] by year
Matches in N [country] by club
Matches in N [country] in N [year] (normal & shallow)
Matches of N club

I think that I could theoretically justify use for all of these remaining categories. Well very well (talk) 13:04, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
And some of the responsible users are:
@AnRo0002 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Forests_in_Berlin_in_autumn&action=history
@Well-Informed Optimist https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Forests_in_Berlin_in_winter&action=history
@Triplec85 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Forests_in_Germany_in_autumn_by_city&action=history . RoyZuo (talk) 11:32, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They created 17 Matryoshka dolls https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?sort=create_timestamp_desc&search=deepcategory%3A%22Forests_by_city%22&ns14=1
for 9 files https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?sort=create_timestamp_desc&search=deepcategory%3A%22Forests_by_city%22&ns6=1 . ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ RoyZuo (talk) 11:37, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Appeals of decisions in Commons:Categories for discussion

What is the process to follow if one wishes to appeal the outcome of category discussions? Laurel Lodged (talk) 17:47, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We don't have a formal process, but here's how I see it. First, communicate with the closing admin. If that doesn't yield satisfaction, bring it here. (In some cases it may be appropriate to start another CfD, but that's a judgement call.) And, please, if there was a strong consensus that you just don't like, let go. - Jmabel ! talk 18:03, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Jmabel: Would COM:UDR be more appropriate than here or starting another CfD?   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 20:26, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not in this case, I think. The categories in question have not been deleted. It was a discussion about renaming categories. The closing admin concluded to not rename the categories. Nakonana (talk) 21:52, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I'll follow the process that you've outlined. I really don't hold out much hope of obtaining a different decision though. Do Admins often self-revert their decisions after such an intervention? I doubt it. But I'll give it a whirl. And no, I don't think that I'm guilty of failing to drop the stick; I think that I have reasonable grounds for requesting an investigation into, and the overturning of, a bad decision. It would be remiss of me not to do so. Laurel Lodged (talk) 14:39, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It looks like gaming with system. No one user support your request but you disagree with this desicion. It may be discussed if 50/50 opinions but here is 100% oppose, so there may not be other decision.--Anatoliy 🇺🇦 (talk) 14:50, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well you would say that, wouldn't you? Laurel Lodged (talk) 16:44, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Given the above comment by the closing Admin @Ahonc: , may I take it that the first part of the process ("communicate with the closing admin") has failed and proceed to the second part of the process (bringing it back to the pump)? Laurel Lodged (talk) 16:46, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Laurel Lodged: Yes. When you do that, please include links to relevant discussions, including a permalink to this one, which I hope is now concluded. - Jmabel ! talk 18:05, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

FYI, I've created a disambigation page for the various entities that share the name of "Ivano-Frankivsk": Category:Ivano-Frankivsk (disambiguation).

Opinion on mass request for deletion

I created a mass deletion request but I haven't submitted it yet. I feel bad for the author and their efforts. I'd appreciate any feedback. -Slevinski (talk) 19:21, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Slevinski: You intend to nominate 37,423 files? @PantheraLeo1359531: FYI.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 20:23, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. It's a large number, but I don't see the benefit and I see actual harm. In the least, the facial diacritic section needs fixed for characters U+1DA00 to U+1DA6C. I provided feedback on one of the facial diacritic images talk page. Either include the head anchor character U+1D9FF, or include the dotted head placeholder in the image. The Noto SignWriting font is still in development and not production ready. The images in the category are not final, but a work in progress that will need to be updated later or left in a unfinished state. The shaping reports from GitHub shows 50% for Noto SignWriting. Why use static images of a development snapshot?
A specific example is U+1D9C7 for certain fills and rotations. See Noto SignWriting project issue #9. Rather than document a development release, you can use an online tool to view the Noto SignWriting glyphs for a character string. The Noto SignWriting font did a good job on the facial diacritics section. Consider this example of a facial diacritic without a foundational U+1D9FF character. Notice the head placeholder as a dotted line.
If you wanted to document the International SignWriting Alphabet 2010 with static files, I would understand. These glyphs and their arrangement are approved of by Valerie Sutton. These SVG are final and their development is complete. -Slevinski (talk) 05:40, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Slevinski: I'm not sure I follow your reasoning. Are you simply saying that this isn't a good enough font, and we shouldn't document it? Or that these files do not accurately document the font? Or something else? - Jmabel ! talk 22:17, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am saying that the Noto SignWriting font isn't good enough to accurately document the official Unicode standard for SignWriting in Unicode 8 (uni8) character strings. It will be a large job to update these files as the Noto SignWriting font improves. It is a job that may never get done.. I'm also saying that the naming of the file in the diacritic range is not accurately reflected in the svg file images. Consider the facial diacritic U+1DA00. Without U+1D9FF you should see the dotted line for the head placeholder. With U+1D9FF, you should see the appropriate glyph found in the International SignWriting Alphabet 2010.-Slevinski (talk) 06:01, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Jeff for pinging. I see notability in the following two reasons: 1. The Noto font family is a widely used one created by Google. It is notable because of the huge amount of glyphs and the goal to provide a glyph for every Unicode character. 2. The Sign Writing language is one of the main communication techniques, especially in the non-verbal purposes. The SVG file makes it freely scalable and the extraction easier to only get the desired sign. I wonder if the glyphs are that wrong in total. In case the glyphs here get outdated, we either have the option to import the newer ones and delete the old ones or move the old ones in a cat for deprecated glyphs. But I think at least the fact it is part of the Noto font family which has its own Wikipedia article should be relevant. If we have really big problems in accuracy or other issues, then this could be put in a broader discussion. Generally I try to cover fonts that are significant enough to have its own article or illustrate a special art of style like ornamented fonts, isometric fonts or 3D style fonts to illustrate the possible amount of variants that can be put into the styling. Greetings --PantheraLeo1359531 😺 (talk) 10:38, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Slevinski - this is an issue you should raise with the developers of the font. Deleting these files on Commons isn't going to improve the font. Omphalographer (talk) 20:51, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the responses. I won't submit the deletion request. -Slevinski (talk) 22:12, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 07