User talk:Zscout370/Archive 1

Thank you for providing images to the commons. Please keep in mind that images and other files on the commons must be under a free license and should be useful to the wikimedia projects. To allow others to use your files, some additional information must be given on the description page. Most importantly:

• Describe what it is about in a short sentence. (What does the image show?)
• State the author and the date of creation. If you made it yourself, say so explicitly.
• If you did not create the file yourself, state the source you got it from.
• Add a Copyright tag - images without a appropriate license tag will be deleted.
• Add the image to one or more gallery pages and/or appropriate Categories, so it can be found by others.

If you copied the file from another wiki, please copy all information given there and say who uploaded it to that wiki.

Please add as much information as possible. If there is not sufficient information, the file may have to be deleted.

For more Information, have a look at Commons:criteria for inclusion and the Community Portal. If you need help or have questions, please ask at the village pump. Thank you. -- Duesentrieb 20:02, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

• Thanks for the welcome, and you will certainly see much more of out me in the next few months. Zscout370 19:37, 2005 Apr 17 (UTC)

Belarus flag

I think this is most official source: http://president.gov.by/eng/simbol/ --EugeneZelenko 18:16, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks a bunch. May I ask if you are currently risiding inside Belarus or are you a Belarussian native? Zscout370 20:26, 2005 May 1 (UTC)

I'm native Belarusian. Lived 27 years there but far away now. --EugeneZelenko 03:53, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Hi, I've uploaded several photos of Belarus flag to category:Flags of Belarus -- Redline 23:12, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Vatican City.png

This one is more accurate, since the color of the hoist side is yellow, not gold. A user pointed that out to me. Also, is the sourcing that I provided good enough for the image to be on the Commons? Thanks. Zscout370 (sound off) 15:35, 2005 May 11 (UTC)

The information you provided is good (I just noticed I accidentally remove it before; restored now!). The only question is what the copyright status is of the coat of arms you used. If you could find out more about that and write whatever you learn at Image:Flag of Vatican City.png it would be helpful. Thanks! Dbenbenn 15:46, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

I did find this:"[Flag drawings © The Flag Institute & Graham Bartram; Drawing animated flag © Pascal Gross; Drawing coat of arms of the Holy See © Mario Fabretto]." All three draw for the Flags of the World website, but there is no way the coat of arms have been drawn by Mario and I did not see an animated image on the website. Zscout370 (sound off) 15:53, 2005 May 11 (UTC)

The copyright claims at The Flag Institute and the Flags of the World site are bogus, since they didn't actually create the design. Having thought about it some more, I'd say the coat of arms is very likely public domain due to age (assuming it hasn't changed in a while!). It's the kind of thing that tends to be difficult to track down. If I were you I wouldn't worry about it too much. Dbenbenn 16:05, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I am glad that is resolved. Zscout370 (sound off) 18:28, 2005 May 11 (UTC)

You said it was supposed to be yellow, not gold. Now you've replaced Image:Flag of Vatican City.png with a gold version. Could you please indicate at the description page your sources or reasons for changing the color? Thanks, Dbenbenn 22:32, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

The website of the Vatican City [1], stated that the flag must be yellow and white. I have reverted the image to that effect. Zscout370 (sound off) 22:51, 2005 May 20 (UTC)

Re: Hero of Belarus

Truly said I don't follow such kind of news... If you want I can try to search Russian/Belarusian news for this topic. I think http://sb.by (biggest pro-government newspaper) have articles on this topic. http://president.gov.by and http://pravo.by as official sources could contains law acts on this topic too. --EugeneZelenko 04:42, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. I got pretty much all I needed, except for photos and bios of the various heroes of Belarus. I need to also make sure I got them all. Zscout370 (sound off) 03:56, 2005 May 16 (UTC)

informationbox for flags

I just thought about it, and i think, we need more information on flag description pages. the infobox (e.g. Image:Flag of the Netherlands.png and mage:Europe flag 300.png) has to contain the codes for the colors, the ratio, the name (new) and the date of the first adoption. what do you think? Schaengel89 @me 18:06, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Sure. We can find information on those things easily, since the EU has provided the color codes and adoption dates of the flags. Zscout370 (sound off) 18:34, 2005 May 18 (UTC)

Image:Perverted Justice screenshot-5-18-2005.jpg

The above image is a screenshot and will have to be deleted. Showing the full Internet Explorer interface and Windows toolsbars is problematic (read the Windows EULA), but the screenshot also contains text and logos from the website, which is not free material. The image will have to be deleted, sorry -- Duesentrieb 23:56, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Ok. I will move it to Wikipedia EN, since the website owner gave me and others permission to use the screenshot. Its alright my friend, I know your doing your job as admin. Zscout370 (sound off) 00:44, 2005 May 19 (UTC)

Image:Orderlenin rib.png

Please don't forget to add your images to appropriative pages and/or categories where other users could easily find them. For example Category:Soviet Union awards, Category:Awards and medals of Russia.

You could skip uploading separate file copy on en: too. Commons is for everybody :-)

Please use PD-user template instead plain PD.

EugeneZelenko 01:18, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. I do have the Commons uploader downloaded on the computer, but I just hope the file names are alright. Plus I will take your suggestion, since most of the images that I upload I make on my own, thus being able to stick onto the Commons. Zscout370 (sound off) 17:04, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)

Flags you drew

Hi Zscout. As Template:PD-flag says, "representations of national flags are subject to copyright as original works of art". Hence, for flags that you drew, you need to say so explicitely. You could also change the tag to {{PD-self}}, and add information about how you made the flag, including what sources you used as references. I know it's a pain (because there are so many flags) but it has to be done. Thanks, dbenbenn | talk 13:49, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I saw why, since the template is deemed "depreciated." Zscout370 (sound off) 03:31, 2005 Jun 24 (UTC)

Request

Do you take requests to draw flags? Image:Northern Ireland flag.gif may be a copyvio, it's not really big and its GIF. Neither can I find a large flag anywhere on the net. I would really appreciate if you could do something. Thuresson 04:15, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Of course, I take requests. I can find a flag first, and if not, then I can try drawing. I can put that on EN Wikipedia too. Zscout370 (sound off) 2005 June 27 01:00 (UTC)

Image compression

How can I find and use pngrewrite? Also, how do I use jpegtran? I always tried to find ways to compress images, and I thank you for listing these programs on here. Zscout370 (sound off) 2005 June 28 01:06 (UTC)

See [2] for pngrewrite. It and jpegtran are both command line programs. At a prompt, you just type

pngrewrite input.png output.png; advpng -z4 output.png

and output.png has the compressed file. (Pngrewrite followed by advpng beats any other combination I know of. I ought to write a script to test that on a few thousand PNGs, though.)

For jpegs, you just write

jpegtran -optimize -copy all input.jpg > output.jpg

(The "-copy all" is important. Otherwise you lose your EXIF header. Also, note that sometimes the result is bigger. Why the program doesn't automatically check that is beyond me.) Let me know if any of that doesn't make sense! dbenbenn | talk 28 June 2005 03:08 (UTC)

Once I get my computer back in a few months, I will try that out. Thanks. Zscout370 (sound off) 2005 June 29 18:59 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Poland.png

Hey, is it possible for you to add a small grey line on the white section of the Image:Flag of Poland.png? Thanks. Zscout370 (sound off) 2005 July 5 03:01 (UTC)

What kind of line? You mean a border? dbenbenn | talk 5 July 2005 13:05 (UTC)

Yes, please. Zscout370 (sound off) 2005 July 5 21:24 (UTC)

File:Flag of Poland.png

I think the best way is to do the border with CSS. Alternatively, Image:Flag of Poland 640px border1.png is an actual image with a border. dbenbenn | talk 13:35, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Flag template

Does this template, which you did, http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:PD-Flag&oldid=264894, apply now or does the old one? If it does, I would try to revert it and explain what is going on. Thanks. Zscout370 (sound off) 05:08, 2005 July 12 (UTC)

Well, the two versions say basically the same thing. The current version of Template:PD-Flag is simply more verbose. Naturally I think my version is better. dbenbenn | talk 13:25, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Then can I revert? Zscout370 (sound off) 16:10, 2005 July 12 (UTC)

Image:Alexander Lukashenko.jpg, Image:Yushchenko and Lukashenko.jpg, Image:Lukashenko stamp 1996.jpeg, Image:Karvat stamp.jpg

I'm not sure that these images are in PD. So I marked them as {{Unknown}}. --EugeneZelenko 01:16, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

The templates that I used said they are in the public domain. If banknotes are public domain, so are stamps. Zscout370 (sound off) 05:54, 2005 September 7 (UTC)

Forget it, just delete them. I put them back on the EN Wikipedia until I get this sorted out. Zscout370 (sound off) 05:59, 2005 September 7 (UTC)

SVG flags (Belarus and other)

SVG support finally implemented (see Commons:Village pump#SVG support finally enabled!). Could you please upload SVG version of Belarus (and other countries) flags if you have such version? Thank you. --EugeneZelenko 14:27, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

I wish I could but can't make SVG for some strange reason. If you can point me somewhere to allow me to make files, please do. Zscout370 (sound off) 19:26, 2005 September 12 (UTC)

There are a bunch of public domain SVG flags at openclipart.org (use {{PD-OpenClipart}}). I hear that inkscape is the program to use to make your own SVG, but I don't know from experience. dbenbenn | talk 20:01, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

I tried inkscape but I failed big time. See the two SVG files I uploaded. Zscout370 (sound off) 20:25, 2005 September 12 (UTC)

Did you try opening your SVG in a text editor? Image:Flag of Belarus.svg, for example, contains a line

<image xlink:href="C:\Documents and Settings\Zachary\My Documents\My Pictures\Belarus\Flag_of_Belarus.png"

It simply includes the PNG image! The moral of the story is: you can't really convert PNG to SVG. You have to re-draw the SVG from scratch. dbenbenn | talk 21:02, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

And I am trying that Inkscape program and it is not giving me the results that I need (though I am pretty much clueless at what I am doing. The help is not being helpful). I am going to stick to PNG's. Zscout370 (sound off) 22:15, 2005 September 12 (UTC)

Inkscape is one of the best, but it takes a little practice. Working with shapes is different from working with bitmaps, and Incskape's GUI is not perfect (though much better than SodiPodi was - which I used for my work). Alternatively, try OpenOffice-Draw, I think it can export to SVG too (but it can not read them...). I halso found glips, but have not tried it. Most Adobe broducts should support SVG, btw.

If you want to "really" convert PNG to SVG, you need a "vectorizer" or "tracer" program. There are a few out there, try google - I have never used any of those. With what did you create your PNG? Maybe that program can export to PS or WMF? For those formats, there are converters to SVG (although I don't know how well they work). -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 22:55, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Here's a collection of SVG tools, compiled by the W3C -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 23:01, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

BTW- I went ahead and produced a svg version of the Belarus flag since Zscout370 was having problems. It could use some improvement, but it's workable for a quick result. --Gmaxwell 23:12, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

I tried SVG Factory, that failed big time. While the images are in SVG, they just will not show. Zscout370 (sound off) 23:55, 2005 September 12 (UTC)

The SVGs you created where are only wrappers, containing the actual bitmap data. This is not the idea - the svg should contain shape information only. This can only be done by a vectorizing import, or by hand (as opposed to "including" a bitmap in the SVG). SVGs containing bitmap data do not seem to render correctly - but one should not do that anyway. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 00:03, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Ok, an admin can go ahead and delete my tests. Zscout370 (sound off) 00:42, 2005 September 13 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Cuba.svg and other

Please leave a notes why your colors is more correct then colors of existing flag images. I think this will prevent revert wars and make any possible discussion more productive. --EugeneZelenko 02:52, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Ok. Zscout370 (sound off) 03:54, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

SVG

Hi Zach. Thanks for uploading your SVG flags here. Just a couple SVG tips:

1. The canvas is transparent by default, not white. Your version of Image:Flag of Cuba.svg had transparent stripes. When you upload a new flag, you can check the transparency with

   <div style="background-color: red">[[Image:{{PAGENAME}}|100px]]</div>

   (assuming you aren't using Internet Explorer!).
2. It's often easier to edit an SVG file with a text editor. For example, in your Image:Flag of Belgium.svg, the black stripe was shifted down just a tiny bit, but it was quite easy to fix in a text editor.

Cheers, dbenbenn | talk 22:38, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. I personally am using SKoop's text versions to re-do some flags, such as New Zealand. Though, I am still learning to use SVG and I think SKopp is doing a better job with the flag images. Zscout370 (sound off) 01:30, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Do you have a source for changing the shade of red at Image:Flag of the United States.svg from RGB 191, 10, 48 to RGB 196, 30, 58? I don't claim one shade is better than the other, but the original shade is what the US Embassy specifies, as detailed at the image description page. So is there any reason to think your shade is more correct? I've reverted the shade of red for now. dbenbenn | talk 10:11, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

I most likely went off from the Vexilli Mundi website, but if the embassy said to use the shades, thats fine too. I will copy the colors and try to perform some "cloning." Zscout370 (sound off) 15:45, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

By the way, Inkscape tip: when saving, do "save as" and change "Inkscape SVG" to "Plain SVG". dbenbenn | talk 23:58, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. Zscout370 (sound off) 02:48, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Deletion warning

Image deletion warning

Image:Yushchenko and Lukashenko.jpg has been listed at Commons:Deletion requests. If you feel that this image should not be deleted, please go there to voice your opinion.

Thuresson 19:05, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Thuresson, thanks for the message, but go ahead and whack (delete) it. Zscout370 (sound off) 19:49, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Flag of DP Congo

Image:Flag of Congo Kinshasa.svg is identical to Image:Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg. -- ChongDae 13:35, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Colours you are using in your flag SVGs

As already mentioned on Image_talk:Flag_of_Belarus_1991.svg I consider your colour choices doubtful at best. As we both are FOTW members, I suggest sticking to FOTW-proven practices for the colours. We had discussions there over and over, and the result always was that one should not try to over-correctly translate colours for printing (like CMYK or Pantone) into RGB!

Other bad examples are (for instance) Image:Flag_of_Cote_d'Ivoire.svg, Image:Flag_of_Vietnam.svg (red is RGB 243-24-48 ??), Image:Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg (red is RGB 174-28-47 ??) --Mevsfotw 15:42, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

The Dutch flag, I took the colors from the EN Wikipedia image, since I was told those were the correct color. The Ivory Coast flag, the colors I actually took from FOTW. Vietnam, I took the colors from Mello Lutchenberg's website, where I took a majority of my colors from, unless I had correct sources on hand. But, what do you assume to be the better colors for the above images? Zscout370 22:02, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Flag of Gibraltar

Hey Zach, welcome back! You're an Inkscape expert; maybe you can do something about the flag of Gibraltar. Apparently Image:Gibraltar flag large.png is correct, and Image:Flag of Gibraltar.svg is wrong. Do you think it's possible to trace the PNG version in Inkscape? User:dbenbenn 16:53, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

I am having problems with tracing myself. I need to understand hwo the tracing works before I take a crack at it. I tried to trace the Mexican flag before, but I failed big time. But I will see what I can do, but I have finals this week. Zscout370 21:56, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Flag licensing

I intend to have the flags corresponding to "countries" of en:list of countries released into the public domain.

The following files you have licensing control of are not in the public domain:

• Image:Flag of Aaland.svg
• Image:Flag of Aruba.svg
• Image:Flag of the Bahamas.svg
• Image:Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg
• Image:Flag of Libya.svg
• Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg
• Image:Flag of New Zealand.svg
• Image:Flag of North Korea.svg
• Image:Flag of Pakistan.svg
• Image:Flag of the Philippines.svg
• Image:Flag of Romania.svg
• Image:Flag of Russia.svg
• Image:Flag of Singapore.svg
• Image:Flag of Syria.svg
• Image:Flag of Thailand.svg
• Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
• Image:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
• Image:Flag of Venezuela.svg
• Image:Flag of Vietnam.svg

I will endeavor to replace these files with public domain ones unless you relicense them into the public domain (or someone else beats me to it). If you are not opposed to relicensing them into the public domain, you can just give me your approval and I will do the work of updating all the info for you if you like. ¦ Reisio 13:44, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

All I wanted with the flag files, I just want credit for just having me do them. Go ahead and use this tag: {{PD-user|Zscout370}} thanks. Zscout370 20:42, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Kudos, and sorry I didn't beat you to the work. ¦ Reisio 10:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Not a problem, really, I just need to use that tag more often. Zscout370 00:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Greece.svg

I already cleaned up this flag, so you can move onto other flags. About the Argentine one, most of the file size comes from the sun-emblem. Zscout370 04:08, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Cool. About Argentina - I only did a cursory investigation, but it seems like the comments at Image talk:Flag of Argentina.svg are legitimate and should be addressed. ¦ Reisio 10:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

I have a friend who studies flags, and he lives in Buenos Aires, but he says that trying to find a flag shade is hard too. So, lets focus on that before we fix the colors. Zscout370 14:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Ya, the shade is no biggie as long as it's approximately right. I was thinking the arms should all point clockwise like he said. ¦ Reisio 21:18, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

WikiProject Flags

You might want to add your name to the list of participants. Cheers! ナイトスタリオン ✉ 06:58, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Done. Zscout370 07:09, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Flag of Mexico

Hello Zscout370! I noticed that you uploaded a new version of the Flag of Mexico. I reverted the file to the old one because it is much more accurate in design matters and colors (I'm from Mexico by the way). I hope you don't mind. Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán is a mexican vexillology investigator and he gentlely agreed to release the image to the public and general use when we e-mailed each other months ago. Thank you so much for your attention.

AlexCovarrubias 19:12, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Dear Alex. I sent you an email about Juan Manuel and the copyright situation, but it's ok about the revert. I have been in contact with Juan Manuel myself and I have sent some materials to him via email and also by physical mail. I also have a slight interest in Mexico, mainly about their politics about their national symbols, mainly since my girlfriend lives in Baja California. I also sent in a picture of the Mexican flag corbata, which Juan Manuel mailed me, but if you think the photo is bad, there is a drawing I can let you guys use and I will release it into the public domain. Zscout370 19:44, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Italy.svg: a case study

The colors of the Italian flag are defined in the constitution as "green, white and red" (see here). Recently the government has tried to specify with greater precision the colors: the Presidency of the Council of Ministers asked to Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (it prints money, medals and most of the official publications in Italy) to analyze the colors of many flags (modern and more ancient) and define scientifically what color they have (i.e. the mean color). After the analysis, the flag of Italy has been defined, using Pantone textile colors, to be «verde prato brillante (18-5642TC), bianco latte (11-4201TC) e rosso pomodoro (18-1660TC)» (i.e. something like brilliant field green, milk white and tomato red). The official colors (yet defined in the constitution) have been defined better, from the technical point of view, by two ministerial documents: one of Mr. Gianni Letta, the Undersecretary to the Presidence of the Council of Ministers (18 september 2002), the second of Antonio Catricalà, General Secretary (17 january 2003).

At the moment of the presentation there have been some disagreement by someone, but the official colors are «verde prato brillante (18-5642TC), bianco latte (11-4201TC) e rosso pomodoro (18-1660TC)» (there is no evidence of other more recent official documents changing the color policy).

I haven't found on the web the text of the two ministerial documents, but several trusted sources explain the situation. You can have a look for example here (or [3]): it is an article tooken from the official newspaper of the Alpini. This web magazine also explain well the situation (under the section "I VERI COLORI DELLA BANDIERA ITALIANA"). I've found explanation of the definition of the flag colors on the official Carabinieri web magazine, but I don't remember where... Nonetheless here you can find a synthesis of the characteristics of the flag and the rules in its use: it seems to be a summary of the official documents (the web site is of a local chapter of [4]).

The site of the President of Italy has a very nice history of the Italian flag, but doesn't mention the "technical" definition of its colors. As you can see there, the image shown at the bottom of that page shows that the white of the Italian flag is milk white, and milk white is not #fff (well, Italian milk isn't, I don't know elsewhere, but I hope it isn't too :p )

It is true the conversion Pantone -> #RGB is ambigous, but milky white ≠ #fff is certain. I think that milky white is not a kind of gray (like #fafafa), but has a little component of yellow (the picture at the Quirinale website shows it well); I find the actual version of the white in the flag on Commons (shown on this screen) a bit darker than every Italian flag I've ever seen, maybe it would be better to get it lighter: I suggest #FAFAEC (on this screen it seems to be much more similar to the color of my milk); the problem is that rendering a color on several screens is really ambigous :( --Fredericks 09:35, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

The colors come out funny on my screen too, but my main goal is to make the flags in the correct shades. What I have done is I took your suggestion for the white and put it into my drawing. I am doing to keep the green and red that I have, but it looks like the revert war just got started again. I will toy around with this on English Wikipedia, where I am an admin there. Thanks again for your help. Zscout370 09:45, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I left a question for you about the shade of red at Image talk:Flag of Italy.svg ... User:dbenbenn 17:54, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

User:Nsmith/Bianca

Hm, there are a lot more photos now ... which I think tends to support the uploader's claim that they are free. User:dbenbenn 16:44, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

Hold the presses: the second set of photos are a copyvio from [5] (located with thanks to w:User:Bogdangiusca). Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 10:40, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Google says "Your search did not match any documents". User:dbenbenn 16:43, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

The page is still up and I get around 29 results. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 20:34, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

That's really wierd. I guess Google gives different results depending on location, or something. User:dbenbenn 21:16, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

I have no idea why either, but I am just telling you that the photos are copyvios and should probably be deleted. While she is a pretty girl, we cannot have copyvios. BTW, how does someone apply for adminship on here? Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 01:53, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

I deleted the photos (after giving the uploader 24 hours to reply on his talk page). About adminship, please indicate your acceptance at Commons:Administrators. User:dbenbenn 17:17, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Flag of the Soviet Union

Hi there!

Hey, do you know wich color will be used now for USSR flags? When you take a look here Category:Flags_of_the_Soviet_Republics it seems to have two main colors - brighter and darker. I think the SSR flag are very strictly ruled in colors - maybe you know that.

Btw: Your flag Image:Transnistria State Flag.svg - I accidently confused it with the Moldavian SSR flag - they look alomst the same - besides the Transnistria flag has slightly darker colors. Transnistria - Moldavian SSR (i will correct it)

--Perconte 13:38, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

I have not drawn any other of the USSR republic flags yet. I think some have chosen that colors that appeared on the FOTW website, which has them as a scarlet color. I own several USSR flags and they always look dark red (220-0-0). But, if there are laws that say that the USSR and their republics have to use a certain shade, I can always correct it and use the correct shades. But thanks for the reply about the MdSSR and the Transnistria mixup. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 21:52, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

RfA

Could you please post a short message on Commons:Administrators#Zscout370 in order to explicitly accept the nomination from Dbenbenn? Thanks! villy ♦✎ 20:31, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Flag of Southern Sudan

Hi! Do you think you could create an SVG version of the w:Southern Sudanese flag? The current png image is not really good, either... —Nightstallion (?) 08:01, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

It can be done. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 09:29, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks! Great! —Nightstallion (?) 14:18, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Your welcome. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 20:13, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Admin

You are now an admin here on Commons. Congratulations! villy ♦✎ 03:02, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Yay! Thank you. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 03:15, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations, and good luck! In case you don't know about it, CheckUsage is a very useful tool. User:dbenbenn 21:10, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Dbenbenn. I used that tool to help clear out some of the redundant items last night, and I plan on using it again a lot. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 21:12, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Hrmmm, how does it compare to the juelich.de one? ¦ Reisio 21:32, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Probably includes more Wikis, but other than that, I am not sure. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 22:13, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

The new Checkusage includes nearly all wiki projects compared to the 40 or 50 of the old one. And it's a lot faster (if the servers are up and running ...) --Denniss 23:26, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Well wewt. :) ¦ Reisio 00:20, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

w00t! Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 07:43, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

raster in SVG

In case you hadn't found it yet: http://fourmilab.ch/webtools/base64/ ¦ Reisio 18:25, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Oooo...thank you. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 20:00, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Dominica.svg

Hi Zach,

the Flag of Dominica is wrong. The Stars don't have yellow fimbriation (see discussion here [6]). Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with this svg stuff. Could you correct this flag? --Kookaburra 13:01, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Inkscape is quite easy to use. All you'll really need to know about is Object > Ungroup, Object > Fill and Stroke..., and where your DELETE key is...or you can just grab my quick edit from http://reisio.com/Flag_of_Dominica.svg - like most of the OpenClipart flags, though, this one will still need a lot more work. ¦ Reisio 21:58, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Ah, thanks. I didn't know this program --Kookaburra 10:23, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Mississippi.svg

Image deletion warning

Image:Flag of Mississippi.svg has been listed at Commons:Deletion requests so that the community can discuss whether it should be kept or not. We would appreciate it if you could go to voice your opinion about this at its entry. If you created this image, please note that the fact that it has been proposed for deletion does not necessarily mean that we do not value your kind contribution. It simply means that one person believes that there is some specific problem with it, such as a copyright issue. If the file is up for deletion because it has been superseded by a superior derivative of your work, consider the notion that although the file may be deleted, your hard work (which we all greatly appreciate) lives on in the new file. In all cases, please do not take the deletion request personally. It is never intended as such. Thank you!

Quick flag request

Could you create an SVG flag for the EZLN? [7] [8] Should be easy. Thanks! —Nightstallion (?) 23:12, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

I can do it tonight. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 01:21, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Done Image:Flag of the EZLN.svg. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 03:51, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

"The "official" flag or at least the most-used flag of the Movement that started to operate on 1 January 1994, is black charged with a red five-pointed star above the movement initials, also in red." [9] ¦ Reisio 05:47, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

shrugs We can have both, can't we? ;) Thanks, either way! —Nightstallion (?) 07:04, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I'll see, but I have school to focus on, and still converting images from PNG to SVG (or, in the case of the MX flag, going the opposite direction). Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 07:10, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually, regarding that, any idea where we'll get an accuracte Mexican flag from now? —Nightstallion (?) 07:49, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Simple: just use the PNG file. All of the other arms arejpg's or have a license that we cannot use it. Well, Vector-Images arms drawing is very wrong. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 14:38, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

But ultimately, we want to have only SVG flag images, don't we? —Nightstallion (?) 19:08, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

While that is the goal, I started some revert skirmishes (lesser revert wars) over the SVG image, and I am not willing to do that again. Let's stick with the PNG and we can come up with something later. We are in no hurry. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 00:04, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

True enough. Great work, BTW! —Nightstallion (?) 19:25, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Flag of Venezuela

Hello. I've noticed you've uploaded a Venezuelan flag, which looks a bit different from the other Venezuelan flags I've seen - specifically, the arc in which the stars are seems to have much less curvature in your flag, and the stars seem to be too big. I've recently found a construction sheet for the flag: [10]; I don't know if it's right or not, but it certainly does look closer to the flags I've seen. So, could you please redesign your flag according to that construction sheet? I'd do it myself, but I've just begun using inkscape...
Thanks. --Fibonacci 08:41, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Hey again Fibo. :) Venezuelan law on the flag has just recently (within the past month, I think) altered the appearance of their flag - most notably (to you, anyways) another star was added (vexilla-mundi.com has 7, you'll note, but our SVG has 8 now)...the arc unavoidably loses curvature. If you spend very much time researching official flag construction, you'll soon find that vexilla-mundi.com is not one of the better sources - that site does not cite the sources of its information, and often skews it...like altering official construction sheets slightly to make for simpler/prettier images. As for the tubbiness of the stars, Zscout has assured me that he's part of an organization that knows a lot about constructing the Venezuelan flag, and that's how they do it. It seems a painful truth that what's most common or most popular is quite often incorrect, and what's correct is not always most common or popular. ¦ Reisio 13:00, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Please provide sources for the current flag used as Image:Flag of Venezuela.svg. The national flag has coats of arms in it, and according to [11], [12] and [13] the stars shouldn't be that large. According to the second link, it doesn't really matter whether the stars are facing upwards or out of the arc so I'm not opposing that. I know the flag is about to change but the new version is not yet officially taken into use as far as I know. I'm requiring sources because all the edits should be verifiable and a version redrawn by me with sources behind it was reverted with no obvious reason. See also my talk page about the shape and position of the stars in the current version. –Vzb83 14:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Last revert was not mine, but I went back to this version "(del) (rev) 02:44, 2006 February 9 . . Angus (Talk) . . 450x300 (1871186 bytes) (Copied from Image:Flag of Venezuela 1930-2006.svg. As of 2006-02-09 the official Flag of Venezuela has 7 (seven) stars.)" As for where did I get my construction sheet from, I used the sheet provided by Venezimbol (see FOTW) and the colors I used, I picked from an actual VE flag that Venezimbol director Raul Orta sent to me, made in Caracas. The star pattern also looks the same. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 17:54, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

WikiThanks for casting your vote and/or comment on my request for administratorship here on Commons. I got the required support, so now I'm in the service of people. If you need anything, just ask. Regards, --Klemen Kocjančič (Pogovor - Quick response) 13:46, 3 February 2006 (UTC).

Re: Image:Victory banner.svg

It's still not showing up on my screen. MediaWiki's rsvg library just doesn't seem to want to touch it. Denelson83 22:44, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg

I have swapped the tag for this image, using the PD-users tag since you helped me fix the flag proportions. Hope this is fine. - Hoshie 09:28, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

It's fine. :D Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 14:32, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Request

Hi Zscout, can you please look Image:Coat of arms of Serbia.svg, Image:Coat of arms of Serbia small.svg and Image:Flag of Serbia.svg. Thay seems ok like this (big images) but when i put them in thumbnail thay are terrible. If you want to help me you can downlaod all that (in many formats) images (only first 3 of 5) from http://www.parlament.sr.gov.yu/content/cir/o_skupstini/simboli/simboli.asp. Thay are all PD. Thank you --Sasa Stefanovic (talk) 02:35, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

All those are just PNG images inside SVG...that just doesn't scale well. If you have a PNG, upload it as a .png, not a .svg - or spend some time tracing it into a real SVG, then upload it as an .svg. The CDR formats should be easy to convert into pure SVG (assuming they're purely vector), however. ¦ Reisio 02:55, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Here we are — http://reisio.com/serbia.tar.bz2 — CDRs converted to SVGs. Be careful opening these, they're quite large. ¦ Reisio 05:28, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

BoNM

There's no real intention of not relate to any country, but older version was so big and had less relation with the barnstar, it's to long. Think about it. By the way, I'm kind of sure that Urss wasn't the only country to use that model. Guillermo Romero ^[@] 16:08, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

The USSR first used it in the 1930's, and the model was used in Warsaw Pact nations, to only be discarded there after the fall of the USSR. Three nations currently use this title, and medal design now: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. While it is longer than any other Barnstar, and the star looks unlike a Barnstar, this was the design that was chosen at EN and I kindly ask you to not revert back to the Hero of the USSR-looking image, please. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 00:09, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

ROC emblem

Zach, I made a mistake on math. I was confused by the Flag and Emblem Law of the ROC, and told you the wrong ratio 64/90, and finally I found that 2/3 is the correct answer. So I reverted to the 180px/270px version with manual reduce. --Kibinsky 15:55, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Alright, no big deal. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 01:55, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Re: Знамя Победы

Is http://victory.rusarchives.ru/image/photo/335_big.jpg the original image that was not altered? If so, can I upload this? While I am at it, I want to create an article about this banner at EN Wikipedia, but I want to know if Image:Victory banner.svg is correct. Thanks. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 02:30, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it's altered but I don't have printed sources on this subject :-(

I read several recent versions that such photos was made after battle with different flag, that there were several such flags before storming. But there are only versions. And this is officially recognized image.

I think you could also try to search museum images. Victory banner are definitely on exposition somewhere in Moscow.

EugeneZelenko 05:32, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Pakistan.svg

Here's why I reverted your upload:

First, skipping the xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" bit from an SVG file makes the current native part of Firefox refuse to display the SVG. Secondly, for the version of the Pakistani flag that I uploaded originally I went to great length to ensure is exactness. It's currently correct up to 42 decimal places. Arguably, it's a bit of an overkill, but I still think that exactness is part of the reason we're going with SVG's instead of PNG's.

No hard feelings, I hope :) —Gabbe 11:04, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

One, even with xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" taken out, the SVG image displays fine on my browser (IE 7 beta). While this is the first time someone brought this up, but I will still continue to upload the SVG images without the "xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg." Second, I took your code, but I decided to just write the thing out in Notepad so I can compress the SVG image, and also get rid of useless code. I will try and compress it again, but using your code instead of mine. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 16:51, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Sure. About Firefox's handling of the xmlns-thing see [14] (and [15]) for more info. About rewriting the code, I'm all for compressing the SVG's (and other media as well for that matter) as much as possible, as long as quality (including precision) isn't compromised. —Gabbe 17:14, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I compressed the code, using your calculations and keeping the above code in. Zach ^{(Smack Back)} 20:31, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Fine! Brilliant! —Gabbe 11:07, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Re: Video from the Kremlin website

Hello. I understand that we have a template for images from the Kremlin website, I think it is called {{Kremlin.ru}}. While it works for images, I wonder how it will work for videos or video clips. The reason why I ask is that I want to take some clips from a video released by the Kremlin website of Putin's 2006 New Years Address. In the video, Gimn Rossii plays and there are shots of the RU Presidental standard and of the Russian Flag. I want to use those clips on the article on the Russian hymn on EN. Can I do that or no? User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 20:29, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you could use video, because conditions didn't make difference between images/videos and claim that all materials (Все материалы сайта Президента России) may be reproduced (воспроизведены). Broadcasting is allowed => it’s mean that audio/video could be used too. You could find English translation there. It also claims some copyrights

From other side I don't sure about unrestricted modification, as for me reproducing means quoting/copying. Probably this question should be clarified additionally.

EugeneZelenko 06:09, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

The above links did not mention about modification, but I do not think with the images that I will use will be modified at all. But, if the photo or video gets rid of, it will be no big deal, I can just use the SVG image of the Russian flag, or have some of us get together and create a video for WP. But, I will take your suggestion. I will just use a screenshot for now, but will ask more about the full length video. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Scratch that, I will not upload the video until the modification things are taken care of. I still will load the screenshots, but the audio quality is very, very poor on the video. I have the recording that Putin used during this speech (2006 New Years Speech), but I have to make individual frames, which will take days upon days to do, unless just a link to Hymn.ru for the videos be sufficient. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 07:11, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:Australasian Olympic Flag.svg

Are you sure this is PD-self??? Please provide some source information for your images. pfctdayelise (translate?) 02:32, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

The base image, the British Blue Ensign, was released into the PD by various users, but I personally used the SVG image of the Aussie flag (in the PD). The sheild was scanned into Inkscape, and the southern cross was taken from the AU flag (once again, PD). The crown was drawn by User:Greentubing. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 03:45, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Venezuela Flag

Zscout370 I reverted this to a much smaller version and then reverted myself back to yours. But 1.8 Mbytes is HUGE! I can see this causing strain on bandwidth. Please try to do something with this version, which seems to include all the proper elements while being only one-sixth of the size of your image. Thanks Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 04:47, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, 1.8 Megs is huge, so huge, Inkscape crashed on me. I will try to work on it tomorrow at University (I have Inkscape on my portable hard-drive, so I can SVG on teh g0), but what is going to happen is I am going to fix the arms image, erase a bunch of path nodes, and hopefully reduce the size files that way. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 05:37, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Russian COA

Uploaded for your modification, etc.: Image:Russia_coa.svg. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 13:30, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I will try to get Adobe Illustrator myself, and I will try to see what else I can grab (free, of course) from V-I. I will clean up this image using Inkscape tonight, since the CoA does not have a black border around the red shield. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 21:42, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:Lt-byssr flag.png

Hi Zscout370. Since you are an admin, could you please delete this image if it's truly no longer needed? Thanks, pfctdayelise (translate?) 12:12, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Venezuela flag

Zach:

We've protected this flag. As you are listed as a sysop, I'm formally requesting that you avoid making any changes to it whatsoever. It may be a good idea to avoid the flag entirely. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 19:08, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Going to avoid it now, since I pretty much gave all of my information that the flag change is going to happen and people do not believe me. I will just focus on sending my EN images to the Commons. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 00:28, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

You shouldn't let that minor setback interfere with your great contributions to flags on the commons, Zach. Besides, in four days we'll have the eight-star flag either way. ;) —Nightstallion (?) 10:19, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

I know, but this is the second edit war I was involved in over a flag image (grr). It stinks, really. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 14:50, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

We can safely revert Image:Flag of Venezuela.svg to the new, eight-star version now. Would you take the honour? ;) —Nightstallion (?) 11:44, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Done so with a better drawing of the flag. I still need an arms photo, perhaps I will see what FOTW comes up with. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:04, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

NYC flag

Hi, regarding Image:Flag of New York City.svg, can you restore the source and history imformation from the (now deleted) page en:Image:Flag of New York City.svg? Thanks. --ChrisRuvolo (t) 21:03, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Restored. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 22:07, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Re: Image:Naval Jack of the United States.svg

Do it. Denelson83 09:28, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Running the bot now. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 23:16, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Re: WSOM Image

I am sorry to say that I have put a copyvio notice on the WSOM image. See the image's talk page for why. I generally am an inclusionist, however, we do have to look out for the happy relationship between Scouting and Wiki. NThurston 22:35, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

It's ok. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 22:20, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Email

Hey Zach. You should probably enable email, so that people you block can get in touch with you. Perhaps you forgot to go to Special:Confirmemail? Cheers, User:dbenbenn 05:22, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

I need to use Confirmemail, since I emailed you before this featured was started. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 05:51, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Image:Olympic flag.svg

Hi. You recently made an edit to this image, so I was wondering if you could help me. The coloration on the olympic flag in mention is correct. The coloration on wikipedia:Image:Flag of the Olympic Movement.svg is not. I've been trying to upload a new version of the image (by using a saved version of Image:Olympic flag.svg) but the darn SVG keeps screwing up. Could you please try to carry out this task for me? P.S. Please respond to me at my Wikipedia name (JP06035) Thanks. 70.188.188.82 00:45, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Evading block?

See [16].

Perhaps it doesn't matter, since anons can't upload copyvios, or anything else for that matter... --pfctdayelise (translate?) 08:07, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

His block has been lifted from EN, but I would not block this IP address, since it could be AOL. But, if someone else does block, I won't overturn. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:41, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Deletion request

Hi!

Could you please delete all versions of Image:User-Nightstallion.png except the current one? I've decided I don't want a highly detailed photograph of myself available on the commons any more and have replaced it with a question mark. Thanks!

SVG with Notepad

Hello, I have read that you wrote Image:Flag of Ireland.svg with Notepad. I am not sure, but I think you made a mistake: in XML, an attribute of type ID must match the Name production, so space characters are forbidden in id="Flag of Ireland". You also declare the xlink namespace but don't use it. Is it necessary in SVG? I don't know SVG well, but I am interested in it. Marc Mongenet 21:39, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Image Deleteion Warning

Image deletion warning

Image:Flag of Hong Kong SAR.png has been listed at Commons:Deletion requests. If you feel that this image should not be deleted, please go there to voice your opinion on its entry.

Hunter 09:58, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Hello

So I came here too. How are you? Do you remember me? The Nehru episode! You gave me a barnstar too. All the best! --Bhadani 11:36, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Autoblocked because your IP

User is blocked From Wikimedia Commons Jump to: navigation, search

Your user name or IP address has been blocked by Zscout370. The reason given is this: Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )". The reason given for Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )'s block is: "repeated copyright violations in the past, was aske

You may contact Zscout370 or one of the other administrators to discuss the block.

Note that you may not use the "email this user" feature unless you have a valid email address registered in your user preferences.

Your IP address is 64.233.173.81. Please include this address in any queries you make.

I Just Got the Above message when editing. anyay my ip adress is not 64.233.173.81 that is Google Web Accelerator [17]. I set my Prefreces to turn GWE off for Wikipedia, but I guess I forgot to change it for the sister sights. Please undo your Auto IP Block. PS. I didn't Even know I was sing the Google Proxie--Yskyflyer 00:49, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK, ZScout has left Wikimedia, so you should ask another admin to do the unblocking. I'd do it, but I'm not an admin. —Nightstallion (?) 05:52, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

The fire

The lotus on which the goddess w:Saraswati sits

Yes, I am returning the fire of with the lotus flower. I felt really nice that you still remember me. I was missing you in wikipedia. --Bhadani 13:19, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Let me just add that I'm also glad to see you've returned. :) —Nightstallion (?) 05:51, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Yall. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Commons-l subscription

Hello Zscout370,

as per Commons talk:Administrators, I am asking all admins to subscribe to commons-l, a mailing list for Wikimedia Commons policy and project discussion. Since many admins are only on Commons infrequently, this is a good way to alert people about important happenings. The mailing list is nominally multilingual, but predominantly English.

If you are already subscribed to commons-l, I apologize for bothering you, and you are free to ignore this message. If you don't want to use your regular e-mail account, feel free to leave me a message, and I can send you a GMail invite. Traffic on the mailing list is relatively low, and we do not expect admins to read all messages to the list, but it would be nice if you could check on it at least every few weeks. Thanks for your time,--Eloquence 23:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Signed up. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 23:19, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Invalid SVG

Hi. By Cleaning up Image:Flag of Bulgaria.svg you make it invalid. It's very important to take care on the xml tag in an svg document. Best regards. Kelson 21:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Reverted and deleted the bad SVG image. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:39, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi. The Bulgarian flag should be with size 5:3 (width:height) as was the original image by SKopp (500×300). Currently it's 3:2 (450×300), which makes it shorter than most other flags on Wikipedia. Could you please fix that? --V111P 16:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Fixed. (Note, this message was also placed at my EN Wikipedia page). Apologies to all. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 20:38, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Canadian Governor-General flag

The flag is only 1:2 when used at sea. On land, the proportions are 2:3. -- Denelson83 23:49, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Strange, but ok. I figured it would be reversed. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 03:36, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

White flag

You overwrote Denelson83's 3:5-version of the Image:White flag of surrender.svg with a 3:4-version. I discussed with him to used a 3:5-version, as it's the most common flag-ratio today and is also used for the Red Cross/Cresenr/Crystal/Star flags! Is there any reason for using 3:4? - If not: please restore a 3:5 version! Thanks. -- burts ∞ 23:05, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I just extended my image by a few hundred pixels and it is back to the original pixel size, but still using my less cluttered SVG code. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 23:51, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Thant's fine. I think now it fits better with the other intl flags! -- burts ∞ 10:34, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Flag of Hong Kong

Hi, what was wrong with Image:Flag of Hong Kong.svg? Thanks. -xfi- 14:15, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

I fixed the middle emblem, so I wanted to upload it. But, stupid me, I picked the Mexican flag instead. Once I saw what happened, I swore a bit and uploaded the correct image. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:37, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Flag of Rome

Hi, I am an italian wikie's editer, I was born and living in Rome. I upload the Flag of my city (Image:Flag of Rome.svg) because the old version was incorrect: those did'nt the trues colors...Why you have reverted to earlier revision this flag? The red is most dark and the yellow like at orange. Please look this photo, and change the flag: [18]

--Riccardo de Conciliis 01:48, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I'll change it back, but with compressed code. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 23:32, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Featured Article recordings

Are you aware of en:Wikipedia:WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia? You should check and make sure that your Featured Article recordings are not already being done (for example, Image:Wikicast-fa082306.ogg and en:Image:Watchmen 1.ogg). ~MDD4696 00:08, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

MDD, I am aware of that, but what I am doing now is part of Wikicast and is no way related to the spoken wikipedia project. But thanks for the heads up. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:03, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Unblocked User:Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

I've unblocked this fellow that you indefblocked in March. See his talk page and COM:AN#Unblocking for further information about it. Keep him on your radar, and he'll probably be a good boy... Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 16:24, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 18:00, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

PD-USSR

The 1993 version of the law with comments is here. In 2006 some small new changes took into account. I believe the main problem is whether USA adopt retroactive protection of Soviet copyright even while the Russia clearly do not protect American copyright before 1973 (see comments). This Podshivalov guy thinks that it probably means that Americans do not protect Russian rights, AFAIK it was never tested Alex Bakharev 05:19, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

• Otherwise the magical date 1 January 1954. If the copyright belongs to an organization (e.g a Publishing house or a nwspaper ) then the copyright expired for everything published prior to this date, if the copyright belonga to person, then the person should die befor this date so for the work to go into the public domain. Alex Bakharev 05:27, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Just making sure, since I uploaded songs by the composer Alexandrov that should be in the Public Domain, but not sure what tag to use. This includes, for now, the 1944 anthem of the USSR, the Sacred War and the other patriotic songs he did before he died. I am also went through most of my uploads and pretty much some of the things I uploaded in the past need to go. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 05:39, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
    • I think we should create template {{PD-Russia}} for the items that was made on the territory of Russia and are PD according to the Russian legislation (and so are PD on any othe Bern convention country). Similarly, {{PD-Ukraine}}, etc. Quite a number of media belonging to PD-USSR is actually belongs to that category. Alex Bakharev 05:15, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
      • I have the copyright law of Belarus book-marked and it is pretty much 50 PMA. As I mentioned, state symbols should be PD automatically, so we need to see if that includes USSR symbols (and the SSR symbols). User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:19, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
        • PMA? -- Denelson83 00:38, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
          • post mortem auctoris, the period after I die. Let's say I die in 2060. If I have any copyrighted work released; it will take 70 years (or whatever) since my death in order for the work to be in the public domain. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:10, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Re: Georgia flag (US State, 2001-2003)

Go ahead. -- Denelson83 00:36, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

i'll email it today or tomorrow. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:10, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

GA flag: EPS to SVG

Zach,

Thanks for the tip. However, I've never really experimented with converting EPS to SVG. Sorry! Hoshie 07:02, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

No big deal, I will see what I can do. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 09:05, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Ottawa flag

Hello! My name is Deenoe (on Wikipedia) and I saw that you uploaded an image of the flag of the city of Ottawa, with the tag saying that YOU created the image which is absolutly not true. You could of got exposed to big troubles if the city would of saw that. Fortunatly, I got in contact with Peter Mabee, Manager in the Corporate Services Department and he gave the permission to use it, within the copyright being respected and the conditions on the tag. Please refrain from adding a tag saying that you created an image in the future. Thanks! --69.196.167.254 21:20, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Created an account on Commons, leave a message on Wikipedia however if you leave a message on my talkpage. --Deenoe 21:22, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Did I originally create the original flag design that Ottawa is using? No. However, the SVG image that that drawn in the SVG format, I created it using the Inkscape program. The reason why I created the image is that one, the City of Ottawa's flag image has thr wrong proportions (the websites use 2:3, but the law states 1:2). Second, with the vector graphics, it is not a PNG image embeded in it, I created by creating a path tool. However, I do not see how an image that I drew by hand can be copyrighted by someone else beyond my control. Can I talk to Mr. Mabee myself and get this sorted out? User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 00:02, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

You are officially using the City's logo, colours and what looks, in all points, like the flag of city. Copyrights are not entitled to the image itself, but the image and the idea of the image (if you know what I mean). My point being is that the image stays the copyright of the city, even if you put it in SVG format, cause it's still the city's identity. --Deenoe 00:31, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

If you insist in speaking to M.Mabee, I will email you his email. However, Copyright laws in Canada are pretty much the same than the ones in the US. The corporate logo belongs to the City of Ottawa and the City gave us the permission to use, if it is not altered or is used to say that the city approves the article. You might be right about the fact that this version of the flag would not be suitable for use, because it has been altered. It is an alteration of the corporate logo of the city. Then, we would have to go on the City's website, get the flag image from there and upload it on Wikipedia, but even then, the copyright there applicates to the Corporate logo. The flag CAN be used anywhere on Wikimedia, as long as it is not used to show that the city has endorsed or approved anything on Wikimedia. --Deenoe 01:37, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

This image that it is up now, that is my final rendition of it, but I cannot say for sure if anyone will come up behind me and change it. Because of that, having the image under the license of "not being allowed to alter" is what concerns me the most. I understand that the city flag appears in several locations (but none show the true ratio, which this does). I am even willing to let the City use the image (though I think they managed to get a 1:2 flag image from somewhere, but has been shrunk by someone). It is not that I am trying to assume bad faith, but I am just having a hard time understanding or believing, which is one of the reasons why I wish to speak to Mr. Mabee myself so I can understand what he wants. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:40, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Any news? --Deenoe 00:29, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

None yet (once I get some, I will let you know here, but if you prefer to use English Wikipedia more, come here then). User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:05, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Admin news

Hello,

If you consent for statistics to be published about your actions as an administrator, please sign here: Commons:Administrator permission for statistics. (I expect that most people will not have a problem with it unless you are especially concerned with privacy.)

Also, please be aware that we now have a Commons:Administrators' noticeboard. Please put it on your watchlist, if you haven't already!

cheers, pfctdayelise (translate?) 05:33, 7 September 2006 (UTC) P.S.: Pardon if this is a repeat (bot debugging...)

FOTW

Hello.

From Flag of the world: ...you use the material for non-commercial and non-political purposes only

But the commons images can be used for commercial purposes, can't they? Even then, can I upload images from there? Thanks for everything. --Giro720 20:36, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

No, you cannot use FOTW images on Wikipedia or the Commons since we prevent the commercial use of our images. Everything on the Commons have to be able to be modified and made for commercial use, which FOTW doesn't allow. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 20:43, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok. Because of this I'm deleting the images that I upload from FOTW (images such as Image:Flag fr-Limousin.gif and Image:Flag fr-Champagne-Ardenne.gif). --Giro720 00:06, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thank you for being honest. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 01:46, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Japanese Prefecture flags

Hey Zach, I noticed that you created SVG versions of a couple flags of Japanese prefectures. I've started doing the same (Osaka and Yamagata so far). I just wanted to know if you were planning on doing any more. I'm really just learning Inkscape/Illustrator, so it's fairly hard work for me. I'd hate to be working on a flag and find you uploading it, and I'm sure you'd be somewhat peeved if it was the reverse. Perhaps we could split the work up. Right now I'm trying to do some of the easier ones. Anyway, let me know if you're going to work on the flags, and if so, which ones. OsgoodeLawyer 16:33, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I am not planning on drawing any more for now, just haven't had time to play with Inkscape. However, I will not be upset if work is being duplicated, since there are some tricks I can do (and information I can find). Just have fun, take your time, enjoy the ride. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 23:14, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to have fixed the commons logo

thanks for this, and one question : did you seen the Jiang Jiemin picture ? I didn't made screenshot, the history have change (!) the 18:33, 25 September 2005 upload showed a pic of Jiang jiemin for 2 hours on my PC. Did you seen Jiang jiemin picture ? or it's "simply" a problem link to my computer ? --Yug 07:19, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I personally didn't see it, but I knew something was wrong based on seeing the top-right of my screen. But I am glad the problem is fixed. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 13:44, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Lesotho.svg

Could you please upload the new version of the flag under a new name? The reason: For historical articles like articles about the past Olympic Games it is common to use the historical flag of a country and not the current version. Therefore you automatically changed all historical flag uses with the upload of an updated version. I think that this is not wanted. --ALE! ¿…? 09:25, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Those will have to change to the old flag manually, as "Flag of ..." is always where the *current* flag image is located. —Nightstallion (?) 12:59, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

My main intention with my uploading is that the new flag can be seen instantly, and those who want to change it to the older flag needs to do so manually. I uploaded the old flag at a new filename, so yall can still use it for the said articles. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 21:11, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Precisely. —Nightstallion (?) 21:20, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Re: Flag of Mexico

I ain't the one asking. Alex is. :| -- Denelson83 15:20, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Hello Zach!. I was wondering if you can change the file Flag of Mexico.svg a little. Make it bigger but above of all, place the Coat of Arms in the very center, cause it is a little charged to the right. According to the Law of Use of the Flag, the Coat of Arms:

"The National Coat of Arms has a diameter of three-fourths the width of the white stripe."

Can you do it please? :D AlexCovarrubias 23:50, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Estoy en él, para la gran justicia. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 00:36, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Re: FOTW images

Okey dokey. But please note, that Category:Other speedy deletions contains lots of FOTW flags. You might want to check into it, to see if there is anyone in particular you want to keep.

Fred Chess 17:04, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I am not planning on keeping any, since if they got replacements or not used, go ahead and nuke them. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 21:32, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Hungary (1957-1989).png

Hi. Are you 'sure' that this image was ever the official flag of Hungary? SndrAndrss tends to get a lot of things wrong, and I assume you saw Image:Flag of Hungary 1957-1989.gif and decided to make a free SVG version. --StuartBrady 14:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

FWIW, the image had already been deleted from Wikipedia once[19]. --StuartBrady 14:23, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

According to us (FOTW), the flag has been official from 1957 until 1989. This flag was called Kádár's Flag, due to it being used during Kadar's rule. While this flag is not the one that was used during the 1956 uprising, so this is a lesser known flag in Hungary. I do trust the sources I used, so I believe the flag did exist. I do know that some users do tend to get flags wrong, so that is why I am here. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 18:40, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

A source

Hi Zach. I'm not that active on commons, so I decided to contact you here to coordinate an effort that could benefit the Commons.
The Brazilian Federal Government owns a website called dominiopublico.gov.br (would translate as: publicdomain.gov.br). In it, as the name indicates, the government (thus, a reliable source) publishes material that has been released to the public domain, from Brazilian authors and international.
At this page, one just needs to select the option "Imagem" from the first roll-down menu and then click the button marked "Pesquisar" (research), on the left-hand side, under the roll-down menus, and it will display a full list of all the images on the website. I'm thinking we should create a tag and start uploading those images to the Commons. Let me know what you think. Cheers, Redux 15:22, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

As long as there is no question about the validity of the website is, and the PD notice, we can create a template for the images from this website. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:21, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Image:Russia coa.svg

Hi. I want to delete Image:Russia coa.svg but it is used on lots of places. Can't you take Image:Russia coa.png and make it into a svg and upload that? / Fred Chess 12:12, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I can do that, I will do it once I get to university. I can perform the deletion myself too, since I have the ability to do that. I also tried to replace many images, but not sure if it is working or not. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 14:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Image:Flag of Oregon (reverse).png

Pay attention to copyright

Image:Flag of Oregon (reverse).png has been marked as a copyright violation. The Wikimedia Commons only accepts free content, that is, images and other media files that can be used by anyone, for any purpose. For details on what is acceptable, please read Commons:Licensing. You can ask questions about Commons policies in Commons:Help desk. The file you added will soon be deleted. If you believe this image is not a copyright violation, please explain why on the image description page.

Rüdiger Wölk 06:39, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

It is not a copyvio, the website gave us permission. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:56, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

My Problem with SVG from Help desk

Hello Zscout370, thanks for responding to my question. As far as I see you were able to solve the problems I had with the SVGs. Could you tell me how exactly you did that with Inkscape? Greetings, --NEUROtiker 22:04, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Your welcome. What I did was I saved the original file and opened it in Inkscape. Then I went to the option "Object to Path" then I saved it as an SVG file. I also shrunk the image, so there is a border that can be seen. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 02:22, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Okay, thank you. I will try that before I upload further pictures. --NEUROtiker 00:15, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

It that doesn't work, upload them anyways and I will fix them ASAP. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 00:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. --NEUROtiker 00:59, 29 November 2006 (UTC)