Commons:Help desk

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I've been trying to add File:Kings Highway's HEET Entrance.jpg to the commons using Magnus's Commons Uploading tool, but for some stupid reason it cuts the file name in half and then telle me that the file doesn't exist. I even tried changing the name manually, and got the same results. ----DanTD (talk) 19:31, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've had problems with the filenames of several files that I moved from the English Wikipedia to Commons using the CommonsHelper tool, I guess because the filenames from Wikipedia violated the rules in MediaWiki:Titleblacklist on Commons. The solution was to specify a different filename for the destination file on Commons. Usually this means removing punctuation characters from the filename and so on. For example you could try uploading to File:Kings Highway HEET Entrance.jpg. You can use "headline grammar" in a filename. Commons seems to be fussier about punctuation characters in filenames than the English Wikipedia is (or was, at the time when files were uploaded there). --Teratornis (talk) 21:51, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You might also need to URL-encode the filename in the source file field on the CommonsHelper form, if that's the tool you are using. You can do that with a magic word:

• Kings+Highway%27s+HEET+Entrance.jpg

but I'm just guessing here. I can try to move the file if you get stuck. See my notes in User:Teratornis/Notes#Improving the efficiency of using CommonsHelper. I made a subpage template that URL-encodes the filename and creates a link to CommonsHelper with the options I like. I still have to manually edit the destination filename for the small percentage of filenames that Commons rejects. When Commons rejects a filename, there is no coherent error message from CommonsHelper. CommonsHelper declares success, but when I look for the file on Commons it is not there. Since the workaround is straightforward, I hadn't thought to work up a bug report for the tool's author, but I can see how it could throw a user who hadn't seen the problem before. Since the visible indications of error are uninformative and misleading. --Teratornis (talk) 22:00, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Hmm,... maybe it's just my PC, but now the file isn't loading up. I guess I'm going to either have to ask for your help after all, or rename the file without the apostrophe and "s." ----DanTD (talk) 22:51, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I moved the file to Commons as File:Kings Highway HEET Entrance.jpg and marked the original as NowCommons so a Wikipedia administrator will delete it within a few days there. You should edit the article(s) that use the image to use the new filename. --Teratornis (talk) 23:48, 14 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Thanks. However, I just tried to upload another one(File:Avenue M's Closed Staircase.jpg) using the same techniques you suggested. The tool claimed that the image had no description, no copyright tag, no original author, and no categories, all of which are lies. The tool just decided on it's own to blank all these things out. ----DanTD (talk) 01:49, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(undent) Here is the trick:

• I use a link like this to run CommonsHelper:
  • http://toolserver.org/~magnus/commonshelper.php?interface=en&image=Avenue+M%27s+Closed+Staircase.jpg&lang=en&remove_categories=1&reallydirectupload=1
• but the filename gets truncated after the single quote character. I guess CommonsHelper doesn't like that. So I manually copy and paste these filenames into the form:
  • Image name: Avenue M's Closed Staircase.jpg
  • New name: Avenue M Closed Staircase.jpg

Then CommonsHelper works. You can also update references to this image to use the new name on Commons. --Teratornis (talk) 03:05, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The new name is File:Avenue M Closed Staircase.jpg. --Teratornis (talk) 03:07, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• • • I just did the same thing as you to another image, and it still doesn't work. For whatever reason, this tool hates apostrophes. ----DanTD (talk) 14:03, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can put the image name on my talk page when you have this problem and I will try to move it for you. These tools seem to be kind of hit or miss, given all the random variations that users have uploaded. --Teratornis (talk) 17:09, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the offer. I'll do that. ----DanTD (talk) 13:50, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do I get the album artwork to fit inside the infobox? Everytime I try to move it to the page it is way too big. Juri Koll (talk) 18:49, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I put your question into a separate section to call better attention to it. From your contributions on Commons and the English Wikipedia:

• Special:Contributions/Juri Koll
• Special:Contributions/Juri Koll

I cannot tell what problem you are having. For example, you edited the Royce Concerto article. The Template:Infobox Album looks correct there. Generally the infobox templates on Wikipedia should automatically size the image file you specify. If you are having a problem with a specific infobox template, you could ask on the template's talk page, and/or on the Wikipedia Help desk. You can test any infobox template by making your own "user sandbox" page, by clicking this and editing: User:Juri Koll/Sandbox. That is a good way to illustrate a problem so Help desk helpers can see what you are doing. --Teratornis (talk) 00:23, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Here is what I do:

1. I start uploading my file to commons with the "Own work" upload form.
2. I input all the details and the categories and press preview.
3. Everything looks fine in the preview and the categories are still present in the input box.
4. After I press save, the categories are not saved.

It works fine if I do not use preview first. Does anyone know anything about this? --Petteri Aimonen (talk) 12:00, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The same thing happens to me. --Redrose64 (talk) 12:32, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This may be the same bug reported here: mediazilla:18370. --Teratornis (talk) 19:07, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, look here or here or here or here. After a while I just gave up. It is a bug, but somehow no-one really seems to care. I don't re-cat my images anymore, because I a so fed up with this situation. --Paulae (talk) 21:43, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I thought I was the only having that issue. Firefox 3.5, Win7 RC1, also using Firefogg extension and have several gadgets installed. mahanga (talk) 23:31, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't mention it above: I'm on Firefox 3.0, Win XP. Anyway, have mentioned this at Commons:Usability issues and ideas#Categories and file formats where it seems we're not alone. --Redrose64 (talk) 17:49, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I had been uploading images under the CC by Attribution license until I discovered this multi-license was recommended? What's the reasoning for this? I thought CC-BY 3.0 was less restrictive. I really don't have much preference but if it's better for Commons, I'll start uploading under the multi-license. I'd just like to know why. Thanks, mahanga (talk) 23:43, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See COM:L#Multi-licensing. --Teratornis (talk) 00:34, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The CC-BY-SA license and GFDL both make anyone who creates a derivative work from the licensed work release their derivative work under the same license. They are commonly called w:copyleft. Stifle (talk) 10:11, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to license your images under GFDL (I don't), you may do it at any time, even years after the first release them under CC-BY-SA. Sv1xv (talk) 10:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Trying Category:Dictionary_of_National_Biography produces an internet HTTP 500 Internal server error on IE 6. Firefox 3.5.3 shows only a blank page. Is that only me ? --Foroa (talk) 08:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have the same problem. I can access the edit mode, but not preview; According to Google's cache, the category contains 62 djvu files. Pruneau^talk 12:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_sculpture.jpg

need help here... KSLaVida (talk) 16:12, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See COM:CB#3D art (sculptures etc.). Before someone could determine the copyright status of the sculpture in the (rather poorly-named) File:Old sculpture.jpg, they would have to identify its creator, and the location. There is not sufficient information in the image file page to do that. If you cannot provide that information, you could ask on the Wikipedia Reference desk to see if anyone there can identify the sculpture. You could also write to the proprietor of the Web site from where you copied the photo. --Teratornis (talk) 21:34, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to find out about an image I saw on http://ta.wikipedia.org (Tamil Wikipedia), but I can't read the language, which looks like this: விக்கிப்பீடியாவிற்கு வருக, and their help desk may not be able to read my language. What's the best place to raise a request for someone reads Tamil to check the image, so as to get it copied to Commons if its licensing allows? PL290 (talk) 21:15, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You may ask at the tamil Wikipedia page ta:விக்கிப்பீடியா:தமிழ்த் தூதரகம் (Tamil Embassy). Also most of the tamil Wikipedia license templates (ta:பகுப்பு:காப்புரிமை வார்ப்புருக்கள்) are named in latin, the template names are very similar to Commons. If it is not a "non-free fair use" image you can, I bet, copy it to Commons with Commons helper. --Martin H. (talk) 21:24, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK. You're right, there is some English there and it is a fair use one, which makes it a non-starter for Commons anyway, unfortunately. I wondered about placing it on en.Wikipedia instead, but I don't think the source is given so it's unlikely to be verifiable. Thanks for the info. PL290 (talk) 07:38, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Push-for-Commons tool can search for photos suitable for moving to Commons, on the various language Wikipedias. However, the search options do not always make it easy to find a particular photo. I've had good results with the category search mode. --Teratornis (talk) 08:29, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, thanks. Sounds very useful. I'll try that for this and other things now I know about it. PL290 (talk) 09:13, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have some notes about using the Push-for-Commons tool to move some images from the English Wikipedia to Commons. If you will use the corresponding CommonsHelper tool heavily you may wish to make a user subpage template that lets you compactly make links to the tool with the options you like. See:

• User:Teratornis/Notes/CommonsHelper

I prefer to use CommonsHelper to move individual files that I find with Push-for-Commons, rather than move them directly from the links that Push-for-Commons displays, because the latter method requires more manual effort to download and upload the file. CommonsHelper uses a bot to move the file and is more efficient. Note that several things can go wrong in the process so you always have to check and sometimes edit the result. See WP:MITC if you haven't already. --Teratornis (talk) 16:50, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I recently created an article for the Festival of Jewish Culture in Warsaw and would like to include in it the image of the associated logo, which can be found at the relevant website: [1] (the fiddler-mermaid combo). From what I understand logos can be uploaded and used in articles, but I'm not sure what the proper license is. Any help much appreciated.Radeksz (talk) 13:29, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Logo is complex enough to be copyrighted. So it could not be uploaded on Commons without copyrights owner permission to release it under free license. --EugeneZelenko (talk) 14:41, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can follow the procedure in COM:OTRS if the copyright holder will give permission. Good luck. --Teratornis (talk) 16:52, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hallo,
welche Vorlage muss ich einfügen, wenn ich eine 2-€-Münze hochlade, die ich selbst fotografiert habe (mit weißem Hintergrund)? Vielleicht {{Euro coin common face}}?
Danke, final.countdown™ ^{it's the final.countdown!} 16:38, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Commons:Currency#Euro. It seems to matter whether you photographed the common face or the national face of the coin. You mentioned {{Euro coin common face}} so perhaps you photographed the common face. I also see a {{Money-EU}} template. Many examples are in Category:Euro coins (2 euros). --Teratornis (talk) 17:02, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wenn die Münze (für Deutschland) den Adler zeigt, darf ich dieses Bild hochladen, oder nicht? --final.countdown™ ^{it's the final.countdown!} 15:41, 22 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ja, {{Money-EU}} fürs Design der Münzrückseite und eine freie Lizenz deiner Wahl für deine eigene fotografische Arbeit verwenden. --Martin H. (talk) 16:13, 22 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello everybody! I have a question: where should I ask for a modification in an user interface of Commons? When using italian interface, when I look to a file, in the bottom of the screen I can see if there are pages on commons that use it. But when using english interface, there is also a link to a tool (on Toolserver) that searches for pages using that image on other wikis... I find it an useful function, and I would like to have it also in italian interface (I think it should be in every language interface...). Is it possibile? Bye! --Gig (talk) 06:56, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Should I ask to Commons:Village pump? --Gig (talk) 06:59, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Commons:Help desk/Archives/2009Aug#File Links tells how the feature appeared in English. Maybe someone involved in adding the feature knows how to do it for other languages. --Teratornis (talk) 09:30, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello everybody, in case no one noticed: the search engine does take no update into account for several days now. Could someone please fix it? Thank you! --87.185.110.18 08:04, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know whether anyone who can fix this problem reads this Help desk. You might read the Wikimedia Technical Blog and see if someone posted any status reports there. What are you trying to search for? --Teratornis (talk) 19:22, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Category:Saasenheim and Category:Bindernheim do still not appear in the search engine when making a search for Saasenheim or Bindernheim. This is effing frustrating!!!--87.185.122.103 10:00, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It works for me. Have you checked "Category" in the search form? You can also enable or disable searches for categories in your user preferences. --rimshot^talk 19:20, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

what licease would this go under? Seabanks (talk) 15:24, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That depends on who created the painting and when. Powers (talk) 17:16, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Probably no need to upload it. Just use File:Amadeo_Modigliani_012.jpg. --dave pape (talk) 17:52, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I recently found a 1945 regulation related to the flags of the Spanish Republic. How does the Spanish copyright law relate to something like this? User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 06:19, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• There is a Commons:WikiProject Flags. Maybe someone there could help. See Commons talk:WikiProject Flags.
• Is there some specific example you want to upload to Commons?
• The bottom of the page you linked to has a link to a legal page. Does that address your question?
• If there is some material from the site that you want to upload to Commons, and the copyright status is not clear, you could write to the site administrators and ask them if their material is Free content or whether they will agree to release it as such (in which case see COM:OTRS).
• See COM:L#Spain.

This is probably not a good answer, but maybe something is better than nothing. --Teratornis (talk) 20:24, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• I am from that project, so I wanted to come here for help. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return fire)} 05:13, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could try asking on Commons talk:Licensing, but I suggest rewording the question into something specific. I can't guess what you are asking. Judging by the lack of other replies, perhaps no one else here can either. For example, do you think the regulation might contradict Spanish copyright law somewhere? Is the regulation more permissive than the law, or less? Does the regulation impact some specific file you want to upload? That is, does it make you think you are allowed to upload something, or does it make you think you are forbidden? --Teratornis (talk) 09:10, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

please let me know the ADDRESS OF THE MARITIME ADMINISTRATION WHO ISSUES THE MARITIME CERTIFICATES FOR SEAFARERS ACCORDING TO STCW95 CONVENTION.THANK YOU. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.114.160.34 (talk • contribs) 08:08, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This Help desk is for questions about using Wikimedia Commons. You could ask on the Wikipedia Reference desk. --Teratornis (talk) 20:12, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Or you could also try using one of the many popular "search" engines out there. You know, to search. --J.smith (talk) 04:12, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I created an account, under Gianulias and spent about 2 hours creating a new Wikipedia page, not sure if under Commons or something else. I named it Final Final Band (a local band that is making a lot of progress here in our town). I uploaded 3 pics and went to go find it and I can't locate. It's not live yet. Can you help me find it and let me know the process to get it live and also attach pics. THANK YOU very much! Jon Gianulias (e-mail redacted to reduce spam) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gianulias (talk • contribs) 19:38, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The images can be found in your upload log. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 19:55, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you edited while logged in, you can see what you have done by checking your contributions:

• Special:Contributions/Gianulias (here on Commons)
  • The files you uploaded are visible, but you have not categorized them yet. One way to categorize is by location. Where did you take these photos? (Country/state/province/county/venue etc.)
• Special:Contributions/Gianulias (on the English Wikipedia)

It appears that you wrote a draft of an article on your talk page on the English Wikipedia: User talk:Gianulias. That isn't exactly what talk pages are intended for; see Help:Talk page and Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. You should rather start your article as a user subpage, for example: User:Gianulias/Final Final Band. You can move your current Wikipedia talk page to that user subpage and continue editing your article draft. It's actually not the best idea to start a new article as your first attempt to edit on Wikipedia, because new articles by new users have a very high chance of being deleted, due to new users' unfamiliarity with Wikipedia's complex rules for content. This is especially true for articles about non-notable bands (see WP:UPANDCOMING). It's better to make small edits to existing articles and watch them to see what other editors do to your edits. You also need to read a lot of manuals. See WP:PICTURE, WP:BAND, WP:WWMPD, WP:LAYOUT, WP:YFA, WP:RS, and WP:FOOT. Questions about uploading photos to Commons belong here; questions about writing articles on Wikipedia belong on the Wikipedia Help desk. Editors there can advise you on how to write an article that may "stick" (i.e., avoid being deleted). There are also other wikis that specialize in music and accept more content than Wikipedia does; see wikiindex:Category:Music. You can edit on a specialist wiki with (usually) less worries about getting deleted than on Wikipedia with its more rigorous standards. --Teratornis (talk) 20:09, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wie kann ich ein fehlendes wappen ersetzten wie z.b. bei der stadt mürzzuschlag? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mürzzuschlager (talk • contribs) 10:26, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Google translation to English: "How do I replace a missing coat of arms, such as eg Mürzzuschlag in the city?"

It seems you refer to the infobox in the Mürzzuschlag article (on the English Wikipedia, at least) which has a missing coat of arms graphic. I looked at all the articles linked from the navigation box: Template:Mürzzuschlag, and none of them show a coat of arms either. The infobox in question is Template:Infobox Ort in Österreich which appears to be a port from possibly the German Wikipedia, with parameter names in German. One of the template parameters will be for the name of the coat of arms graphic. So, does one exist on Commons yet? Category:Bezirk Mürzzuschlag does not show one. There is a much larger Category:Coats of arms which you may browse through. If no suitable graphic is already on Commons, someone will have to upload one. If you have one to upload, see COM:CB#Coats of arms for the copyright rules. --Teratornis (talk) 19:19, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How can I change the jpg of an uploaded file with another jpg? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ag Andras (talk • contribs) 13:31, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See:

• COM:FAQ#How can I upload a new version of a file?.

--Teratornis (talk) 19:19, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

hello,

I received messages about editing my images. I need to add the full source and one doesn't seem to have a license. I can't seem to figure out how to edit them. Can someone help?

ty. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Queenellie (talk • contribs) 18:59, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It looks as if you are figuring it out. See COM:CB for guidelines about specific types of images. Also see COM:L. --Teratornis (talk) 19:40, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

File:Socal_counties.jpg (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs)

I marked this file for speedy deletion last night. Can someone tell me if I was mistaken and why? Thanks – Sswonk (talk) 19:10, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

COM:SCREENSHOT would seem to support your contention that this is a derivative work of Google Earth. It's too bad that Google Earth generates images that cry out to be shared freely, but Google does not let us. --Teratornis (talk) 19:44, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Their terms of use are absolutely clear and incompatible with Commons:Project scope#Required licensing terms, it is a pitty that users not read the terms of websites or services they use - both, our project guidlines and the google terms. --Martin H. (talk) 20:42, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Au secours, je fais de la claustrophobie, laissez-moi partir, DETRUISEZ MON COMPTE AVANT QUE JE ME FASSE EXPLOSER. L'incurie m'insupporte, aidez-moi s'il vous plaît,

détruisez mon compte, détruisez mon compte,détruisez mon compte,détruisez mon compte, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.71.201.2 (talk • contribs)

We can't delete accounts. But you're not even logged in so we have no idea what account you mean anyway. Powers (talk) 01:12, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A French version of the Help desk exists at: Commons:Service d'aide. Perhaps someone over there can understand this question. WP:VANISH might be relevant. If Commons is causing claustrophobia, the simplest solution is to leave and refrain from editing here, either forever or until the problem subsides. (I consider the question - or statement - more of a cri de coeur than a rant. Perhaps we have all felt something similar, or at least something similarly intense.) --Teratornis (talk) 04:34, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I maintain the following road map of Poland: File:DocelowyUkladDrog.svg. Recently, the Polish road authority changed their plans and hence I had to add a new road (S61 in the North Eastern corner). I have changed the map and uploaded the new version. Unfortunately, the PNG versions of the file are not updated and all Wikipedia articles referencing it (e.g.: en:Roads and expressways in Poland or de:Liste der Autobahnen und Schnellstraßen in Polen) show a preview with the old version:

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/DocelowyUkladDrog.svg/250px-DocelowyUkladDrog.svg.png

Even if you click the thumbnail, you won't see the updated map. You have to open the SVG file in order to see the newest version. I had the same problem with the following map: File:LodzRingAutostradowy.svg. I have added the background to the city (like here: File:ZachodniaObwodnicaLodzi.svg), but you still cannot see it. I have tried uploading the file multiple times and even reverting the changes, but nothing helped.

Could somebody tell me, what is going on? Thanks! rzyjontko (talk) 18:08, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I can see road S61 at all the links you have listed. If you can still not see the updated version, try bypassing your cache. Pruneau^talk 18:32, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you can. Being a developer, I imagined that the issue might be caused by some pseudo-optimization and I decided to slightly change the dimensions of the image. It helped! But it is not a solution, only a workaround. Check the other image, I posted - File:LodzRingAutostradowy.svg. I left it intact so that the responsible person can analyze the cause of the defect and fix it. rzyjontko (talk) 20:00, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bypass your cache. If that not solves the problem you may purge the page or wait some time for the servers to update the thumbnails. --Martin H. (talk) 08:21, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Purging did the work, thanks! I still think this is pretty lame. Why isn't the purging part of the uploading? rzyjontko (talk) 17:32, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Purging is not normally necessary after most uploads. I don't know why sometimes an old image "sticks". You would have to ask the developers to explain how they decided to prioritize the conflicting demands put upon them. Purging after every upload might slow down the servers or something. Generally it is hard to ask developers these kinds of questions, since they are too busy fixing bugs and responding to feature requests. As users on a site we don't pay for, we have to be self-reliant and learn the various workarounds that we need. If we were paying for a certain level of service, then we could demand it. --Teratornis (talk) 19:41, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

can you heip me i want to know where i could get imeges of the biosphere — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.156.72.106 (talk • contribs) 01:35, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Biosphere has several meanings - which do you want? --Teratornis (talk) 08:40, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

We have a Category:Biosphere for some of them. --Teratornis (talk) 08:41, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

I am currently creating an article on the Centre for European Studies, the official political foundation of the European People's Party. It is a new political organization legislated by European Parliament in the EU. It is a legally recognized organization within EU-statutes on political parties. Therefore, it is an EU-government institution.

I am employed at the Centre for European Studies, and I have been handed the task of posting a Wikipedia link on CES, creating a page on the role and legislative process of the creation of political foundations within the EU, as well as buffering up the pages of our President Wilfried Martens, and the page of the European People's Party (EPP).

I am trying to upload pages to wikipedia that are already existing on our official websites; however, I cannot figure out how to properly license an EU-government photo.

Please help me!

Thanks

Thinkingeurope

Thinkingeurope (talk) 10:20, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A crash course on both, Commons:First steps/License selection and permission:

The copyright holder, presumably your organization or the individual author, must agree to a free license. We have a long list of allowable license templates at Commons:Copyright tags (Section 2-6) - to make it simple: The copyright holder should agree to a licensing under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0. This license allows for free reuse of the work, everyone may use the work for every purpose under the terms of the license. The license requires attribution and to share any new copy or derivative work under the same conditions (Copyleft). The copyright holder should agree in written form to this licenses.

Please upload your work using Commons:Upload > "It is from somewhere else" (as you are not the copyright holder yourself), please fill out all information (source: Organziation, name of publication if already published elswhere (a website is a publication); author: authors name, pseudonym, also organization name in case of work for hire might be applicable), select the license from the drop-down ist. Important: Copy the text {{OTRS pending|month=November|day=14|year=2024}} to the permission field. Now the file is online, please follow the instructions in COM:OTRS, forward the written permission from the copyright holder to the OTRS according to this instructions. You may find Commons:Email templates useful here. --Martin H. (talk) 11:15, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also see WP:CORP, WP:BFAQ, WP:COPYVIO, WP:YFA, and WP:COI. You started an article as a user subpage:

• User:Thinkingeurope/The Centre for European Studies (note: the article title should not start with "The")

which is a good idea, but your account shows few other edits:

• Special:Contributions/Thinkingeurope

Things you need to know:

• New articles by new users are at high risk of being deleted, because Wikipedia has complex policies and guidelines that few new users could correctly guess. (Whoever told you to write this article probably knows nothing about editing on Wikipedia. If they did, they would not have sent a new user to start a new article on a topic the user has a potential conflict of interest in. You should let that person know, in case your article gets deleted. I wouldn't want you to be blamed for a problem not of your making. Most people are not aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of articles, most of them by new users. Probably because Wikipedia makes this rather difficult for casual visitors to become aware of.) It's better to gain experience by making small edits to existing articles first, and watch what other users do to your edits. And read the friendly manuals.
• Your user subpage does not follow the layout guidelines for articles; see WP:LAYOUT - in particular, do not use bold text in place of subsection headings.
• If you are copying text verbatim from other Web sites, your text will appear to be a copyright violation on Wikipedia, since other Wikipedia editors have no way to tell you may be "authorized" to copy the text to Wikipedia. The source Web site should post a clear notice that the text is under a free content license there; without such notice, by default everything is under copyright and thus cannot be legally copied verbatim to Wikipedia. If the source sites will not agree to publish their material under a free license, then you will have to rewrite it for Wikipedia (see: Idea-expression divide).
• You should disclose your conflict of interest on your user page. Voluntary disclosure will signal to other Wikipedia editors that you are trying to act in good faith.
• The most common cause for articles being deleted is the failure to establish notability of the subject. You can do this by supplying reliable, third party sources for the article. Relying too heavily on source material belonging to the subject (i.e., an official Web site) can be a red flag for deletionists. You should have additional sources from reputable news media, scholarly journals, or the like. See WP:CITE and WP:FOOT.
• The task you have been assigned is not impossible, but it is difficult. Thousands of other wikis exist, with some that may have looser rules more conducive to your goals. See: wikiindex:Category:Politics. Regardless of the outcome of your article on Wikipedia, you should simultaneously develop it on at least one alternative wiki in case Wikipedia's deletionists bite you. Good luck. --Teratornis (talk) 19:33, 27 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hallo, darf ich selbstgemachte Fotos von Musikinstrumenten bei den commons hochladen oder fallen diese z.B. unter die Kategorie Kunstwerke?

Blubboy22 (talk) 07:25, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

COM:CB#Utility objects suggests that musical instruments will not be under copyright, so you can upload photos of them to Commons under a free content license. See COM:L and Commons:First steps. You can categorize your photos in appropriate subcategories of Category:Musical instruments. --Teratornis (talk) 17:43, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do the photographs of the instruments feature any copyrightable artworks on the instruments? --Teratornis (talk) 18:10, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, the instrument (my guitar) is only white. The other instruments haven't got any artwork, too. You can only see the name of the brand. Blubboy22 (talk) 20:36, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There should be no copyright problems then. Presumably you are the photographer. You own the copyright to your photos and you may license them as you wish. Commons requires your uploads to have a free content license. You could for example specify {{Cc-by-sa-3.0}} when you upload photos. Have a try at Commons:Upload. Thank you for contributing. --Teratornis (talk) 03:21, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your help, now I can start uploading ;) Blubboy22 (talk) 09:53, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello editors: I'm sure you've heard this question a million times before, but I couldn't easily figure out an answer. I took photographs at a monument (historic landmark, governed by the Alabama Historical Commission): it's a building with a permanent exhibit, outside, of fifteen panels depicting events and people from a civil rights event in 1961. Can I upload those photos to Commons and use them in a WP article, and if so, under what license? Thanks for your help. Drmies (talk) 14:42, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See COM:CB#3D art (sculptures etc.), Commons:Freedom of panorama (COM:FOP), and depending on how you photographed the building, Commons:De minimis (COM:DM). See COM:EIC#Copyright for more information. Your question would be clearer if you mentioned the name of the building. The first thing is to search Commons and the English Wikipedia for photos of it, if any, and see how they are licensed. A search of Wikipedia suggests you may be talking about the Greyhound Bus Station (Montgomery, Alabama). And you have uploaded a photo: File:Greyhound montgomery.jpg which features the panels in what looks to my non-lawyer eyes to be an acceptably de minimus kind of way - maybe. If you want to upload straight-on detail shots of the panels, then to be on the safe side you should get the artist's permission and document it properly by following the procedure in COM:OTRS. Since the panels must have gone up some years after 1961, that is recent enough for the works to still be under the artist's copyright. See COM:FOP#United States which excludes artworks on buildings from freedom of panorama. --Teratornis (talk) 18:07, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Yes, that is what I was talking about. The panels in question are no older than a couple of years, and I have no idea who made them--yet. I'm sure you are right and they are under copyright. Thanks again for your answer; I may holler at you again, with your helpful non-lawyer eyes. Drmies (talk) 01:29, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I asked the Google and it sent me to 1961 FREEDOM RIDES EXHIBIT ON EXTERIOR OF BUILDING which gives a contact number I suspect you will shortly be calling. --Teratornis (talk) 03:36, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The page says the panels went up in 2008. --Teratornis (talk) 03:41, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to create a category:Firdosi's Königbuch (Schahname) as part of Friedrich Rückert (2 C, 1 P, 19 F) Parents:Writers from Germany --Wvk (talk) 15:24, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, while I was browsing subcategories of Category:Friedrich Rückert, my browser crashed. Something odd might be going on there. Or maybe Firefox just decided to get weird on me. Anyway, do you have a question? --Teratornis (talk) 18:19, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My question is, how categories are created? And what is the meaning of (2 C, 1 P, 19 F) as part of the Friedrich Rückert category. Can I create categories by myself? And if so, how? --Wvk (talk) 05:26, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A category is created like every other page, add the category to one image, you will get a red link, click the red link and create the page. (2C, 1P, 19F) means, that this category contains 2 Categories, 1 Gallery and 19 Files. --Martin H. (talk) 07:13, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

More details about categories on Commons are in Commons:Categories, and more details about MediaWiki's category feature are in Help:Category. If you find the manuals too difficult, you can tell us the name of the file you want to put into the new category, and we can put it in the new category and show you how we did it. You can see User:Teratornis#Categories for a list of categories I have created. I recommend keeping such a list on your user page so you can remember how you did it, the next time you want to create another. If you are new to MediaWiki, the category feature can be difficult to grasp at first. The main confusing thing is that you put a page into a category not by editing the category page itself, but by editing the page you want to put into the category. Similarly, when you want to create a subcategory of an existing category, you edit a new page for the subcategory and add a link to the existing category. The manuals explain this. I had to read them several times when I was new. --Teratornis (talk) 21:51, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your help. I created category:Firdosis Königsbuch (Schahname) (Rückert). Works fine so far. --Wvk (talk) 14:44, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Das Bild File:Richard von Weizsäcker.jpg ist seitenverkehrt (Weizsäcker trägt den Scheitel immer auf der anderen Seite!) Wer kann das an diesem Bild korrigieren? -- H.Albatros 19:23, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Google translation to English: "The Image File: Richard of Weizsäcker.jpg is reversed (Weizsacker always bears the crest on the other side!) Who can fix this picture?"

We have templates to request that someone {{Rotate}} or {{Invert}} an image, but I do not see one for mirroring. See COM:TM#Maintenance and Category:Image cleanup templates. The general template to request a cleanup appears to be {{Cleanup image}} to which you add an explanation (in this case to reverse the image to its mirror image). You can invert a bitmap image yourself with the ImageMagick program or its command-line version, convert (use the -flop option). See: Commons:Software and Commons:Graphic Lab. --Teratornis (talk) 22:24, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mirrored. --Martin H. (talk) 12:55, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have uploaded an image on wikimedia commons. Now I want to transfer it into a developing article on wikipedia. Please help me. The image is my own work only. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vijinfrugal (talk • contribs) 00:29, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Images on Commons are already usable on the Wikipedias. See Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. For example, I inserted a link to the image you uploaded, at the top of this question. It appears to the right. --Teratornis (talk) 02:34, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note that http://urbanfrugalchic.com/ which you list as the source of this photo has the line at the bottom:

• ©Copyright 2009 Urban Frugal Chic. All Rights Reserved.

We need to document the copyright holder's permission to release this photo under a free license. That means you should follow the procedure in Commons:OTRS. --Teratornis (talk) 03:14, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if you are creating an article on the English Wikipedia about Urban Frugal Chic, please carefully read WP:BFAQ. You appear to have started it in a user subpage: User:Vijinfrugal/Urbanfrugalchic. See my reply to the question above in #Licensing for the European Union which covers some of the same issues about creating a Wikipedia article about a company or organization you are associated with. What you want to do is not impossible but it can be tricky. The single most important thing to understand is that everything on Wikipedia needs reliable sources that are independent of the subject of the article. That means we don't write anything original on Wikipedia, only what has been published in the news media, in scholarly articles, in non-vanity books, and so on. Thus you should collect all the press coverage you can find of Urban Frugal Chic. That will be the basis for an article on Wikipedia, not your personal knowledge of the company. --Teratornis (talk) 03:14, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm a newbie, but last week, when I searched a word that had thousands of results, I could view 500 of the images per page by clicking on the number "500" at the bottom of the search results page.

Today, when I do a search and click "500" only 50 or so pictures appear, even though the search result says that over 1,000 images were turned up? Why are the search results no longer all being shown?

Thanks

I already asked at the german language Commons:Forum#Suchfunktion verweigert Dienst some days ago. The search results are limited to 50 at the moment, you can search for 50 results. If you search for >50 results (like 500) you will only get 50 and the "next 500" button is deactivated. Maybe a temporary problem, please restrict your search to 50 results. --Martin H. (talk) 12:35, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Only a note: Found the reason in the server log. --Martin H. (talk) 13:17, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi

Hopefully someone out there much smarter than me may be able to help.

Ive never used this site before (obviously)but Ive been trying to get hold of a digital copy of Karl Friedrich Schinkel's painting 'Morning'. It's intended for printing onto bedroom curtains, so it would be being enlarged, and so Id like it in as high a resolution as possible.

Ive been round and around this site already. Its here and it appears not to be copyrighted, but even after several long hard attempted Im still non the wiser as to how to download a copy.

Please help. I will be very grateful (as will the gf)

Many thanks

Mark

markwilsonesq@hotmail.co.uk

Hm, how to save/download an image from some website? Go to the image page File:Karl Friedrich Schinkel - Morning.jpg, right click on the image and "save target as" to you your computer. Of course it is not copyrighted, the painter died 1841, so his copyright expired long time ago. The image is not that large, only 1,000 × 730 px, maybe too small to print in a good quality. --Martin H. (talk) 12:29, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Image File:Gnome-dev-camera.svg has an XML error. I've uploaded a fixed version File:Gnome-dev-camera_(Fixed).svg. My account is "too new" to replace it. Can someone else do that for me?

Thanks!

Can you use a Google Earth image as an image file?