Ellin Beltz
Hi! I'm one of the admins and bureaucrats here on Wikimedia Commons. If I can help, please leave a message on my talk page!
I work in a spirit of COM:AGF with Commons images for deletion, as well as categorizing and sourcing images.
Please do not be offended if your images were nominated for deletion or even deleted.
There are processes to provide copyright permission and undelete even images which have already been removed.
If you need a really fast response to a general question, please write at the Village Pump.
To contact me, please leave your message on my User Talk page. Because of tons of emails resulting from bot changes, all email from this source is blocked by my provider :( Please use the talk page!
Sorry about lack of administrator activity recently, I've been laid up, but am now recovering! (June 25, 2023)
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Please scroll down for more information about images for deletion, what the acronyms mean and what do to if your images were nominated or deleted.
Contact & info
For Commons ... Please leave your message on my User Talk page.
I am not a Wikipedia admin, but I do edit there...
- Wikipedia discussions, please use my English Wikipedia talk page.
- Wikipedia information and resources, please see my English Wikipedia user page
How to upload images
Commons:First steps tutorial!
Questions about why your image is nominated for deletion?
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Please note that none of the following claims are valid license justifications:
However, ... if you think you really do have permission despite the above, there are ways to work within the system to discuss it. Please leave a message on my talk page, including the file name of the image which was nominated or deleted.
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Acronyms & locations
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- AGF = Assume good faith, see COM:AGF
- Blocks = You don't want one of these, see COM:BP
- CALM = Commons settling issues with other users, see COM:DISPUTE
- COPYVIO = Commons Copyright Violation, see COM:L
- DELBUG = Deletion tool failed to remove, use {{DELBUG}} when found
- DN = Deletion Nomination, see Commons:Deletion requests
- DW = Derivative Work of another artwork, photo etc., see COM:DW
- FOP = Freedom of Panorama, the U.S. doesn't have any, see COM:FOP
- Jerk = Please don't be one! See this article
- Link = Help with wiki linking
- no permission = image permission is not compatible with Commons, or none at all
- no source = image has no source, cannot be found at source, or source is irrational
- OTRS = process for copyright holder to formally declare copyright on image/s, see COM:OTRS
- PRP = Precautionary principle - "where there is significant doubt about the freedom of a particular file it should be deleted." see COM:PRP
- SCOPE = Commons scope, also called scope, see COM:SCOPE
- Sock = Sockpuppet, get help at Commons:Requests for checkuser & Commons:Sockpuppet investigations
- speedy = copyvio with proof, can be removed immediately
- SVG = Scaleable vector graphics, see Help:SVG
- User Names = fall under certain guidelines, see COM:UPOLICY
Need more? Try Commons:Editor's index to Commons aka COM:EIC
Helpful hints from Hedwig
- Please sign your posts on talk pages by adding: --~~~~ at the end. Thanks!
- You can't claim own work when you didn't take the photograph yourself. That is called copyright infringement.
- If you don't know the author you have to check how old the photo is. It may be public domain because its copyright has expired.
- If you know the author, please ask for permission and send the permission to our OTRS Team. Instructions here: OTRS
- In order to source properly, state where you got the picture from. Websites or books. Maybe an archive? Given to you by the copyright owner?
- Please read about the licenses and essential information here: Com:L and Com:Essential information.
Thanks to Hedwig in Washington for this lovely list.
This is an example of the process
Please see the discussions and outcome at Commons:Deletion requests/File:Johann Spielmann.jpg.
Please read the appropriate message for your situation
New users sometimes make mistakes...
Hi there, and welcome to Commons! Yes, really, Welcome! it may not look like I'm very welcoming to you, nominating your pictures for deletion, but I think you may have made some mistakes. You can read more about copyright at the section for Copyright violations & Deletion guidelines. Sorry to be the one to nominate your pictures for deletion, but you need to read the instructions on what is ok to upload here and what isn't ok. I hope you follow the instructions and add some more photos of your own - of interesting things in the world around you!
Copyright Violations
Please read "COM:L" Copyright violations. If you did not take the picture yourself, please ask for help at the Village Pump before uploading. Copyright violations will be removed. Don't get upset if you don't understand all the ins and outs and a photo gets nominated. Stay calm, ask questions!
Out of scope
- Please read "COM:SCOPE" the Scope of the Project for a full list of images which are out of the scope of the project.
- Please see Commons:Project scope#PDF and DjVu formats. Please see [[Commons:Project scope#PDF and DjVu formats]].
Screenshots
Not all screenshots can be uploaded to Commons, please read Screenshot
- For software note: If the screenshot shows any work that is not a direct result of the program code itself, such as a text or graphics that are not part of the program, the license for that work must be indicated separately. For example {{Free screenshot|{{Apache|The Android Open Source Project}}
Personal photos...
Commons is not a personal photo album! Please read COM:SCOPE to find out more about what is and what isn't a file which can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In general, this includes images more suited for social media: images of some guy/girl/babies/families/pets doing various guy/girl/baby/family/pet things. Please see COM:NOTSOCIAL to read up on holiday and family snaps.
Old Personal photos
COM:NOTSOCIAL Commons is not a social network for old family pictures and the contents of scrapbooks.
COM:PS#Must be realistically useful for an educational purpose. Uploading pictures from family albums requires the name of the photographer and the date of the picture; not all album pictures are within scope, and many may also be COM:COPYVIOs.
Selfies
Please see COM:SELFIE. Not all selfies are within scope, although if you're an astronaut in outer space, one or two would be in scope.
Admin apply {{autotranslate|1=|base=No selfies}} for friendly autowarning box.
Biographies, resumes, solicitations of friendship/marriage, motivational posters, personal holiday cards, etc.
Please read COM:NOTSOCIAL. Resumes, personal biographies, solicitations of marriage or friendship, notifications of starting new business, uploading the first painting you did at age three, personal holiday cards, children's hand and foot prints, whether text or laid over photographs are out of COM:SCOPE.
Pron
- COM:PORN Commons is not an amateur porn site, please refrain from uploading images so personal as to defy polite description,
- COM:OMGAPENIS aka COM:NOTCENSORED "If the images are of demonstrably inferior quality, or add nothing educationally distinct to the stock of such images we hold already, they may fail the test of being realistically useful for an educational purpose."
Out of project scope
This picture fails COM:SCOPE due to COM:PS#Must be realistically useful for an educational purpose.
Blurry and poor quality
- Blurry and/or really poor quality images. Note while there is a [[:Category:Intentionally blurred images]], generally blurred images are out of scope.
Duplicates
- Must be an exact copy to process as {{Duplicate}} to help any external re-users. Otherwise file a Deletion Nomination.
Advertising
COM:SCOPE & COM:ADVERT: Commons is not a place to advertise.
- Advertising, promotional or self-promotional images, see also COM:PENIS and COM:NOTSOCIAL
Educational Use
- Please read COM:EDUSE for full discussion of which images are not realistically useful for educational purposes. You may also see:
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- Images that are impossible to tell what they are and/or have little to no description to help the user decide the educational content,
- Images uploaded as test edits, out of boredom, or to test a new phone,
- Uncategorized images or those categorized to [[Category:NonexistantPages]] and
- Unused, poor quality, low resolution and lacking metadata images.
Freedom of Panorama
- Freedom of Panorama "FOP" refers to whether nations permit photography on the public way or not. Click on that link and locate the nation in question.
{{drfop|Country Name}} generates a statement about FOP in country named
When All Else Fails
Unclear copyright status. Unless we have definitive, explicit written and/or textual, tangible evidence from a credible, verifiable source naming this file as freely licensed under a Commons compatible license, we simply cannot host it on Commons.
[[Commons:Project scope/Precautionary principle|Unclear]] [[Commons:Copyright rules|copyright status]]. Unless we have definitive, ''explicit'' [[Commons:OTRS|written]] and/or textual, tangible [[Commons:Project scope/Evidence|evidence]] from a credible, verifiable [[Commons:Essential information#Source|source]] naming this file as freely licensed under a Commons [[Commons:Copyright tags|compatible]] license, we simply [[Commons:Project scope/Precautionary principle|cannot host]] it on Commons.
When to speedy
Delete vs. speedy delete..
Hi! It isn't necessary to start a deletion "discussion" if it is your own uploads that you want deleted. You can use "{{speedydelete|Reason}}" and an administrator will delete the image if the "Reason" is sensible. See COM:CSD for more info. Thank you again for your contributions to the project!
How to ask for undeletion
- When you think your image may have been deleted in error:
- → See the procedure at Commons:Undeletion requests to request review.
- → You may need to follow the Commons:OTRS process to provide a license for the file.
- → If OTRS is pending, use {{subst:OP}} as placeholder.
From here down is for my reference, although you may find it of interest
Commons policies, guidelines & licensing help
Editing help
Editor Handbook for Wikimedia Commons. HTML in Wikitext help page is very useful because it has links to the other help pages at the bottom.
Displaying templates
{{tld|cc-by-nc-sa-3.0}} = {{cc-by-nc-sa-3.0}} to put template in text.
Evidence
- See Commons:Project_scope/Evidence, because it is up to the uploader to provide information about the image, not other editors or admins.
Image Guidelines
- See COM:I for guidelines for featured pictures and for new quality images.
- See Commons:First steps/Quality and description for a handy description of how to make better images.
Categorizing
- See Commons:First steps/Sorting for an overview on what categories are, how to use them and how to find the categories into which to put your images, shortcut COM:FS/S
Identifiable people
- See COM:IDENT regarding images of identifiable people
Username Policy
- See Username policy for guidelines about permitted and non-permitted names.
What Commons is Not
Mops & Buckets Department
Read Licences aka "COM:L" for a complete understanding. Commons:Copyright rules by territory may assist in enlightenment, as may COM:HIRTLE.
License & copyright tags
- About PD files - general information
- PD-self tag
- {{PD-self}} - images made entirely by the user, not derivative works.
- PD-government tags
- {{PD-USGov}} - U.S. Government images
- {{PD-US-patent-no notice}} - PD U.S. Patent Images (read the specifics)
- All the rest can be seen at Category:PD-USGov license tags
- {{PD-CAGov}} - California government images
- {{PD-UN-doc}} The new UN tag.
- COM:ART = PD tags for Art.
- COM:PACUSA prior to 1978... etc. read whole page, also {{PD-US-no notice}}}}
- Template:PD-Art all the tags in one place, also see Category:PD Art
- Template:PD-ineligible for 2D old art
- Template:PD-scan for scans of 2D old art (Bridgeman) |Permission={{PD-scan|PD-US}}
- Template:PD-old-assumed ... read carefully - use sparingly.|Permission={{PD-old-assumed}}
- NOTE: Only works first published after 2002 or created after 1977 are life+70 in the US.
- For photographs of old works taken by yourself, use the appropriate one of the following …
- {{PD-old-100}} - for works by authors who died more than 100 years ago.
- {{PD-old-80}} - for works by authors who died more than 80 years ago.
- {{PD-old-75}} - for works by authors who died more than 75 years ago.
- {{PD-old-70}} - for works by authors who died more than 70 years ago.
- {{PD-old-auto-1923|deathyear=xxxx}} - for works in PD with author of known death year.
- {{PD-US}} - for U.S. works published before 1 January 1923
- {{PD-1923}} - for non-U.S. works published before 1 January 1923.
- {{PD-US-1978-89}} - for U.S. works between 1978 and 1989 without notice.[1]
- {{PD-1996}} - for works that are in the public domain in their source countries on 1 January 1996.
- {{PD-US-no-notice}} No copyright notice on piece from 1927 to 1977.
- See COM:ART for discussion of art tags. Use for old art and published works with caution.
- See Category:PD-Art_(PD-old_default) for all images with the old PD-ART tag... You can help fix these!
- Template:PD-textlogo for PD logo images that are all text. Page is helpful because it links to other PD-tags.
- PD-self tag
- COM:CB - copyright rules by subject matter
- COM:CUR - currency
- Commons:Stamps/Public domain - stamps
- COM:URAA - Complicated US law that restored copyrights in the U.S. on foreign works if that work was still copyrighted in the foreign source country on the URAA date
- Additional references
- COM:TAG and/or COM:HIRTLE - all tags.
- COM:LL regarding license laundering (aka Flickrwashing)
- COM:PRP, precautionary principle for all uploads.
Missing license, source or permission
Read Commons:Essential information about license and source.
For simple license missing cases - date fields autofill from these templates.
- {{subst:nsd}}, which gives {{no source since|month=__|day=__|year=__}}
- {{subst:nld}}, which gives {{no license|month=__|day=__|year=__}}
- {{subst:npd}}, which gives {{no permission since|month=__|day=__|year=__}}
- Put {{subst:image permission|File:filename.jpg}} template on user page.
- See here for admin housekeeping lists.
- Request COM:SD, "speedy deletion" with reason... example
- {{speedy|1=The image in this deletion request is a serious privacy violation.}}
- It's complicated, read all about it here COM:FOP.
- Use Template:Drfop if nominating an image for FOP.
Formatting
- {{w|Name of Wiki Page Exactly}} alternate format [[:en:Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles, California]]. Use this at top of commons pages to indicate page they go with on the English language Wikipedia.
- {{NRHP|0000034}} to identify National Register Properties by NRHP number.
- {{en|1=[[:Category:Locator maps of cities|Locator '''maps of cities''']] — within '''[[:Category:Orange County, California|Orange County]]'''}} and example for for Locator Maps of Cities Headers
- [[Category:Name| ]] Category sorting - blank puts in separate section
- [[Category:Name|Name]] Category sorting - blank puts in "N" section
- {{DEFAULTSORT:What gets sorted}} Category sorting - use for Defaultsort
Drama detector & Buzzword bingo card
To do
- Pending undeletion requests
- Category:Unidentified subjects
- Category:Images without source
- 41,377 (05/31/15) compared to *67,586 images (05/02/14), a reduction of 26,209 in one year! WTG! Reemmber Green Giant nailed over 9K images from a single book on one day.
- Keeps going up and down 08/09/15 ► Images without source (6 C, 42978 F)
- Category:Media needing categories requiring human attention
- Category:Files moved from en.wikipedia to Commons requiring review
- Category:Media missing permission
- Category:Commons maintenance content for admins
- Other - but more about process than specifics.
- Review Gallery. I put images here to go back to them again.
- User:Ellin_Beltz/Greetings -- Greetings without taking up piles of space on their talk pages!
- Category:Photographs by Ellin Beltz: Take more photos!!
Templates
... are hard to find !
- Commons:Message templates & Category:Message_templates & Category:User block templates
- Category:Barnstar award templates : Category:Wikimedia barnstars
Saving this one here, because unfortunately it gets used frequently.
{{warning|Please do not upload images taken from the Internet to Commons. Please read [[COM:L]] before making more uploads. ~~~~ }}
{{ich}}
 | If you are the copyright holder, please email our permissions verification team (VRT). | →  |
Statistics & abilities
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♥Commons:Database reports/Users by log action ♥Commons:List of administrators by recent activity ♥Commons:List of administrators by language ♥https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:CommonsAdministrator_topicon for icon list
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Is a file in use?
Click here and add file name [2].
Oh and by the way
{{unsigned|UserName}} will apply their unsig.
- This page shows who can do what.
PERSONAL HAPPY DANCE
Just once, I got the Copyright Violations page empty!! 10/08/19
Somedays you're the dog, others you're the car
My user page is available to be used without attribution by anyone else for deletion nomination/speedy purposes. 'Cuz really how many ways can you say some of this stuff?? Cheers!
- The Barnum Effect = Commons:Deletion requests/File:Forer.jpg
- Comment The naked truth and willful blindness do not surpass threshold of originality. Taivo 12:26, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
- Oh gee... Commons:Deletion requests/File:Dictionary through lens.JPG
- False negatives caused by keeping copyright violations are worse than deleting files which could have been hosted - because deletion is reversible. It is not a bad thing to err on the side of caution. If you disagree, at least convert speedies into Deletion Requests/Nominations and vote {{Vk}}.
User's favorite gallery Commons:Featured Kittens...
- Commons:Deletion requests/File:1887 Drawing of Collapsed Bridge.jpg A great resolution!
- Don't overlook the obvious.
- The last word on cosplay on this page - decision by Jim Woodward Commons:Deletion requests/File:Gforce- Ultraman and Ultraman (42219900).jpg
- Don't forget what-about-ism.
- retired Judge Frank Visser. "Dit is is mijn uitspraak en daar zult u het mee moeten doen."
- Thanks Natuur12