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This help desk is a forum for questions and help on:
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Anyone, from newbie to experienced, can ask a question here. Questions will be replied to here as well. Any answers you receive are not legal advice and the responder cannot be held liable for them.

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Categories, standardising, templates on similar or identical media

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I recently found a few files on here that depict the same thing, some with a template warning about its factual inaccurate, some without.


these images are all of the same concept, so in my view they should have the same disclaimer and be in the same category/categories. I will explain the situation below.

The files are

File:Palestine flag in Larousse 1934.png

File:Flag of Palestine (1924).svg

File:Flag of Jewish Palestine (1924).png

whereof the first (Larousse) includes an extensive description explaining the likely origin, and states that “all projects that use this file need to make this context clear”

It calls itself “own work” and links itself to the second example, while being a crop of another photograph (of a page in an old book) it references right under the second file.

The second file includes a template stating “the factual accuracy of this description or the file name is disputed” referring to a discussion on the talk page that appears to no longer exist.

This is followed by a template saying the flag is “fictitious, proposed, …” and includes in its description a similar or the same warning as in the first file. Also classed as own work, but acknowledges it includes elements taken from the first image.

It has a different copyright licence. (Public domain rather than CC)

The third firm is a png that appears very similar to the second file.

it however has no extended description, no caption or any templates referencing the potential issues with the file. It is also classed as “own work”.


On top of this divergence in descriptions, they also differ in their categories, which makes little sense to me since they seem to depict the same thing.

the first file is in categories:

Flags with one yellow six-pointed star (centered), Proposed flags of Israel, Proposed flags of Palestine, Zionist flags, Vertical bicolor blue and white flags, Historical flags of Palestine, Historical flags of Israel, Flags with the Star of David.

The second file is ALSO in the categories:

SVG special or fictional flags on top of the SVG flag subcategories corresponding to the four categories of “historical/Proposed flag of” mentioned above as well as the remaining categories mentioned above and “Blue and white flags of Israel”

(And several hidden categories)

Now the third/last flag is only in the category “Historical flags of Israel” when visibly it is almost indistinguishable from the second flag.

(and only in the hidden categories corresponding to its copyright licence/publishing)


In looking at these flags and categories, I also found several other flags in “Historical flags of Palestine” that appear to be the same, almost the same, or the same idea.


It seems to me that this entire thing needs to be reorganised. In general, the subject of Israeli/Palestinian historical flags seems very disorganised and at least somewhat inconsistent.

I am looking for some guidance on the policy here, to help me try to see what must be done/what I can do to make this all a bit better. I think also perhaps there should/could be a gallery on this subject. (If there isn’t already one)


PS: I also have another question related to these kinds of legal templates/notices that I placed yesterday. If someone could also look at that, that would be great.

Slomo666 (talk) 13:04, 11 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

  • @Slomo666: The license and (2014) date of File:Palestine flag in Larousse 1934.png are bogus. I'm not sure if anything there is copyrightable, but if it is, and if the 1933 date in the description is accurate, then it would be copyrighted in the U.S. through 31 December 2028 and should not be here. Otherwise, it should be {{PD-ineligible}}.
  • File:Flag of Palestine (1924).svg licensing is OK. The basic flag design is certainly below the TOO, and the SVG code is own work.
  • File:Flag of Jewish Palestine (1924).png licensing is probably overkill, because a PNG of this is ineligible: unlike the SVG, no code is involved. It could probably be changed to {{PD-ineligible}}.
  • As for the descriptions: the only thing really wrong with the descriptions in the first two is, "All projects that use this file need to make this context clear." No, really, they don't. We don't get to tell other projects what they "must" do.
  • File:Flag of Palestine (1924).svg has a {{Fact disputed}} tag saying to see the talk page, and nothing on the talk page. That doesn't seem to be of much use. The caveat, "This flag is fictitious, proposed, or unofficial, although it may look similar to an official flag. Such flags should usually not be used in articles, unless they are in widespread unofficial use," is accurate, up to a point, but since clearly this flag was in widespread unofficial use as a de facto flag of the Yishuv, it adds up to nothing.
  • The context provided on the first two could, of course, be copied to the third. - Jmabel ! talk 18:21, 11 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
    I don’t really want to get into a Dee discussion on this, but where do you see that this flag was in “widespread unofficial use as a de facto flag of the yishuv” ? Slomo666 (talk) 12:48, 19 March 2026 (UTC).Reply
    • I don't have anything citable. I'm pretty sure that I'd seen pictures of this flag over half a century ago in what were already at the time older magazines, etc., that my paternal grandparents had. I certainly don't have access to them now. Probably a worthwhile research topic for someone. Either way, {{Fact disputed}} with no clear statement of what is at issue is useless. - Jmabel ! talk 20:41, 19 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
      Wow, half a century. I can’t say I have memories going back that far ;). I believe you though. I think a good place to start looking would be the Israeli national library/archives as I think they have the largest collection on the history of the yishuv. Slomo666 (talk) 20:54, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
  • Similarly, you can always add more categories to any given file, as appropriate. - Jmabel ! talk 18:22, 11 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

importing tabular data from a spreadsheet

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At the bottom of c:Data:Mapping of national parties members of European parties to lower and upper houses.tab are a pair of buttons: Export to CSV and Export to Excel. I can click Export to Excel and save the file on a local drive and then edit the spreadsheet with Libre Office Calc and save the changes. Then back at commons, I click edit and there is a text box that has 'A .csv or .xlsx file to import' and a Select a file button. So I click the button, select my edited spreadsheet and the file name (without drive and path) appears in the text box at commons. Then nothing. I cannot edit that file name to add the drive and path to the filename. And even if I could, there is nothing to suggest what I should do next; no instructions, no load-this-file-into-the-editor button; nothing.

In the editor, there is a dropdown menu called 'Edittools'. Clicking that does nothing (no menu appears).

So the question is: does the spreadsheet-import work? If it does, how do I make it work for me?

Trappist the monk (talk) 14:23, 17 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I tried this for myself, and when I upload the file, the new data is automatically populated in JSON format in the edit box. I can view my changes by clicking "Show changes" at the bottom. This works for both CSV and Excel, but strangely only a CSV import updates the "sources" field at the top. Anon126 ( ) 00:35, 21 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks. I hadn't tried csv. I can import a csv file but not xlsx. Don't know if that is because the .xlsx file that Libre Office Calc creates is somehow unacceptable to the importer it not being a 'pure' Excel-created xlsx file.
Trappist the monk (talk) 16:38, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Problems with reading notifications

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Hello! I received a notification about winning the Wiki Science Competition 2025 in Kazakhstan. However, I am unable to open it. The message is not clickable. Игорь Улитин (talk) 14:21, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

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It seems that File:Alexander Hamilton (1931).webm wouldn't be public-domain until two years from now, since it was released in 1931, but it's marked as PD because of its authorship, rather than publication date. Seems incorrect. JohnSon12a (talk) 14:38, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

One year from now, actually, but I agree. No indication of any loss of copyright (e.g. through lack of renewal), so it would presumably have a year to go. I'll start a DR. - Jmabel ! talk 17:33, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks! JohnSon12a (talk) 13:44, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Where to ask for restoration?

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I'm a VRT agent. File:Kwame Baah ......jpg was deleted, but permission from the photographer was received in ticket 2026032210003179. Where do I request that it be restored so the permission can be added? ~Anachronist (talk) 17:26, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Anachronist: You could either contact a VRT member who is also an admin, or you could use Commons:Undeletion requests. I happen to be an admin, so I'll undelete it for you right now. Please add the ticket ASAP so that it does not just get deleted again. Thanks. - Jmabel ! talk 17:41, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks, I added the permission ticket and removed the deletion tag. ~Anachronist (talk) 18:38, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

i am trying to insert a picture in a wikipedia article

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i am trying to insert a picture in a wikipedia article, but no matter how i am doing it....it is not working Therussianbearfr0msiberia (talk) 03:46, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Not a matter for Commons. Please see w:Wikipedia:User groups § Confirmed and autoconfirmed accounts. Whyiseverythingalreadyused (t · c · he/him) 04:51, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Whyiseverythingalreadyused: it's not at all obvious to me why you referred this person to that particular page. It is unlikely to help them.
@Therussianbearfr0msiberia: I assume you mean the English-language Wikipedia (en-wiki), since that is the only one your global contributions say you've edited, but dthere are literally hundreds of Wikipedias in various languages, so it helps a lot to be specific.
  • Are you are having trouble uploading a picture, or adding a picture that has already been uploaded to a Wikipedia article?
  • If you are having trouble uploading, are you trying to upload via en:Wikipedia:File upload wizard, via Commons' Special:UploadWizard, or something else?
  • If you are having trouble adding a already uploaded picture to an article, could you be specific about what picture and what article?
Thanks. - Jmabel ! talk 05:29, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Jmabel: what I saw was that they had less than 10 edits on English Wikipedia and had thus not achieved autoconfirmed status, which a user needs to upload files there
I believe that's the why Whyiseverythingalreadyused (t · c · he/him) 05:37, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Whyiseverythingalreadyused: Then you should have said as much, rather than linking to a long and rather confusing section on an information page. But you also presumed that they were trying to upload, something that they did not say at any point in their question. - Jmabel ! talk 06:13, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Therussianbearfr0msiberia: you attempted to upload a very low resolution image as a new user, which was stopped by an automated filter. Also, based on the description the image is from World War II, but you have still claimed that it is your own work, taken in 2026 and licensed CC-BY-SA. For a historical image these claims seem very unlikely. You must provide accurate information about the images you upload. MKFI (talk) 07:46, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Dollywood

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Before I upload a photo of this building at Dollywood with a butterfly on the facade, I wanted to ask if this would be fall under COM:FOP US. The butterfly appears to be part of the building and not a sculpture. APK (talk) 05:36, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@APK: I know we have allowed things for Las Vegas casinos that seem to me to be analogous, but I'm honestly not sure, and I think you would do better to ask at COM:Village pump/Copyright than here at the general help desk. - Jmabel ! talk 05:31, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Placeholder images

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Moved to COM:VP/T#Placeholder images - Jmabel ! talk 05:34, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

how do i add my photo

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judoka Hassan Chakrani (talk) 09:47, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Hassan Chakrani: Which photo? Please read COM:SCOPE and COM:L. You can upload free pictures with an educational value with Special:UploadWizard. Yann (talk) 09:55, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
No, you don't seem to get to upload the kind of photo you're thinking of. At least not going by the content of w:en:User:Hassan Chakrani. Whyiseverythingalreadyused (t · c · he/him) 12:12, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Hassan Chakrani: Hi, and welcome. To upload your photo, see COM:FS. The best guide I have found for insertion of a photo is en:H:PIC.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:33, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

投稿の仕方を教えてください

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このウィキメディア・コモンズに投稿するのを 海翔だよー (talk) 21:16, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How do I submit something?
How do I submit something to Wikimedia Commons?
translator: Google Translate via   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 21:43, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@海翔だよー: こんにちは、ようこそ。COM:FS/jaをご覧ください。

Hi, and welcome. Please see COM:FS.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 21:43, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am having difficulties updating the information and musical biography

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I am having difficulties updating the information and musical biography of my band, including historical details and related content. I am not sure how to do it correctly according to Wikipedia’s guidelines. We are currently developing a project related to my latest book, and I need to have the Wikipedia article ready. As a musician, I hold the rights to my images, music, and artistic work. I would appreciate any guidance or assistance you can provide. Please contact me or help me understand the proper way to proceed. Mauriciomejia44 (talk) 21:51, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Mauriciomejia44:
  1. This is not Wikipedia. You are asking this question on Wikimedia Commons. We are a sister project of the English-language Wikipedia, but so are many other sites (including Wikipedias in several hundred other languages).
  2. Generally, you should not be writing about yourself in Wikipedia. See en:WP:COI and en:WP:AUTO. If there is already a Wikipedia article about you or your band, the latter has some very concrete information about what you may and may not do in terms of the content of that article. (If there is not, then about the only legitimate action you can take toward that end would be to submit a well-sourced request at the appropriate page under en:WP:Requested articles.)
If you have further questions about this, I suggest you ask them on the English-language Wikipedia, not here on Commons.- Jmabel ! talk 05:45, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

నేను చిత్రీకరించిన ఒకవీడియోని ఫోక్ లోర్ ఫోటోగ్రఫీలో పాల్గొనేందుకు అప్లోడ్ చేయడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తే అభ్యంతరం అని వస్తోంది. Mp4 ఫార్మాట్లో ఉన్నది తీసుకోవట్లేదు. దీనికి పరిష్కారం ఏమైనా ఉందా ? ఉంటే తెలియజేయగలరు

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నేను చిత్రీకరించిన ఒకవీడియోని ఫోక్ లోర్ ఫోటోగ్రఫీలో పాల్గొనేందుకు అప్లోడ్ చేయడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తే అభ్యంతరం అని వస్తోంది. Mp4 ఫార్మాట్లో ఉన్నది తీసుకోవట్లేదు. దీనికి పరిష్కారం ఏమైనా ఉందా ? ఉంటే తెలియజేయగలరు Suryajyothi Sampara (talk) 03:59, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Suryajyothi Sampara: You cannot directly upload MP4s to commons. https://video2commons.toolforge.org/ should be able to handle the conversion for you. - Jmabel ! talk 05:47, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
👍🏻ప్రయత్నించి చూస్తాను. జవాబు పంపినందుకు ధన్యవాదాలు 🙏🏻😊 Suryajyothi Sampara (talk) 16:06, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Finding similar images

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I have no idea where nor even quite how to ask this question. Is there a way to check commons for similar images? I found the image to the right by sheer luck tinkering with search terms, but am now wondering if we might possess a colour image of the figure on the right. It is a wooden statue head of an unknown princess of the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty that is held by the Cairo Museum/Egyptian Museum apparently in gallery 49 and its catalogue entry number is JE 39390. No idea if any of that information is useful. Mainly, do we have something like 'reverse image searching'? Mr rnddude (talk) 09:21, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

You can find it by using Google Lens and then selecting the figure on the right. See for example here. Wouter (talk) 16:27, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks, but that doesn't help me check if commons.wiki has any other images of the subject. Mr rnddude (talk) 21:18, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
I found out only in the last 48 hours that there is process under way to add International Standard Contents Codes (ISCCs) to files, with exactly this sort of purpose. But, no, we don't currently have a way to do this. I've had some back-and-forth with Ainali at User talk:AinaliBot#International Standard Contents Code; someone else would be very welcome to pick up the thread there and start creating some useful documentation of the intent of this. - Jmabel ! talk 23:41, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Demo from from the hackathon two weeks ago.
There are some demo tools available that could help with this. However, just a fraction of the images on Commons have a perceptual hash yet so it's unlikely it will find something now. In the video to the right, I show how it could help during upload, but we could of course imagine setting up tools to use on request as well. Ainali (talk) 07:40, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How do I upload someone else's photography found on a blog post on a forum as an image to Wikimedia Commons?

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trying to add an image of the rear view of a car to an article about the car and the front view picture found in the article is from the exact same source as the rear view picture but I can't upload it to Wikimedia Commons as you can't upload someone else's work Parespeare (talk) 13:31, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Uploading the work of others is permitted on Commons if the copyright licence is compatible — see Commons:Licensing for details.
As an example I have uploaded photographs taken by other people which were published on Flickr undr a Creative Commons licence. -=# Amos E Wolfe talk #=- 13:47, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
You need to know the copyright resrtictions of the other photographer's work. First of all check if the copyright restrictions have been published alongside the photograph.
If the photograph has was as "copyleft" or "Creative Commons", it is OK to copy it, giving credit where credit is due. If there are no published restrictions, then copyright is automatic and you need to contct the original photographer to get a waiver. I did that with this image. The permissions box in the image description has the relevant links. Note that in this case the Meccano modeller owned the copyright of the design but I owned the copyright of the phtograph. Both sets of copywirght were waived. Martinvl (talk) 14:30, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Which image? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How do you enable "show old versions" by default?

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I'd rather have this feature always on. Is there any way to do this? Thanks, CutlassCiera 14:51, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

File disappeared

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After uploading the file File:Linke Seite der Gletscherzunge des Unteraargletschers – Gletscherbach (Teil der Aare) – Triftbach – Rothoren.jpg i cannot use it and receive the message «No file by this name exists, but you can upload it. If a file used to exist, try to purge this page's cache». Arkelin (talk) 21:34, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Try to re-upload it. --Túrelio (talk) 21:42, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Arkelin, it seems it is working for me, I can see the image in the file page. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 21:53, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How to merge two categories?

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Category:Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau and Category:长沙市公安局 cover the exact same topic; the same also applies for Category:Changsha and Category:长沙市

May I ask if someone could merge the categories for me please? Thehistorianisaac (talk) 02:11, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Thehistorianisaac Done, I have redirected the categories with Chinese names to their equivalent with English names. Thanks. Tvpuppy (talk) 02:15, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thank you! Thehistorianisaac (talk) 02:16, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

photo editing

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i will like to edit some of my recent uploads, how can i do that? ODC-SIERRA-LEONE (talk) 11:21, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ODC-SIERRA-LEONE: Hi, There is no online image editing possibility on Wikimedia Commons. You have to do that locally (e.g. with Gimp for pictures), or you can request help at Commons:Graphic Lab. Regards, Yann (talk) 15:11, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
This is well noted thank you. ODC-SIERRA-LEONE (talk) 10:30, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
COM:CROPTOOL exists. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:33, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@ODC-SIERRA-LEONE: also, in case it is not clear, you can overwrite your own upload by using "Upload a new version of this file" on the file page. Just make sure that what you upload is another version of the same work (e.g. not a different photo of the same subject). - Jmabel ! talk 04:23, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
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Good afternoon,

I have already received this notice and do not know how to figure out this issue. Please, would you help me in this matter.

Thank you very much in advance. PPIOJOSE2025! (talk) 13:35, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@PPIOJOSE2025: Hi, You have apparently uploaded documents which are not made by you, and which are not under a free license or in the public domain. Please do not do that again, or you will be blocked. Please read COM:L. Thanks, Yann (talk) 15:09, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

About fair usage of photo

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Hello! I am writing to ask for permission to use the cover image of Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album on Wikipedia. The image would be used in the article about the album for informational and educational purposes. Wikipedia is a free, non-commercial encyclopedia, and the image would be used in a limited, low-resolution format with proper credit. If possible, permission to use the image under a suitable license (or confirmation of its use under fair use conditions) would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you require any additional details. Thank you for your time and consideration. Andria Gagua (talk) 17:35, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Andria Gagua: Adding a fair use image to a Wikipedia article has nothing to do with Commons; such an image would be hosted at Wikipedia. Commons doesn't host fair use images at all.
If you're talking about the English Wikipedia, you should go through the en:Wikipedia:File upload wizard there. Other language projects vary about whether they allow fair use. Belbury (talk) 18:25, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Changing a picture

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I’d like to get a picture changed in an article. How do I go about doing that? Davidlarson1234 (talk) 19:26, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

You mean an article in English Wikipedia? Ruslik (talk) 20:09, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Yes. The picture on this page. en:Gelbvieh
long story but this picture makes a very bad impression and I could provide a much better one Davidlarson1234 (talk) 20:29, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Davidlarson1234: Hi, and welcome. You may upload photos like File:Gelbvieh.jpg and File:Black Gelbvieh cow and Calf.jpg with different names, then follow en:H:PIC to use them on that page after discussion on en:Talk:Gelbvieh. You may have a different discussion with the editors of d:Q1422464. Please use internal links like en:Gelbvieh. See also Category:Gelbvieh.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 21:41, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Davidlarson1234: Just curious as to why you think File:Gelbvieh.jpg gives off a bad impression of en:Gelbvieh. Is the photo of another breed of cattle? As someone not very familiar with different cattle breeds, the photo looks OK to me. Is there some technical reason why the photo is bad? The photo seems to be being used with out issue by several different Wikimedia Foundation projects; so, it's not clear why a change is needed. Of course, if you're able to provide a better photo, then please do; however, it's not a guarantee that all the projects using the current one will automatically agree to switch to a new photo, absent a really compelling reason to do so. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:23, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Marchjuly: FYI, the use for many projects would be all-or-nothing, given that d:Q1422464 uses that photo.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:28, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Tool for finding files in a category used in a specific wiki

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Hi! I'd like to find all charts from Our World in Data that are used in the Spanish Wikipedia. Is there any tool that will list all files in a category (such as Category:Our World in Data, and ideally subcategories) that are currently being used in a specific wiki (such as eswiki)? Thanks! Sophivorus (talk) 11:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

License for third-party logos not officially available on the internet

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I'd like to replace the logo for the learning app "Anton" within this page with a higher resolution PNG version with less padding: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_(Lernsoftware)

However, I can't upload the file as it's not my work. The currently uploaded version is marked as 'own work' by JiaqiDerKrasse - which is most likely wrong as well (EDIT: I just looked at their discussion page, they have uploaded a lot of logos that have been deleted because they were marked as 'own work'). There is also no version of this logo hosted on their own domain, as it is rendered with an animation on pageload.

What's the correct procedure here? Fortnitespieler (talk) 12:28, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Fortnitespieler: The logo used there is File:ANTON Logo.jpg, which has quite a bit of padding. I tagged it as needing permission.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:40, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
That's {{PD-ineligible}}. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:30, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
I've cropped it for you: File:ANTON Logo (cropped).jpg. I agree that it is certainly not eligible for copyright. - Jmabel ! talk 17:44, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

ACCOUNT DELETION

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I want my account and data deleted asap! Nikolajcl (talk) 14:18, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Nikolajcl: Sorry, we don't delete accounts. However, you may visit m:RTV#How to request a vanishing and read carefully.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:30, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

About watermark

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can we add watermark or logo? Mahasweta.A (talk) 14:24, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Mahasweta.A: Hi, and welcome. Please consider not doing so per COM:WATERMARK, and especially not doing so via overwriting per COM:OW and Commons:Village pump/Proposals/Archive/2023/08#Limit file overwriting to users with autopatrol rights.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:33, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Can i upload a picture of a murder victim from a news article?

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Hi! I’m working on an article about a murder and I was wondering, can I upload a photo of the victim from a reliable news source? Lemonadeyogurt (talk) 14:41, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Lemonadeyogurt: Hi, and welcome. Do you have permission from the copyright holder that is free enough for us per COM:L?   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:46, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Hi! I don't know! Let me check! I'm new to this! I know that the photos I'm using are from CBS News, and ABC News if that helps! Lemonadeyogurt (talk) 14:56, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Lemonadeyogurt: It helps me to determine that you would benefit from reading COM:NETC.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 15:15, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
OK, that would mean that these images are copyrighted by the news photographers. Thus, they aren't suitable for Commons - it's highly improbable that a photographer working for AP, Reuters or a freelancer selling their images to CBS etc. will grant a free license. If you're writing on the English Wikipedia, you may fall back upon their local unfree media rules: en:WP:NONFREE. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 15:16, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

painting

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I have painted a portrait of head and shoulders froma full length portrait by Henry willioam Pickersgill who died over 151 years ago. the face is different to his portrait but she is wearing similar clothes.. can i put it on wikicommons? Aehtnas (talk) 00:34, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Aehtnas: Hi, and welcome. Whose face did you use?   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 02:04, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Why would it be in scope? - Jmabel ! talk 04:51, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Museum exhibit question

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I have pictures of an exibit's language and the title of the exhibit from the MILA in Lima, Peru. Would these be ok to add to show that Mariotti's work was in this exhibit? LoveElectronicLiterature (talk) 13:24, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@LoveElectronicLiterature: You normally show a fact by a citation, not by uploading a photo.
If it is just text, and not enough text to be copyrightable, then the sign itself would be {{PD-ineligible}}; depending on what else your own photo incorporates, it could be either derivative of someone else's copyrighted work (so not eligible for Commons) or you photo might also contain content you can copyright and upload under one of the usual licenses. - Jmabel ! talk 16:18, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

please send me photo clear

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this photo very important my life @ ASHANUL HAQUE SHIKHON (talk) 10:20, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

sir I cannot send this photo

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how to send this photo you sent me clear photo you and send me ASHANUL HAQUE SHIKHON (talk) 10:25, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ASHANUL HAQUE SHIKHON: Which of our 137+ million files?   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:01, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Metadata issues with AMNH books from Internet Archive

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Noticed issues that I don't know what to do with, so I'm sticking them here for somebody to look at who hopefully knows more than I do.

The category name at Category:General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History (1911) contains the year 1911, and most of the images in it are marked 1911 in their filenames and metadata, but most of those images are actually from 1927, 1939, or 1945. For example, the 1927 images are derived from the book "generalguide27amer" on the Internet Archive, which is marked 1911 in the Internet Archive's metadata, but if you look at the first page of the scan, the book is from 1927. The Internet Archive seems to have ingested these AMNH guides from the Biodiversity Library, which has a directory where you can download guides from different years, starting in 1911, so I figure that's where the incorrect date came from. Seems like the category should be renamed, the images should be renamed, and the image metadata should be updated?

Most of the images in the category at Category:Internet Archive document scienceguide7692amer are marked 1901 in their filenames and metadata, but most of those images are from between 1910-1943. They're derived from this book on the Internet Archive, which is marked 1901. That book seems to have been ingested from this directory in the Biodiversity Library, which offers books from between 1901 and 1948. So, again, it seems like the Internet Archive grabbed the first date instead of the accurate date.

Guessing that if those two sets of images from the AMNH have this type of issue, there are more as well.

The good thing is that the Biodiversity Library pages indicate that it thinks both sets of documents are in the public domain, so hopefully the license tags are still generally valid despite the later dates. Dreamyshade (talk) 19:54, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

FWIW, this sort of thing happens with some frequency. One of the banes of mass uploads. - Jmabel ! talk 23:07, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
And, yes, it would be good for someone to sort it all out: set dates correctly, set up and use appropriate categories, fix misleading filenames, and put appropriate licenses on things ({{PD-US-expired}} for anything 1930 or earlier; hopefully {{PD-US-not renewed}} for the rest, though that will take some checking). That list of tasks is probably not exhaustive. Also, if anything post 1930 turns out to be still in copyright, we want to set up DRs that can be added to categories like Category:Undelete in 2029 for 1933 materials, so that we can easily undelete them in the appropriate year. Best to categorize & rename before DR'ing, because years from now when we undelete, someone will have trouble getting back to the context.
@Dreamyshade: any interest in taking this on? who uploaded these is long gone from Commons.
Whoever takes these on, once these are categorized by year (I know, I'm making an assumption there), if there are mass renames to be done on the category for any given year, you can hit me up to do those. - Jmabel ! talk 23:17, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks! I improved the metadata for a few images that I'm working with, but the whole thing is more than I'm up for figuring out. The copyright status may be complicated for some of the post-1930 materials in the "scienceguide7692amer" category - some of those leaflets were reprinted versions of articles from Natural History Magazine, which has renewed some of its copyrights. Dreamyshade (talk) 23:29, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Dreamyshade: do you see any straightforward way to determine which images were published in which year? I'd hate to lose a ton of images from 1930 and earlier just because we could not be sure of the date. - Jmabel ! talk 01:53, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Jmabel Yes, most of the images should show evidence of their publication date if you click the "view book online" link in the description and scroll up to the nearest title page. For example, picking File:Guide leaflet (1901) (14581928588).jpg randomly: if I click through to the book, it's on page 89 of a publication; if I scroll up to page 1, it says it was published in February 1935. I don't think that the post-1930 images should be bumped off Commons just because of the date though - would need more research about copyright notices, registration, renewals, etc. Dreamyshade (talk) 02:11, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Yecch, so a couple of hundred images need this hand-checked for dates, nothing that can be automated. - Jmabel ! talk 02:36, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
I'll at least get started on sorting it out. - Jmabel ! talk 19:04, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Looks like I'm able to automate enough of the process to keep it sane. So far, Category:General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History (1911) remains a bit of a catchall, and I believe none of those pages are actually from 1911. Category:General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History (1927) should all be fine. @Dreamyshade: , could I ask you to look into the renewal status for Category:General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History (1934)? If that was renewed, then for the volume as a whole and for any pictures where we can't show a pre-1931 publication date or reason for loss of copyright, we'd have to delete those and undelete in 2030.
I'm about to go do other stuff IRL, but I'll get back to this. Sadly, it looks like a lot of this is 1945, so it might be over a decade until most of this will be out of copyright. - Jmabel ! talk 19:55, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Jmabel Thanks for chipping away at this! I don't see a copyright notice on the 1934 exhibition hall guide, so according to Commons:Hirtle chart it seems to fit {{PD-US-no notice}}. The 1945 exhibition guide does have a copyright notice, but I don't know how to check if the copyright was renewed - I can't find the series of exhibition hall guides on that website where I found the Natural History Magazine information. Dreamyshade (talk) 20:53, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Jmabel Also not seeing a copyright notice on the 1939 guide, which looks to be the source of about half of the remaining files in the "1911" category (based on a search for the keyword "generalguide39amer").
I stuck the "1911" category into https://glamtools.toolforge.org/glamorous/ to see what's in use on articles, and if I did this correctly, it looks like the only 1945 images in use are: gorilla on user pages, ruby on 2 articles, rhino on 1 article, coracle on 1 article, and house on 1 article. So it shouldn't be too disruptive to delete the 1945 images if we need to. Dreamyshade (talk) 21:10, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Good news: 1945 was not renewed, so Category:General guide to the exhibition halls of the American Museum of Natural History (1945) are all good, too. So all salvaged. Tedious, but done. - Jmabel ! talk 01:38, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Jmabel That's great, thank you! Would be nice to mass-update the filenames to remove or replace those incorrect dates, but I don't know how to do that, and seems like the category at Category:Internet Archive document scienceguide7692amer is a separate problem that will need manual effort, but good progress in any case. Dreamyshade (talk) 04:33, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Dreamyshade: sorry, I did that for the first couple of categories, but forgot for the rest, I'll do that now. (It's mostly done with a tool, but it's not fast to run.) - Jmabel ! talk 04:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Resolved
I think that this question was replied to adequately based on the supplied information. If you have anything to add or a follow-up question please feel free to replace this box with your comment. This section will be archived after two days. Jmabel ! talk Jmabel ! talk 04:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Bot for recategorising images

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I have moved this category, Category:St Mary's church, Chartham to here, Category:St Mary's Church, Chartham, capitalising Church. Is there a bot that can now recategorise the 57 individual images automatically, or do I have to do this manually? Thanks and regards. KJP1 (talk) 04:35, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

✓ Done See Commons:Cat-a-lot. —Justin (koavf)TCM 05:33, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Pictures of historical microscopes

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Hi, I've seen that the Wikipedia page for Prior Scientific is lacking some pictures. I work for the company and recently came across some photos of old instruments that Wikipedia users might find interesting and that would give more depth to the page. None of the instruments is currently available so there is absolutely no promotional purpose to them! Since I wasn't even born when some of the pictures were taken and definitely didn't work for the company, I can't say that I produced them. How should I proceed to upload them to the commons? SLawrence PS (talk) 14:52, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@SLawrence PS: Hi, and welcome. Someone in a legal position to release copyrights for the company could read and follow VRT, carbon copying you on the resulting email message to keep you in the loop if you are not in a position to do that yourself.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 15:49, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@SLawrence PS: Prior Scientific are still around, so if they own the copyrights, it should not be hard to work out who to approach. Before you approach them, though, have a look at COM:THIRD, especially COM:THIRD#What not to do. - Jmabel ! talk 17:47, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

downloading a photo

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Hi, I'd like to simply download two or three photos. How do I do that? Seanoconn7 (talk) 16:26, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Seanoconn7: Hi, and welcome. You should be able to right click (or long tap) on the "Original file" link, or any "Date/Time" link in the "File history" section, of any file description page to save such link as a file using your browser. You may also left click (or tap) on such a link (or use the "File URL" field from the "Download" link) to display the file full-sized in your browser, possibly crash your browser if the file is too large, and if not save as a file from there.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 16:46, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Posting images I inherited from a deceased parent

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Can I upload photographs taken by my late father? I was his only heir and inherited his entire estate, including a large quantity of original photographic prints and 35mm slides and negatives, which I have digitally scanned. The pictures are mostly from the 1950s-1990s, and I think some of them would make good contributions to existing Wikipedia pages. Nicky Mono (talk) 21:57, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Strictly speaking, inheritance law varies by location in the United States. For instance, my dad died intestate (i.e. without a will) in Indiana, and what I was entitled to as his only son is different than what it would have been in other states. Based on what you've written above and my not-a-lawyer/this-is-not-legal-advice perspective, you probably are the person who owns the copyright and you could probably choose to relicense them however you want, assuming that there aren't prior restraints, like if he took photos as work for hire when contracted or if he for some reason already released them under a certain license that is incompatible with relicensing. (Those are pretty unlikely.) —Justin (koavf)TCM 22:53, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Nicky Mono: looks quite safe. Make sure you identify you father as the author, rather than call it "own work." The appropriate way to license these when you upload would be either {{Cc-by-sa-4.0-heirs}}, {{Cc-by-4.0-heirs}} or {{Cc-zero-heirs}}, depending which license you prefer to offer. I personally recommend against CC-zero: if circumstances dictate, you can always grant someone permission to use a photo without mentioning you, but once you sign it away in general you can never get it back. Also, you probably should give some thought to what you want as the attribution. - Jmabel ! talk 00:41, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Ошибка на вашем сайте, на предыдущей странице.

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Здравствуйте! Пытаюсь этим вечером загрузить свою работу.. Обнаружил ошибку на странице загрузки.(там ещё картинки прикольные на странице загрузки) Можно убрать слова: "добросовестное использование на Википедии запрещено". Dmitryts2015 (talk) 18:10, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Dmitryts2015: Здравствуйте и добро пожаловать. Где это находится, если быть точным?
Hi, and welcome. Where is this, exactly?   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 21:14, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
In particular, we have multiple upload tools, so "странице загрузки" is a bit confusing. So is "Википедии" being mentioned anywhere on this site: this is Wikimedia Commons, not Wikipedia.
Could a native or otherwise fluent Russian speaker please help out here? - Jmabel ! talk 00:48, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
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Hello. I am currently trying to sort out an issue regarding an image of a minifigure on a page about a Lego character. I took a photo of a minifigure of the character, but I was wondering if it is still a free license image, because the character itself, its parent franchise, and the Lego minifigure as a whole are copyrighted. Can that be uploaded to Wikipedia or no? Blubewwy (talk) 22:41, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Blubewwy: That depends on the Wikipedia. For English, see en:WP:NFC.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 22:43, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply
Possibly more to the point, it cannot be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, the site on which you are asking this.
Also, Jeff is presuming that when you said "Wikipedia" you meant the English-language Wikipedia. Each of the Wikipedia's in different languages has its own rules. - Jmabel ! talk 00:43, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

speedy delete marca de agua imagenes de hoy 31 de marzo

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buenas noches por favor como pueden arreglar mi problema subí fotos hoy del concurso, pero tienen marca de agua sin darme cuenta, por favor si podrían solucionar ese problema o vuelvo a subirlas sin marga de agua la imagen. Gracias. Fede Tolay (talk) 23:46, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Good evening, please, how can you fix my problem? I uploaded photos today from the contest, but they have a watermark without me realizing it. Please, if you could solve this problem or I will re-upload them without the watermark on the image.
translator: Bing - Alexis Jazz ping plz 00:37, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
Fede Tolay, it would be best if you could overwrite the images. - Alexis Jazz ping plz 00:42, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

How to delete a picture?

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I uploaded a picture but it was not the one I was supposed to upload. How can I delete it and upload the correct one? :( Caeleal (talk) 01:08, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Caeleal, hello! You can request speedy deletion under G7 section: Commons:Criteria for speedy deletion. Deltaspace42 (talk) 14:42, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Caeleal: Hi, and welcome. If the file name and file description pages match what you wanted to upload, overwriting may be a better option. The note at COM:OW states "A file can be overwritten by any user with an account older than 4 days from the file's file description page using the Upload a new version of this file link below the File history; or via Special:Upload. Special:Upload provides two warning messages when overwriting an existing file – MediaWiki:UploadFormPreviewOverwriteError and MediaWiki:Fileexists (see also Phab:T41344). The UploadWizard does not allow overwriting of files."   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 14:47, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Caeleal and Jeff G.: speaking as an admin, I'd rather they did {{SD|G7}}. If they overwrite with an unrelated file, it is likely to create some confusion down the line, especially because that implies that the license they offered also applies to the accidentally uploaded file, which some other user could then place under a different filename, probably not a desired result. - Jmabel ! talk 19:29, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have permission

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The photo I'm trying to upload is from a person who has given me express permission to use the particular picture I'm attempting to upload. Why does it keep getting flagged? AshleyLHunt (talk) 16:59, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

@AshleyLHunt: "has given me express permission" is very vague, and does not amount to a license.
I'm not sure exactly what is happening, since "getting flagged" is also vague, but have you read Commons:Uploading works by a third party? I strongly recommend you do so. - Jmabel ! talk 19:32, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Files deletion

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Hello, request any admin to delete these files for me: Commons:Deletion requests/File:9th Malleshwaram Kadalekai Parishe, Bangalore (2025) 217.jpg
--Gpkp (talk) 18:41, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Unless I'm missing something, none of these were uploaded in the last week, so this is handled as just a normal DR. I don't see any emergency here, and I'm not even sure that some of these should be deleted. - Jmabel ! talk 19:35, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
ok thank you @Jmabel: . --Gpkp (talk) 05:57, 2 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Editorial Use Only liscensing

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I read the FAQ page and Commons:What Commons is not but I didn't see an answer so I will ask for help here.

I don't see a licensing for Editorial Use Only and when I choose to add a custom licensing it is saying that there is no licensing template for this so what should I put otherwise? Darrrrmilk (talk) 23:40, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Nothing, Darrrrmilk. A permission "For editorial use only" is not free enough for Commons and such files are not permitted here, see also Commons:Uploading works by a third party#Is the content you want to upload already free-licensed or in the public domain? Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 00:00, 2 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have express permission

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At the book signing and re-launching at 2026 Philippine Book Fair, I personally took pictures of the Philippines' greatest rapper of all times w:en:Gloc-9 (Aristotle Pollisco). I personally asked him about the book cover since I became interested in this book among others being sold by him at his booth. He said he made and created it, as illustrator. He granted me permission to take photos of himself holding the book https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Condenuevo_Pollisco_Gloc-9_book_launched.jpg and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Condenuevo_Pollisco_Gloc-9_book_raised.jpg. My query is: are these 2 photos free? Or do they violate the Derivative works (the book cover of w:en:Gloc-9 (Aristotle Pollisco)'s Mga Tula ni Aristotle Pollisco. The book cover isn't incidental in any of these two uploads). Parenthetically, before the book signing, several buyers of his book took photos of themselves holding the book (there is no question this is not free). Let me refer to the renowned historian https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambeth_Raymundo_Ocampo_latest_book.jpg Ambeth Ocampo who permitted me also to take picture of himself with the inside title, not book cover (this is free, anyway). The reason I asked with Commons held desk is that there is a pending deletion request Commons:Deletion requests/Files uploaded by P1898, and after research on Commons:Derivative works, I am still unable to find a clear answer. So please enlighten us on this, thank you.P1898 (talk) 09:09, 2 April 2026 (UTC).Reply

I want to change the authorship of the photo, since I am the real author. For some reason, a local university professor is listed as the author; a folder with her initials was stored on the smartphone along with the photo. Firsur (talk) 11:19, 2 April 2026 (UTC)Reply