The Whelming

Wikimedia Commons is a great project. Over 21 million freely licensed files speak a clear language. But, like all projects of such a magnitude, there are some issues that somewhat dampen the joy. The major source of conflict is the duality of Commons: on one hand, it is a stand-alone repository of free files; on the other hand, it is the central repository for files used on many other projects of the Wikimedia family, first and foremost Wikipedia. Some Wikipedias, the Spanish one for example, have completely deactivated local file storage and rely completely on Commons; others prefer Commons, but keep local file storage around for special cases, like the “fair use” files on English Wikipedia, and “Freedom of Panorama” images on German Wikipedia.

The interface on the deletion page.

Commons admins (myself among them, albeit more in a technical capacity) want the keep Commons “clean”, and remove non-free images. While this is only proper, it can lead to issues with the projects depending on Commons, when files that are used e.g. on Wikipedia get deleted on Commons. The issue becomes aggravated if the deletion appears to be “overzealous”; some admins interpret “only free images” as “there must not be a shadow of a doubt”. When files that are very likely to be free, and will (in all likelihood) never see a takedown notice from a third party, are deleted because of a vague feeling of unease, and thus vanish from a dozen Wikipedias without warning, it is bound to raise the ire of someone. Yet, Commons admins do have a point when they want to keep their project in excellent legal shape, no matter the consequences.

One of my most popular tools is the CommonsHelper, which helps to transfer suitable images from other projects to Commons. Today, I try to at least reduce the impact of happy-trigger-finger file deletions on Commons by throwing some tech at the admins there: I present ExCommons. It is a small JavaScript that reverses the direction of CommonsHelper: It can transfer files from Commons to other Wikimedia projects, using OAuth.

This is what an “evacuated” file looks like.

It presents as a list of projects that use the file; the list automatically loads on the special page for deletion (Commons admins can try it here; but don’t actually delete the image!).

• Sites that use the file in one or more articles are marked in bold; other sites use the file in other namespaces, where a loss might not be as critical
• Sites that are known to have local upload disabled are shown but unavailable
• Sites that are known to allow a wider range of files and use the file in an article are automatically checked; others can be checked manually

If you have authorized OAuth file upload, you can click the “Copy file to selected wikis” button, and the tool will attempt to copy the file there. The upload will be done under your user name. A Commons deletion template will be removed to avoid confusion; a {{From Commons}} template will be added. I created that template for the English Wikipedia; it states that the file was deleted on Commons, that it might not be suitable on en.wp either, it has a No-Commons template to prevent re-uploading, a category for tracking etc.

For this tool to be permanently enabled, add the line

importScript('MediaWiki:ExCommons.js') ;

to your common.js page.

This tool should allow Commons admins to quickly and painlessly “rescue” files to Wikipedias that use them, prior to their deletion on Commons. It is said that social problems cannot be fixed by technology; but sometimes they can be alleviated.