(CC to commons-l)
Ant-
* wikimedia projects do not respect the license by not
always
displaying clearly that images uploaded on wikicommons are under gfdl
nor by mentionning authorship on the local projects
In MediaWiki 1.5, a backlink to the Commons is automatically inserted.
In 1.4, this was not the case, and it had to be manually put into the
MediaWiki: message - some wikis therefore still lack the backlink. This
will be fixed once 1.5 goes live, but can also be fixed by any sysop on
the project in question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Sharedupload is a good example to
use for this.
You are correct that image license information should be displayed
directly on the image description page. This is likely to happen soon.
* wikicommons does not provide a link to where the
images are used, so
do not allow editors to check whether the way images are used are
following legal requirements or not
Unfortunately, that is correct. Alongside automatic transclusion of
image information pages, an EXTLINKS table on the Wikicommons might be
used to store usage information. A quick hack using absolute URLs might
be sufficient for now.
* uploading images unfortunately takes time, even more
on wikicommons
where issues of duplicate in names begin to appear
It is generally a good idea to make a name unique, for example, by
adding your username at the end. No matter how large a wiki is, a
filename like [[Image:Flower.jpg]] is simply not unique enough. Still,
there are ways to improve the handling of the situation, for example, by
providing an "Alternative filename" input box when a filename already
exists.
* wikicommons is in english only, hence limiting
access to those non
english speaking
That is not a fair comment. The Main Page alone has been translated into
over 30 languages. For gallery page titles, a carefully thought out
policy is used (e.g., use native names for specialty foods, use latin
binomial for animals and plants). The interface language of the wiki can
be selected in the user preferences. Templates have been created to show
what languages a user speaks and are actively used. Filenames are
accepted in all languages. The main problem is with categories, which
are, unfortunately, not easily internationalizable due to redirects from
one cat to another not working -- a technological problem.
* wikinews does not allow uploading images, hence
preventing the easy
use of images to non english speakers (since they can not easily
manage wikicommons)
I do not see how limiting Wikinews to the Commons excludes non-English
speakers, see above, though certainly it is a little more difficult. As
you know, this is strictly for legal reasons until the fair use
situation has been sorted out:
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-February/002217.html
This procedure has been directly approved by Jimmy.
The more time goes by, the less motivating it is to
provide images imho.
Personally, I find it more motivating to upload images now, because
thanks to the Wikimedia Commons, I know that anyone on any project can
easily use them. I agree with you that certain functionality would be
useful and fun. I've only ever pledged to implement the baseline
functionality for the Commons, which I have done. I'll try to find time
to add some of the above discussed features, but frankly, coding and
testing a new feature is not a lot of fun, and as I've said before,
until the WMF goes into the habit of handing out development contracts,
projects like Wikinews and Wikicommons will stagnate technologically.
All of the above, plus more, could be fixed with a few strategic
investments in developer resources. Single login alone would greatly
increase cross-project usability, as language preferences could be
persistent, and you could easily upload files directly from a local wiki
to the Commons.
As an elected Board member, you have the power to speed up the pace of
innovation. I have offered many times to help with that. A handful of
active developers will *NOT* be able to keep up with the needs of
thousands of users.
All best,
Erik