There is no denying that Commons does provide a significant service to other WMF projects, regardless of the definition and perception of what Commons is meant to be
What we keep coming back to are
- That when a file is deleted on Commons
if there is an option for it to be transferred to another project then we should be doing it, but this isnt happening automatically and very rarely manually.
- the reason being is Commons admins dont know they can,
- think that its not their responsibility to find out if there are alternative options
- arent language proficient to upload or seek help on other projects to ensure its a valid action
- When Commons does discuss the status of a file people who are using the file aren't necessarily being adequately made aware of the discussions
- there is no notification that causes watchlist activity on other projects when listing a file
- the first time they find out about the discussion is either a dead link in an article, or a bot edit removing the file link. This just creates a hostile environment before meaningful discussion starts which further worsened by being responded to with "take it to delreview if you dont like it"
- If a contributor from another WMF project does comment they feel as if they are being dismissed as an SPA, and not being heard because they arent active participants at Commons.
- unfortunately they also experience being bitten,
- discussion being tagged as not vote or some other "if you came from outside commons go away we'll deal with it"
What we need to be looking at is fixing this communication problem, both before a decision is reached to encourage input and after its occurred to ensure best possible outcomes for all parties. We have been here before and will continue to keep coming back to this until we take steps to improve communication which results in meaningful success when and where possible
One of the first things on Commons we could do is assume the deletion reason is valid ie URAA, fairuse etcso lets bypass Delreview and have a page for deleted file transfers requests. Where a simple request could be placed with just the file:name, destination, licensing on project and a tag to indicate it has been deleted on Commons and transferred on request with relevant links.
Additionally when bots remove the links to a deleted file they could place a boiler notice on the article talk page directing them to the discussion and that page so they can understand what has occurred and what they do next.
or we can........ suggestions, thoughts, speak up lets fix this and start discussing important things like which pub to meet at in London