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Just FYI, there's still my Tasks extension waiting in the wings, eh, SVN. Among several other functions, it could easily be adapted to add a "review" task to each uploaded file. Tasks can be automatiically listed by date, oldest first. They can (depending on their type) be displayed in the sidebar and/or as a prominent text of the pages they are assigned to.
For clarification, this is /not/ a {{{template tag}}. The tasks have their own separate database table, and do not alter page texts. It is possible to set the "review" task type so it can be removed by admins only.
This would IMHO help organizing the checking efforts, as * Images are clearly and automatically labeled as "in need of review" * No messing with categories and templates * No duplicated effort - if you review an image, and think it is OK, just close the task, and it will disappear from the list
There are lots of "neat" things associated with the task extension; each task gets its own talk page, if needed; tasks can be assigned to a specific person, and assigned tasks can be hidden from the "to do" list; task lists can also be filtered by categories of their pages (this includes subcategories); etc.
I originally wrote this to lessen the mess on Wikipedia, and to ease the creation of articles by anons (everyone may add a "create" task for a non-existing topic; the task would be closed automatically when the article is created). Likewise, "deletion" tasks would have their own talk page (less mess), and be closed automatically once the article is deleted.
Maybe that extension could find a new home at commons. Just a thought.
Magnus