[Cross-post to wikien-l, wikitech-l and mediawiki-l; apologies for duplication]

On 03/05/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all, The "Upload file" link in the left pane of monobook still takes you to the page for uploading an image to the English wikipedia. In most cases, it would be more helpful to be uploading the image to Commons (US fair use being the notable exception).

Since I notice that certain other wikipedias at least make a commons upload link equally prominent, is it time we considered removing the upload-to-EN link entirely, or hiding it somewhere for those that really do want to upload fair use images? And instead, provide a link to upload to commons?

Allow me to recall a #mediawiki anecdote from about a week ago. A user new to the software wanted to set up about three wikis using a fourth as a mini version of our Commons (their own implementation); the "usage" side had been established, but the user queried whether or not uploads from all wikis could be diverted to the new.

Given that the "slave" wikis would all have access to the "master" database (excuse the confusing mix of terminologies for those who are placing this into 'SQL context), I considered it wouldn't be too difficult.

Now for the relevant bit. It's been discussed before, a little, and I touched upon it in a recent discussion sparked off from the newbie's questions...but it could be feasible for us to replace our Special:Upload pages with something a bit more intelligent. Making use of the licencing dropdowns, we could, I think, redirect free images to Commons in a seamless fashion (after checking existence and providing a courteous note to the user, of course).

This has advantages and disadvantages. The user's upload experience is simple, and the image can be used as before without trouble. On the other hand, deliberate or accidental mis-selection of the licence [cw]ould result in an influx of non-free materials arriving on the Commons.

Nevertheless, I think the idea has potential, and it's something I might be interested in helping to hack together in the future. I'll throw it out here and see what people think. And since I'm at it, I'll cross-post to mediawiki-l and wikitech-l, too.

Rob Church