Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

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Less images being uploaded

Why are less images being uploaded today? It wasn't like that from 2006 to 2009, many images were uploaded at that time period. Is there a reason why the image uploads declined after that period of time? MJGTMKME123 (talk) 21:49, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly because images to suit many purposes have already been uploaded, making new ones unnecessary? AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:53, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Okay but, why can't we upload new images that replace the old ones? MJGTMKME123 (talk) 21:54, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing preventing appropriate and policy-compliant images from being uploaded. As to when it is appropriate to replace an existing image with a new one, that will depend on the specifics: newer isn't necessarily better. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:57, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What is the criteria that determines if an existing image should be replaced with a newer and less outdated version? MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:00, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If someone finds it worth uploading in each particular instance? I have very little clue what sort of general rule you'd expect there to be. Remsense ‥ 论 22:03, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the response. But how can contributors decide if a new image is worth uploading for a specific article? MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:13, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is no general answer to this line of questioning. Improved media are uploaded if editors discover or create them; what constitutes an improvement depends entirely on the media in question. Remsense ‥ 论 22:18, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have an image that you think would illustrate an article better than whatever is already there? Then upload it and add it to the article, replacing the old one. Then, when someone reverts, explain on the Talk page why yours is better. —Tamfang (talk) 17:56, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@MJGTMKME123, what do you mean by "less images being uploaded today"?

Do you mean specifically what's being uploaded today, as in Sunday, the 25th of August? (If so, please go to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) and sound the alarm, because a sudden downturn is probably technical in nature.) Or do you mean "in recent years"?

How much less? Is this like a long-term leveling off? Are you talking about uploads directly to the English Wikipedia, or at Commons? How are you counting the number of uploads? WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:20, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I meant "in recent years". MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:21, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We have made efforts to direct uploaders Wikimedia Commons whenever appropriate, so having less uploads here could be a good thing. — xaosflux ^Talk 22:32, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm talking about image uploads on Wikimedia Commons. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:36, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are you thinking about any images in particular? Again, we can't really answer your question because it's way too broad. Remsense ‥ 论 22:38, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just asking about the trend of fewer image uploads in the recent years, but I understand if it's too broad. I was wondering if there are any topics where image uploads have noticeably declined. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:43, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How do you know that there are fewer uploads? What page or tool are you using to determine the number of uploads? WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:56, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't actually use a tool. I just noticed that most images were made around that time period by just analyzing the date of random images. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 22:59, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@MJGTMKME123, I suggest looking at c:Commons:Statistics of uploads vs deletions, which gives the number of annual uploads from 2003 through 2022, and which does not support your hypothesis that there has been a multi-year decline in uploads.

If you know anything about SQL, you can run queries like this and get whatever numbers you want. I use the "check 10 pages in Special:Random" method a lot, but you've got to remember that it's really quite a crude estimate, and if your random images weren't actually random (e.g., they were images used in Wikipedia articles), then you'd be looking at a crude estimate of a biased sample, which is basically worthless. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:07, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Okay thanks, I just realized that there are actually more uploads on the recent years then I expected. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 23:11, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's way more useful data than what I found just below. So uploads to Commons have risen steadily if non-monotonically, and there is no year for which the number of files uploaded was less than ~~any~~ all of the three previous years. Folly Mox (talk) 23:19, 25 August 2024 (UTC) edited 10:16, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This wouldn't account for which images are actually being used in articles (plenty of Commons images aren't), but I'd be very surprised if those are mostly pre-2009. ― novov (t c) 10:10, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think most of them are pre-2009, I'm not entirely sure though. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 11:04, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What do you base that on? The number of articles in the English Wikipedia has more than doubled since 2009 (3,144,000 on 1 Jan 2010, 6,764,355 on 1 Jan 2024), and images in older articles are often replaced, so I suspect a large majority of images in articles have been added since 2009. For your claim to be valid, editors would have had to be preferencially using images uploaded before 2009 to add to articles. However, an analysis of the upload dates of a large enough sample of images currently in use in articles would be needed to support your claim. Frankly, I don't think that is worth pursuing, as I don't see its relevance to building a quality encyclopedia. Donald Albury 13:49, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Donald Albury Thank you for pointing that out. I guess I was mistaken about the upload dates of the images. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 14:06, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As one potentially interesting pair of datapoints, I see that c:Commons:Database reports/Page count by namespace (current as of June 2014, almost exactly a decade ago) shows 22,097,492 pages in the File: namespace, of which fewer than 2% were redirects. Executing the Magic word {{NUMBEROFFILES}} on Commons today returns 107,994,945. So there have been some uploads. Folly Mox (talk) 22:59, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Folly Mox Thanks for sharing that data, that means I might have underestimated the number of uploads. MJGTMKME123 (talk) 23:04, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

On a related point, please consider looking through the popular articles for a favorite subject area – most WikiProjects have a page like Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Popular pages – and seeing what new images could/should be added. Not having an adequate number of images in each article is a constant complaint from readers, and it even has benefits beyond the obvious value of the image itself (e.g., helping people with dyslexia keep their eyes on the right part of the article). WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:08, 26 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Another source for images (which I suspect has been under utilized) are family photos. For example, over his lifetime my Dad took approximately 4,000 photos which are in slide format. While some will be of little interest to Wikimedia in general -- I doubt anyone is eager to see photos of llywrch's first birthday -- there are a number of images that I know will be of interest, such as photos of his business trips to Sudan & Nigeria, photos Oregon from as far back as 1960, & so forth. (I have some of a railway train that ran between Banks & Vernonia back in the 1960s that no longer exists. The trackway has since then been converted to the Banks–Vernonia State Trail. I've already uploaded a few of these to Commons. I'd be far more along with sharing these on Commons except that for many I'm missing information. For example, he visited an agricultural station in a town in Western Sudan -- for which I'd be surprised if we had any photos -- however I don't remember/know the name of that town.

I expect there are countless Wikipedians with older family members who were hobbyist photographers, so this is a resource begging to be exploited. (PS, I had discussed doing this with my father before he passed, so I definitely have permission to do this.) -- llywrch (talk) 22:43, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Probs because we mostly already got what we need in terms of pictures. Jasonbunny1 (talk) 22:07, 8 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Geoffrey Duchet

Hi everybody. I was searching about a person named Geoffrey Duchet, but he doesn't have any biography in wikipedia. He was british explorer and he visited persepolis in 1569 AD. My source about him was a persian translated of 1 of books of Alfons Gabriel means Geographical research about Iran (unfortunately all of his books is in german language, and i don't know do any of you can read german books or not). Can somebody build Geoffrey Duchet's biography's page on english wikipedia? Hulu2024 (talk) 13:19, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And i shall add that i don't have any access on printed books on Geoffrey Duchet's biography to build his page, on myself. please if someone have access to english books on 16 th century, please write his biography. i needed it strongly. Hulu2024 (talk) 13:23, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hulu2024, if you're not willing to do it, it's unlikely anyone else will be - WP:VOLUNTEER. — Qwerfjkl talk 13:33, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I eager but i don't have access to academic and primary sources. It's odd that USA and UK have best universities with best storage of book (with monetary online access for western countries) and english wikipedia does the most editors in all languages, but nobody made this historical person's biography. Hulu2024 (talk) 13:43, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Hulu2024: Geoffrey Duchet may not have been notable in his day, hence the lack of coverage. I pretty much could only find modern day people by that name with a Google search.

The only mention that I found of his name in a Wikimedia article space was in Farsi, fa:ایران‌شناسی (English version of the article is Iranian studies). At the end of the sentence mentioning him as جفری داکت, there is a footnote that points to a shortened footnote, موسوی، تخت جمشید، ۱۴. [Mousavi, Persepolis, 14], which then appears to point to a full citation of an encyclopedic text,موسوی، علی (۱۳۸۵). «تخت جمشید». دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی. ج. ۱۴. تهران: مرکز دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی. شابک ۹۶۴-۷۰۲۵-۵۴-۸. بایگانی‌شده از اصلی در ۷ اوت ۲۰۲۴. دریافت‌شده در ۷ اوت ۲۰۲۴. [Mousavi, Ali (1385). "Persepolis". The great Islamic encyclopedia. c. 14. Tehran: Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia. Shabak 964-7025-54-8. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved on August 7, 2024.]

I have been unable to find anything about about The great Islamic encyclopedia at WorldCat.org, presumably because of my total incompetence in Farsi. You may do better if you understand that language. Also you might find help at the website for the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, www.cgie.org.ir/en. Peaceray (talk) 17:06, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

thank you. Hulu2024 (talk) 17:08, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's quite odd that anyone could "strongly need" information about a 16th-century person who isn't very well known. Why do you need it? TooManyFingers (talk) 19:38, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@TooManyFingers Because he was traveler and he travels to persepolis in 1569 and his wrote about that at his memorial, i want to improve my article in persian wikipedia (iraian studies) to be choose as Featured articles, so i need enough information about him. Persepolis is one of iranian's historical monument, which european travelers had seen, and that was the motivation to start about iranology. Hulu2024 (talk) 21:11, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This is great, I hope you can find good information. I'm sorry I don't know. TooManyFingers (talk) 21:44, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have at the moment no opinion about notability, but just say that sources in German or Persian are just as valid as sources in English. Phil Bridger (talk) 19:53, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proper noun

Should the word "army" be capitalized when used to mention a specific army, such as the "French army"? M.Bitton (talk) 15:56, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That does seem to be the general practice in WP articles. Donald Albury 16:31, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. M.Bitton (talk) 19:08, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Per French Army, yes. Article titles are a good (but not golden) source of this type of style issue. WT:MoS is also a good place to ask. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 18:37, 9 September 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Peter_A._Hall

Seems to be a pretty notable person. We had an article by a user who has left, which was nominated for speedy by a user who has since been banned for socking, after a discussion, started unironically by another user who has since been banned for socking.

Can someone restore this, and other history of the page. Looking at the incoming links GNG should be easily achievable.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough 18:33, 9 September 2024 (UTC).[reply]

This got turned into a dab page. I've put it in User:Rich Farmbrough/Peter A. Hall where you can sort things out. RoySmith (talk) 21:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 00:01, 10 September 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Community Wishlist: Let’s discuss how to improve template discovery and reuse

Hello everyone,

The new Community Wishlist now has a focus area named Template recall and discovery. This focus area contains popular wishes gathered from previous Wishlist editions:

Wish #1: Quickly add infobox – an easier way for newer editors to find and insert common templates such as infoboxes.
Wish #2: Quickly add favorite and related templates – a way to show recently used templates and favorited templates for frequent template use.
Wish #3: Select templates by categories – a way to find templates by "type".
Wish #4: Easy access templates – help users configure the Template dialog to show common and favorite templates.

We have shared on the focus area page how are seeing this problem, and approaching it. We also have some design mockups to show you.

We are inviting you all to discuss, hopefully support (or let us know what to improve) about the focus area. You can leave your feedback on the talkpage of the focus area.

On behalf of Community Tech, –– STei (WMF) (talk) 15:48, 13 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]