Wikipedia:Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikimedia Commons is a sister project to Wikipedia, set up to exclusively handle media files, whereby simply linking to them as if they were on Wikipedia will embed them in the local Wikipedia article. This page is intended to familiarize Wikipedians with the Commons system and to encourage uploading at the Commons instead of Wikipedia, where appropriate.
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[edit] Introduction
Commons images and policies can be found at the commons' main page.
As users have to be registered to upload media files, most people going to Commons from Wikipedia will need to sign up an account there. At the moment each Wikimedia project has its own sign-in system.
Interwiki links are written [[commons:pagename]], but images are referred to as if they existed on the local wikipedia, e.g. [[Image:TitianStJohn.jpg]].
One advantage of uploading images to the Commons instead of to Wikipedia is that when images are uploaded to Commons, they automatically become available to all Wikimedia projects—every language Wikipedia, all the Wiktionaries, Wikispecies, etc. Having one image stored centrally is preferred over having the same image uploaded to each project individually.
Another advantage is that the Commons accepts image galleries. You can provide dozens of photos of a single topic, make a category or gallery page for them, then link to the Commons page from the Wikipedia article.
As well as images, Commons also hosts sound and video files. See commons:Commons:File types.
[edit] Differences between Wikipedia and Commons
- Commons does not allow fair use images. See commons:Commons:Licensing.
- On Wikipedia, an image can be nominated for deletion if it does not (attempt to) illustrate an article. Commons is less concerned about an image's "usefulness" as there are so many projects that the images are available to. See commons:Commons:Criteria for inclusion.
- On Wikipedia, it is important that an image is placed in an article. On the image description page, the section "File links" shows which pages are using the image. On Commons, this section only shows which pages within Commons an imaged is used on (to find out which wikimedia projects a commons image is being used in, use the Check-usage tool). Because of this, it is important that images are placed in categories and/or on gallery pages, so as to avoid becoming orphans. There is currently a debate about whether categories or galleries ('normal pages') are preferred, however it is agreed that at least one must be used. To find suitable categories easily, try using the CommonSense tool.
- Commons is a multilingual project. Try to avoid assuming that everyone speaks the same language(s) as you, and as well. Put Userboxes on your User page to indicate what languages you are able to speak, and your level of proficiency. See commons:Commons:Babel.
- Given the smaller size of the Commons there are only few main forums of discourse. commons:COM:VP acts as the Village pump. commons:COM:HD is the Help desk for technical inquiries. Administrators can be contacted on the commons:Commons:Administrators' noticeboard.
[edit] Example of a gallery
<gallery> Image:Calendário Asteca.jpg Image:AugustineLateran.jpg Image:TolleLege.jpg|You can also include a caption, if you like. Image:TitianStJohn.jpg </gallery>
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 You can also include a caption, if you like. |
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[edit] See also
- Wikipedia:Sister projects#Wikimedia Commons - Templates for use on Wikipedia, to direct readers/editors to appropriate Commons links
- Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons
- commons:Template:Information - Can be used when uploading files to easily submit all the required information
