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This help desk is a forum for questions and help on:

How to use Commons

Anyone, from newbie to experienced, can ask a question here. Questions will be replied to here as well. Any answers you receive are not legal advice and the responder cannot be held liable for them.

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In order to get quick answers consider the following points:

• Have you checked the frequently asked questions, help pages and the help desk archive?

• For licensing and copyright issues, please use the copyright village pump
• For proposing changes to the way Wikimedia Commons works, please use the proposals village pump
• For community-wide discussions, please use the main village pump
• For changing the name of a file, please see our file renaming guidelines
• For matters requiring the attention of an administrator, please use the administrators' noticeboard or contact an individual administrator directly
• For questions about Wikipedia content, try English Wikipedia's "Teahouse"
• For questions not about Wikimedia projects, try English Wikipedia's reference desk

Resolved sections (marked by {{section resolved|1=~~~~}}) will be archived after two days. Sections with no discussion will be archived after ten days. The latest archive is Commons:Help desk/Archive/2026/10.

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COMMONS DISCUSSION PAGES

• Commons Help desk
• Village pump (general discussion)
  • Copyright
  • Proposals
  • Technical
• Graphics and photography discussion
  • Photography critiques
  • Image improvement
    • Illustration workshop
    • Map workshop
    • Photography workshop
    • Video and sound workshop
• Categories for discussion
• Undeletion requests
• Deletion requests
• Volunteer Response Team/Noticeboard
• Translators' noticeboard
• Work requests for bots

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• Contact administrators
  • Vandalism
  • User problems (Dispute resolution)
  • Blocks and protections
• Bureaucrats' noticeboard
• CheckUser requests
• Oversight requests

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• Telegram
• IRC ^webchat
• Commons mailing list (archive)
• Commons' bugs on Phabricator

	SpBot archives all sections tagged with {{Section resolved|1=~~~~}} after 2 days and sections whose most recent comment is older than 10 days.

О перемещении фотографий из склада в статью

Каким образом пошагово мы можем расположить в хронологическом порядке наши медиафайлы,находящиеся на складе, чтобы разместить в статье которая находится в инкубаторе. СтеллаНовбари (talk) 10:52, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

I don't understand this question; I tried Google translate and think the issue is because I am missing context, rather than limitations on my Russian. This will need some back-and-forth. Will a Russian-speaker please step in? - Jmabel ! talk 14:44, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

They are likely talking about moving (currently DR-ed) images from Commons to ruwiki for use in Incubator (basically a ruwiki version of enwiki's Draft: namespace and AFC) article. vitalkanev \contribs\ /discuss/ 07:53, 4 October 2026 (UTC)

@СтеллаНовбари and VitalKanev: The only way to do that would be to download and re-upload. Nothing we can do to help. - Jmabel ! talk 10:08, 4 October 2026 (UTC)

What non free tag do you use for a Mugshot?

Hi, I was wondering which non‑free tag should be used for a mugshot. I know that some U.S. states place mugshots in the public domain, but others do not. I have seen some uploads that use the unique historic image tag, and I want to make sure that this is correct. For example, Scott Peterson's mugshot is public domain, while Christa Pike's is tagged as fair use with the unique historic image template. I wanted to double‑check the correct approach. The mugshot I am considering would be from Colorado. Any confirmation would be appreciated. Thanks. ItsShandog (talk) 17:32, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

@ItsShandog: Commons does not accept any non-free files. Perhaps you meant to ask this question on the English-language Wikipedia, which in some circumstances does a allow these (both of your links are to the English-language Wikipedia, not to Commons). See en:Wikipedia:Non-free content. - Jmabel ! talk 09:48, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

The other help desk directed me here. ItsShandog (talk) 09:52, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

@ItsShandog: Hi, and welcome. File:ScottPeterson2022.jpg and File:ScottPeterson2003.jpg are PD under {{PD-CAGov}}, which is specific to California. en:File:Christa Pike Mugshot.jpg is hosted on enwiki as unfree because Tennessee Department of Correction did not agree to a free license, and neither did Tennessee. There are a scant few US States that make their works free, and per Category:PD-USGov license tags (non-federal) Colorado is not one of them.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 18:54, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

Yes but what I'm asking is the one for Pike the correct non free tag. ItsShandog (talk) 18:58, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

Since Commons doesn't allow non-free media, sorry, whoever told you to ask at Commons was directing you to the wrong place. For use in English Wikipedia, non-free media needs a non-free use rationale. See en:w: Wikipedia:Non-free content for details. Cheers, - Infrogmation of New Orleans (talk) 19:05, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

The Christa Pike Mugshot on en:Wikipedia looks to have proper fair use rationale for there. Since it is not free licensed, it cannot be copied to Commons. -- Infrogmation of New Orleans (talk) 19:08, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

How can I mass replace a template I nominated for deletion?

I nominated Template:DP-SO for deletion for being confusing, and I want to replace it with Template:PD-Brazil-Gov. Candidyeoman55 (talk) 17:32, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

I also want to mass replace Template:PD-SO. Candidyeoman55 (talk) 17:33, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

@Candidyeoman55: Help:VisualFileChange.js or Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser. If all the affected pages are file pages, then I strongly recommend the former as much easier to use. - Jmabel ! talk 10:16, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

Copyright help regarding File:Cyklo Point logo.jpg

--Jonah "Richard" (talk) 20:23, 2 October 2026 (UTC) Hello, I would like to ask how to continue with a copyright situation regarding File:Cyklo Point logo.jpg. The file was provided to me by an employee of the same named company with the original author being unkown. The logo itself however doesnt pass the threshold of originality, and should fall under a free license. This should apply for both the USA law (Wikimedia Commons) and Czech law (country of origin of the logo). Due to this and according to the page Commons:Derivative Work, I should be able to upload the logo under a free licence. How should I proceed in this situation? Does the file fall under free licence while still falling under trademark? The situation should be similar as with File:Rockmachine-logo.jpg, that falls under the same threshold of originality and has the same copyright tags. While uploading the logo itself, there wasnt an option of "under the threshold of originality", so I at least tried to tag it with proper tags. What should be the current course of action please? Thanks in advance for any sort of help --Jonah "Richard" (talk) 20:23, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

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