Commons talk:Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 in the United States/Get Started

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  • Where is the best place to ask a question about Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 in the United States?
Right here! Smallbones (talk) 15:48, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Please make the main page stop moving! Or provide an alternative main page for people with motion disorder? It is impossible to read that outer page to understand the project with the side bar scrolling at a rate to induce nausea. Ellin Beltz (talk) 11:55, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Would you please specify what page are you talking about? I do not think we have moving pages. Thanks.--Ymblanter (talk) 11:58, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
DONE. Smallbones (talk)
She's talking about www.wikilovesmonuments.us and I agree. For some people the "falling pictures" can cause intense psychological distress. Smallbones (talk) 13:40, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dozens of pictures[edit]

I have uploaded dozens of pictures that I have taken of historical places in Arizona and I have also created galleries of historical structures sections for the following articles in Wikipedia: Glendale, Arizona, Peoria, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona, Tempe, Arizona, Tombstone, Arizona, Manistee Ranch, McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park and Sahuaro Ranch.

I hope that some of these will be good enough for the "Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 in the United States/Get Started" project. Marine 69-71 (talk) 21:28, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think I found the pix and they were uploaded earlier to the English Wikipedia. I think you've thrown a curveball to us that we didn't expect - can a photo uploaded earlier to Wikipedia now be uploaded to Commons as part of WLM? I expect the answer will be 'no' because the contest is for new uploads, but I'll check around. Thanks for the question. Smallbones (talk) 22:19, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, it should be a new upload (also Flickr photos must be uploaded in September, though they can be transferred to Commons later).--Ymblanter (talk) 07:24, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Repeats?[edit]

It seems there is an upload button for every entry on the NRHP pages, regardless of whether there already is a photo in place. Are we being asked to upload additional photos? If so, I have many around Cook County IL, though some are no better than the ones in place, and quite a few are very similar, as many of the places have limited choices from which to stand to snap a picture. I seem to remember you (Smallbones) giving me guidance some months ago. -and I've completely forgotten how to sign...my user is Thshriver.

Different photos of the same site are not a bad thing, so you're free to upload photos for any site. A little restraint doesn't hurt, but if you think your photo is better you should certainly upload it. Or if it is just from a different angle or a different time of year, or an interior vs. our usual outside shot, those are all great to upload. There are some types that don't make much sense to upload - same angle, same shot, same time of day - why bother?
There's a related question with a slightly different answer. Should I replace a photo in an article or county list with my newly uploaded pic? Quick answer - only if it is clearly head and shoulders better than the previous pic. And don't get upset if somebody disagrees with you.
We all know that we are all biased to our own photos, so people will disagree on what's the best shot. If everybody put in all their favorites, all the time, we'd clearly have endless edit wars over this. But this is "Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that anyone can edit." There will never be a rule saying you can't put the best photo in a list. "First come, first served" is not our rule. So far editors have shown remarkable restraint in this, probably because everybody realizes the consequences if we don't!
You can sign your posts with ~~~~ Smallbones (talk) 11:00, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ironically I'm my own worst critic, I find something wrong in even my best photos, so I probably won't be making those calls regarding replacement, but I'll definitely upload some. Thshriver (talk) 13:45, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Interactive map[edit]

Hi. I created this interactive map which is much better than those long and ugly lists. I added it but I was reverted (see history). I hope it may be offered and linked somewhere. Regards and happy WLM. emijrp (talk) 07:50, 3 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]


This is AWESOME!!! Thanks so much, Emijrp!


Thanks for the map - it looks like it could work really well, and may become a solid feature of WP:NRHP. There are alternatives though. I'd like to be able to take the time to test it before putting it on this very sensitive page of basic instructions. The basic alternative is to use the "Map this in Google/Bing" button on every county list , the Android app, and just the plain Google with Wikipedia enabled map. Thanks again. Smallbones (talk) 19:22, 3 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I love the map, but it's missing Cache County, Utah. Ntsimp (talk) 15:52, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Missed Monuments[edit]

Great idea, guys! I am a commercial real estate appraiser in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and take photos of buildings all the time, so I know what you want. A few questions:

I have already noticed one item on the National Register in Biloxi that is not on the Harrison County, Mississippi list – the Old Brick House (Biloxi, Mississippi) – and I am pretty sure that there are buildings in downtown Gulfport that also would qualify that are not on the list. How do I go about adding them?

Are National Register buildings the only ones you want? We have an Historic District in downtown Gulfport for instance, and I have a schedule of the buildings in that district; several are not individually listed but are listed as "pivotal". How about those?

We have the Mississippi Blues Trail that has some properties on the Coast that might not be listed; do you want something like that?

Do you only want current photos? I have some older photos (pre-renovation / pre-facade upgrade) of several of these buildings, and also pre-Katrina photos of some that had damage from the storm.

How come none of these wikilinks are showing up as blue, including my account??? Shocking Blue (talk) 09:45, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like you have many photos that you can upload and help us in many ways, some part of the contest, some not.
For the contest, please add any photos that you have taken of NRHP sites, including NRHP registered Historic Districts. Take pictures of all the important buildings in historic districts if you'd like. If you have one of the official "inventories" you are lucky - these can be hard to get. There's also a list of California historical sites that are part of the contest.
Your old photos would be great. Structural photos are not often uploaded, but that just makes them more important for us.
If your photos are not of buildings on the NRHP, you can still upload them. Just click "upload" in the column on the left and follow the directions of the upload wizard. Have some information ready to describe the site, but it's only a bit more complicated than the special wizard used for this contest. If you don't know which license you want to use, try CC-BY-SA. If you don't know what categories to add, try the city name or the county name.
If you need any help, feel free to ask here.
Smallbones (talk) 13:07, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Shocking Blue - here is the link to the standard Commons Uploader for the photos that don't fit into the WLM contest specifications: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard
As Smallbones indicated, the WLM contest is based on the NRHP lists because those were the lists that he and others have already built on Wikipedia. One very industrious editor in California spent the last 45 days building the entire list for California's state historic sites, but that is the only one at the state level. The lists take quite a long time to build. This same editor wanted to get to the San Francisco Historic Preservation lists, but just didn't have the time. Hopefully the excitement of the contest and folks in a similar situation as you will encourage more lists to be built. Happy uploading! Almonroth (talk) 21:30, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I appreciate the information, and I will see what I can do to get lots of photos uploaded for you. I am really more interested in getting the photos into the Commons than in entering the contest (not that I don't want the prizes also!). I could be wrong, but I imagine that the Mississippi Gulf Coast region is not loaded with Wikipedians. Most of my contributions in the past are for rock bands, but this is at least of equal interest to me – as a commercial real estate appraiser, buildings are my life. I have made dozens of appraisals in downtown Gulfport over the past 8 years or so, and I am sure that the report that I have on the historic district is hard to come by – I just hope that I can put my hands on it again easily. I even have a couple of historical photographs of downtown Gulfport buildings. I'm really looking forward to this, though my job keeps me so busy that it might take me a while to get under way. However, I do have an historic building to look at in downtown Gulfport in the morning, so that will get me started! Shocking Blue (talk) 00:20, 6 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I did find the Old Brick House in the Harrison County list after all; it was shown with a different name. There will likely be others that are not listed though. Shocking Blue (talk) 08:49, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Fantastic! I created a "Photos needed" list on the talk page at en:Talk:National Register of Historic Places listings in Harrison County, Mississippi. Notice how they almost all have nice clear addresses! Did I tell you how much I love "fully illustrated lists"? Kinda just kidding here, but I do love 'em. Don't worry about the address restricted sites - we're not really supposed to be able to get their pix - but if they jump out and bite you - why not? Where you may really be able to help is with the sites that were delisted because of Hurricane Katrina.
All the best, Smallbones (talk) 20:36, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Login doesn't work anymore[edit]

I have uploaded dozens of images in the last few days. I am logged in - as I am now - with my proper User Name. Using the upload-map and clicking on South Carolina and going on to Charleston, I do get the upload form, but suddendly my User Name turnes red and I cannot upload anymore, since the system doesn't seem to know me anymore. What's wrong? --Rainer Halama (talk) 21:53, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

I can't see any obvious problem. The last photos you uploaded were at 19:27 (UTC). The only thing I'll suggest is logging out of Commons (maybe it's logged you out but your cache is misleading you) then log back in, then try again. If that doesn't work check back in the morning. Hope this helps. Smallbones (talk) 01:09, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Coming back right now it does work. Perhaps yesterday only the radio button for "Charlston Historic Distric" wasn't working. Because clicking on it I only got the image of the button, but not the link to the upload form. I believed yesterday that was, because I was not logged in properly. --Rainer Halama (talk) 10:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, figured it out. Historic districts with multiple refnums (from expansions) may all have this problem. Will do my best to get it fixed. In the meantime, if anybody has this problem we can fix it one historic district at a time, or just use the regular upload wizard on Commons, making sure to add the template {{Wiki Loves Monuments 2012|us}}

If?...[edit]

...an image of a previously 'missing' monument has just now been added by someone else, can I still add my pic of the same thing or have I missed out because an image has already been uploaded? Shearonink (talk) 01:41, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

upload your image! The angle of the photograph may be different; the time of the day and the lighting; yours show some details better. Only if you think your image is in no way different from the other image you should refrain from uploading. It is your personal jugement. Be bold!--Rainer Halama (talk) 11:01, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When in doubt upload it! If it is in any way better than a picture already uploaded, we want it. If it shows something different from previous pictures, we want it. Maybe you might start thinking "no reason to get carried away uploading" after you've uploaded 10 pix of the same site (but some folks might think I'm being too limiting here). I've never seen anybody complain "Commons is getting all filled up - we don't have room for anymore photos!" If they were, we wouldn't be having this contest. Smallbones (talk) 13:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the replies. I took some pics of the first national monuments in the United States (and they are very, *very* small) and someone else posted their pics of the same things first...so glad to know my efforts won't be wasted. As soon as I figure out how to upload/download (always a challenge for me), the pics will be there. Cheers, Shearonink (talk) 15:38, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
BTW, are you talking about the original DC boundary markers? If so, we definitely need better pix. I know, some of them are mine! Smallbones (talk) 20:35, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Multiple countries[edit]

I am a photographer and I travel all over the world taking pictures of landscape and monuments. I wish I had found this contest before today. I have quite a collection (the click count on my four year old DSLR is over 76,000) so I will be busy checking my library against the HRP lists and uploading some pics.

However, I cant seem to find a way to participate on behalf of multiple countries. From my wikicommons login in page I can only select sites in the USA to upload a picture. I will be in Mexico next week so I would love to get the list for mexico and be able to contribute photos I take in Mexico. What am I missing?

Leights (talk) 01:22, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This sounds great. For Mexico check out http://wikilovesmonuments.mx/ or especially http://wikilovesmonuments.mx/monumentos/
For the world in general see http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/
Smallbones (talk) 04:26, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the links It was exactly what I needed. From those links I found the upload link and I uploaded a pic I took at Tulum in Mexico. I dont think this one is contest worthy but it is a start. More to come. Thanks again. One more question: The instructions say if i want to include my photo in the contest to add "Category:WLM 2012 United States nominated" to the description. Should I use "Unites States" even for pics of sites in Mexico or should I use "Mexico nominated" instead? And does this mean that in theory I could win multiple regional prizes? Leights (talk) 05:59, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

National Historic Landmarks too?[edit]

A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a designation with a higher level of historical significance than a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, representing national, rather than local or regional importance. Do photos of NHLs qualify for the contest?

Absolutely. With the exception of the White House, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol, all NHLs are also NRHPs. Please leave a message on my talk page after you have uploaded photos of one of these three buildings. Smallbones (talk) 11:03, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Android App uploads to Test Wiki?[edit]

I uploaded my pictures as I took them from the Android App. They were uploaded to a test server http://test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Scerruti. Is that correct? Am I supposed to do something now? Scerruti (talk)

Wow. I haven't seen anything like this before. The files are uploaded, but only on Test Wiki as far as I can tell. I'm sure they won't get lost, and will get back if I find anything new. Smallbones (talk) 17:27, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I shot some additional photos today with the same results. Stephen Cerruti (talk) 00:55, 23 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please help? I don't see any "upload" buttons next to the monuments I'd like to upload photos to.[edit]

I have logged in and followed the instructions on the contest page for finding the monument listings in the county I would like to contribute photos to. I get to the page with the numbered listings of monuments on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places but I do not see any way to upload my photos. Can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong or what I'm missing? Thank you.

Please leave us the name of the page you are using. It should be on Wikipedia (not Commons) and start out "National Register of Historic Places listings in ... " Smallbones (talk) 19:38, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the responses but no, I still do not see the upload buttons. Here is the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_Worcester,_Massachusetts Let me know if I'm in the wrong place. Thanks again.

Indeed, there are no upload buttons on this page. I am sure it will be fixed now. In the meanwhile, please use this wizard (the id should be taken from the list, just open the list for edit and find the id in the corresponding item). If there are problems, we will help.--Ymblanter (talk) 20:41, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay great! Thanks so much!

Give Credit to Photographer?[edit]

When I upload an image Wikipedia only knows my user name. At no point in the process does it have a place to place the photographer's name. Should this be included under the description?

Photos other than listed monuments?[edit]

I do a lot of traveling in the Navy and I get to see a great many places, but not necessarily those places listed for requested photographs. Is there any problem with taking pictures of the various monuments I come across? I would be happy with filling Wikipedia's library with great pictures for everyone to use, whether or not they ever get used in the contest.

We always need photos of interesting places, so please upload them tp Commons and place them in articles if possible. If they are not in the US National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) lists, they may be on other country's lists (see wikilovesmonuments.org for a full list of participating countries) and thus eligible for the contest. But even if they are not eligible for the contest, please upload your best photos of interesting places. Smallbones (talk) 01:52, 24 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Peterson House[edit]

Hi, my home is historic for the City of Glendale, but I don't know how to upload the photo. Here's the online link http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/planning/pdf_files/HistoricRegister/50petersonhouse.pdf thank you -- I have a more recent and better photo. migdia Chinea

This contest is for sites on the National Register of Historic Places or the California Historical Landmarks lists. Sorry, but your house only seems to be on the Glendale list. Why not take a photo of your house, and upload it, using the Upload Wizard for use in the article on Glendale, California? Smallbones (talk) 19:47, 25 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ok Smallbones. It was supposed to be State and Federal -- but I have yet to complete all the paperwork. I work very hard on my house DAILY! But this house has been good to me in many ways. First of all, it gives me beautiful shelter while keeping me in good physical shape and knowlegeable in regards to home repairs and maintenance issues. It has also provided me with $$$ through a bad economy with roommates and it was recently the 1910 location of my film "Old Havana and the Great Pimp of San Isidro." Gorgeous! Wish I could send you the clip we put together for lighting and mood. Now in post, this is Not for the Glendale website, but so proud of this old house filled with benevolent spirits. Thanx -- Migdia -- :)

Gosh, this is WAT TOO BIG! Also in the Glendale site. Yikes! Please, fix. Here's the photo:

The Peterson Historic House and its restored pergola
I'm not sure I understand all of the above. I had no intention of offending. The pic is in the en:Glendale, California article. Smallbones (talk) 22:26, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Here, it was posted without the thumb option and predictably took the whole screen, I fixed it.--Ymblanter (talk) 05:42, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Affton High School photo is not the historical building!![edit]

The photo uploaded on Sept. 11 is a beautiful photo of the current Affton High School in St. Louis County in Missouri, but it's not the original High School building (down the road-a-piece) that's on the National Register. It might be interesting for the web article page, which has good information, but the photo of the 1955 building should be noted as such, not as the 1936 original high school. I'll try to get a photo of the 'real' one...but will you please remove the 'modern' one from the contest, and edit the info under the picture on the web article. That should avoid confusion. Thanks.

Good catch. Will check further of course, but it looks like you are correct. Please do send a photo of the 1936 building. Smallbones (talk) 01:34, 26 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

[edit]

Interesting; on the home-page, a banner-ad... "Get the Android App".

Can we still do this after contest ends?[edit]

I just found this poking around for a few things I was curious about and I do photography but camera is out for repair till October. Contest or not I would love to go around my area in Maryland there are several in the list near me without pictures would I still be able to upload them for the articles after this has ended?

Please do contribute after the deadline. Many of us contribute year-round. The contest's special upload buttons will be disabled, but you can use the regular upload wizard, which allows you to select your favorite license and requires that you put in a description of the site. You can copy the information from the county list, then click "upload file" from the column on the left of this page. You might also join WikiProject:NRHP, and ask any questions you have at its talkpage WT:NRHP Smallbones (talk) 10:44, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

WLM Contest featured on Places [at] Design Observer[edit]

I thought WLM collaborators might enjoy this: http://places.designobserver.com/feature/state-of-the-commons-wikipedia-flickr-public-domain/37038/ Josh Wallaert (talk) 19:42, 8 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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