User:Handcuffed/proposed

{{Guideline (en)}}

Commons does not need low-quality images of genitalia.

Related ideas

Existing policies and ideas relating to this:

Official policies

• Commons is not censored: a depiction of human nudity is not in itself a reason for deletion
• COM:NOT: Commons is not your personal free web host
• COM:PORN: Commons is not an amateur porn site
• COM:Project scope: the aim of Wikimedia Commons is to provide media realistically useful for an educational purpose

Official guidelines

• Commons:Photographs of identifiable people: a subject's consent is needed for identifiable photographs taken in a private place

Rejected guideline (Commons:Sexual content)

• Commons:Sexual content, a draft proposal including a series of suggestions for how Wikimedia Commons might handle sexual content, was rejected in December of 2008 by consensus decision. In 2010, the guideline was revised and reproposed to the Commons community but was again rejected, with no consensus reached.

Rationale

It is felt that a guideline is needed, because at the moment there are no guidelines or policies as to what the acceptable bounds of content should be at Commons. Images depicting male nudity are regularly nominated for deletion at Commons:Deletion requests and the Commons is not censored policy is often cited as a defense. However it must be asked if allowing any content whatsoever (within the bounds of the law) is really serving the Wikimedia projects' aims. This guideline aims to define a reasonable bound for administrators and other users; to serve as a guide in deciding what should be kept and what may be deleted.

Vandalism

• Any image that appears to be uploaded solely for the purpose of vandalism may be speedily deleted. Typically the uploader will be a new user with a low edit count and other users from local projects will come to Commons to request the image's deletion.
• Any image can be used to vandalise pages, although ones with nudity have more shock value. Existing images should not be deleted simply because they are being used for vandalism, unless the image fails to meet established policy or guidelines.

New uploads

Categories such as Category:Male reproductive system and Category:Penis show that Commons has a large quantity of images relating to human genitalia.

Low quality files

Some of these images are low resolution, dark, or blurry. Such files should be nominated for deletion when applicable; however, note that if significantly different from other files, they may still be kept.

Significantly different from existing images

If a low-quality file depicts some phenomenon or circumstance which we do not already have representations of (for example, diseases or body modifications) then it should be kept despite its low quality, as it adds to the educational content of Commons. Wikimedia Commons should have media depicting human anatomy in all its variety and diversity.

Creating better images

Many files provide little descriptive information other than, for example, "self made" or "an erect human penis"; the user is told nothing useful about the background of the individual, or relevant vital statistics. Such images are of limited value as media for categories related to human anatomy and stages of development. Please add these details when available.

Here are some more guidelines for creating better images:

• Prefer higher resolution images over lower resolution images
• Prefer focused images over unfocused and blurry images
• Prefer images showing context (for example, the full male body) over images only showing a "groin shot"
• Prefer non-confrontational framing (e.g. side-on) over "shocking" close-up shots (such images are more likely to be used in vandalism attacks for this reason)

These preferences should help Commons build a higher quality database that adheres more closely to its educational aims.

See also

• Template:2257 — tracking template which categorizes files (and warns content reusers) of content which may fall under 18 USC 2257