Commons:Volunteer Response Team/Noticeboard

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About 3/4 of the permissions we receive from France and Spain refer to images without licence tag. This means considerable extra work for VRT, because we need to remove the complaint from the User:AntiCompositeBot/NoLicense and add the appropriate licence each time after having checked and approved the permission.

This has been going on for months now. Is there really nothing that can be done about it? It should be prevented that files get uploaded without licence tag. Mussklprozz (talk) 10:26, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

The problem is that we have so many accepted licenses that having a filter to prevent this is not really possible. If we decide that new users are only allowed to use the regular cc licenses we could easily create a filter. GPSLeo (talk) 10:40, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

How about a filter that forbids to leave the licence empty? This would eliminite 80% of the problem cases, since most users decide for cc-by-sa anyway. Mussklprozz (talk) 12:26, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

I'd suggest not to solve this by edit filter but by changing the upload interface. But it has to be found out at first which of the dozen ways for uploading creates this problem. Krd 12:46, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

It seems to be the upload wizard. See e.g. File:Laura Urbina.jpg and File:Jorge Leon Gusta.jpg. --Mussklprozz (talk) 18:48, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

Yes, the issue comes from the Upload Wizard. I mentioned that a few months back, and I am surprised that it has not been fixed yet. Yann (talk) 19:27, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

Yes, the bug that selecting the permission option removes the license is still present. Just tested here File:Testfile2.png. @Sannita (WMF) could you have a look why this is still not resolved? GPSLeo (talk) 20:32, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

FWIW, on April 13 of this year, I edited Commons:Uploading works by a third party to describe the necessary workaround for this on uploads, because Sannita let me know he did not expect the fix to occur promptly. I still have no idea why a fix to this would be difficult. - Jmabel ! talk 21:50, 12 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

@GPSLeo Unfortunately, the Structured Content team is no longer active, and it is still unclear who owns UploadWizard in the latest re-organization. I'll keep pushing for a solution, if you would be so kind to send me the Phab ticket, I can try to find someone to work on it. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 12:39, 13 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

The ticket should be phab:T391600. And the WMF did drop the maintenance of a core tool again? Is there an official statement why this happened? This is exactly what was the main criticism by the community in the open letters and also in the community call series. GPSLeo (talk) 14:29, 13 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

@GPSLeo AFAIK an announcement on Commons is in the making, but I have no news on when it will be published. About the ticket, I reached out to the devs, and they have it on their rader, but it's going to take at least another couple of weeks before it gets addressed, due to other priorities at the moment. I'll keep you posted, but please feel free to ping me here or in private about it, just to be sure it doesn't slip off my mind. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 14:58, 17 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

is there any update on the announcement, can be more public than here Gnangarra 10:13, 3 October 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Gnangarra no update, I pinged already in private the people behind it Sannita (WMF) (talk) 15:21, 3 October 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Sannita (WMF): Plewase follow up on this. --Krd 06:11, 7 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Krd Still no update, I'm trying to find who can take care of this, but it's hard at the moment. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 12:32, 7 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

Almost 2 months and no answers from WMF? All we are getting is the sound of silence. Once again Commons is kept in the dark. Bidgee (talk) 20:00, 7 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Krd and Bidgee: I believe there is literally no one from WMF currently assigned to the Upload Wizard. I gather that includes Sannita no longer being assigned this, either. - Jmabel ! talk 23:01, 7 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Quiddity: Can you help out? Krd 09:13, 10 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

I heard about Commons:Unsupported Tools Working Group, maybe they can help out? cc @Sohom Datta. Nemoralis (talk) 19:15, 11 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Sannita (WMF): is there any way volunteers can work on the Upload Wizard? - Jmabel ! talk 19:51, 11 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Jmabel I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that. I'm pushing one team to adopt this bug and solving it, but so far no luck. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 11:50, 12 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

FWIW, the problem and the workaround are documented at COM:THIRD#How they can grant a license (and how you upload) step 12. If you need to give people an explanation, it is probably better to aim them there than to custom-write an explanation in each case. It would also be great if we could start doing translations of COM:THIRD: it seems to be stable and heavily used. - Jmabel ! talk 20:20, 10 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

MediaWiki talk:Gadget-PermissionOTRS.js#Remove AntiCompositeBot tagging
You'd still have to insert the license, but it's an easy fix to automate one step. I'd have to look into the gadget to see if a dropdown with common licenses could be added somewhere. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 13:23, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

The existing code has virtually no code comments and the structure is too different from what I'm used to. I tried but don't think I can work this out. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 23:05, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

why do I torture myself - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 13:07, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am requesting review and possible undeletion of a file that was deleted with the reason "No ticket permission since 7 December 2025." Permission has been submitted to Wikimedia VRT, and the associated ticket number is #ticket:2025111710405455. I do not currently recall the exact file name, but the file relates to Philip E. Cryer, MD (former director of the Endocrinology Division at Washington University). If helpful, I can provide additional details or reload the image. Could a VRT agent or administrator please review the ticket and advise on restoration if appropriate? Thank you very much for your time and assistance. Best regards,

Likely File:Philip Cryer.png

Gbawden (talk) 06:38, 15 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Correct. What is the next step? Thanks !! RPK2000 (talk) 07:11, 15 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@RPK2000, please send the file's URL to the same VR ticket for documentation. I can handle the rest. Also, I found this: Commons:Deletion requests/File:Philip Cryer.png. Nemoralis (talk) 01:41, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I do not know how to "@RPK2000, please send the file's URL to the same VR ticket', but would do so with instructions. I also received an email about this. Here is the URL: https://endocrinology.wustl.edu/philip-e-cryer-md-featured-in-diabetes-care/ Can you take it from here or clarify how I do it. The link you mentioned was an earlier attempt to upload the file and I was warned to delete it. Thanks ! RPK2000 (talk) 08:13, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am the one who sent you an email via VRT. @Gbawden, can you please restore the File:Philip Cryer.png? But I am not sure if that is the correct file. Maybe you can check uploader's deleted contributions. Nemoralis (talk) 12:14, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Nemoralis I am not involved in this process please stop asking. You were told what to do by Nemoralis Gbawden (talk) 13:56, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you. RPK2000 (talk) 06:04, 30 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Nothing to do per Commons:Deletion requests/File:Philip Cryer.png. If anything else is affected, please provide the links. --Krd 06:00, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello, I had uploaded a book cover to Commons with the author's permission. Unfortunately, she sent the permission message too late, as indicated in the procedure. At my suggestion, she created an account and re-uploaded the document... which was deleted, and I received the following notification : 'Hi, please stop using an alternative account to upload this image.' Is it possible to put the file back online and validate it permanently? The file in question: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Couverture_1er_num%C3%A9ro_Jazz_Album.jpg&action=edit&redlink=1

I remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. Best regards. Tameli (talk) 09:03, 16 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

What is the VRT ticket number? Nemoralis (talk) 16:58, 16 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello @NemoralisNemoralis,

I don't know how to find a VRT ticket.

The author of the illustration is the publishing assistant in a service of PAO (publication assistee par ordinateur) in a universitarian press. She has created the cover of Jazz album. She has sent her permission (24/09/2025 - 14:40 (Europe) for the first deposit I had made... Tameli (talk) 10:21, 19 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Tameli, ticket number is mentioned in the automatic response from VRT. It is something like: "If you want to send more emails about the same subject, please add the following to the
subject bar of the email: [Ticket#" Nemoralis (talk) 01:39, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello @Nemoralis,

Maybe the ticket number could be "ticket:2025092410008107", the author of the image received a message asking "C'est vous qui a cree cette couverture d'album? Si ce n'est pas le cas, pouvez-vous preciser pour quelle raison vous en detenez les droits ?" but It seems that she did not answer unfortunately.

Thank you for trying to help. Tameli (talk) 08:52, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes I just checked the ticket and she did not answer to the question. We need an answer to continue with the ticket. Nemoralis (talk) 12:17, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you @Nemoralis for your answer. I've been said that the answer to this ticket has been sent a few minutes ago. Tameli (talk) 12:48, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

• File:Gene_Pelc_and_Mary_Pelc.jpg
• File:Gene_Pelc_with_Reverend_Mieczyslaw_Malinski.jpg
• File:Gene_Pelc_With_James_Galton.jpg

The photographs are original family works. The photographers are either Mary Eastlake Pelc or her late mother Theodora Eastlake; copyright is now held by the Pelc family as heirs. Formal permission emails have been sent to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org and logged under VRT ticket number 2025121510000063.

We have explicitly granted CC BY 4.0 permission for these images as part of a larger archival contribution documenting Japanese-American comics and animation history. This is the second time files from this archive have been targeted for deletion despite permission being processed via VRT, which is discouraging when we are trying to share a larger historic collection.

VRT ticket:2025121510000063 contains a full explanation of authorship (Theodora Eastlake and Mary Eastlake Pelc) and a CC BY 4.0 permission for these three files, sent on 15 December 2025. We have not received a further response, and the files were deleted in the meantime. I hope for the undeletion of these three images. I have sent multiple emails the most recent email was sent on Jan 16 2026 and have received no response. Can you please advise? Pelcjp (talk) 23:32, 18 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Replied to the ticket. See also: Commons:Undeletion requests/Current requests#File:Gene Pelc With James Galton.jpg Nemoralis (talk) 12:29, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Ronald Sexton:, please could you start a new topic at c:Commons:Volunteer Response Team/Noticeboard and copy your latest query there. You could add the date of the email, if you have it. I don't think that the COI bit is relevant to Commons, so I have struck it above. Also copy the items below: VRT ticket:2025081310007167

Helped It has been over a month since I requested on the Commons:Undeletion request for the return of the image to Dame Louise Richardson to her page

Ronald Sexton (talk) 18:05, 21 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

The mentioned ticket was reveived on 13 August and answered on 16 August 20925, now pending feedback from the permission sender. Krd 05:50, 22 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Beste,

Al geruime tijd ben ik bezig met het verwijderen van een foto die van mij is genomen en op een wikipedia pagina is geplaatst. Een foto in prive tijd is genomen en geupload, waarop ik met 2 minderjarige kinderen/fans sta (minderjarige kinderen zijn zowel bij mij als uploader onbekend en foto is tijdens een vakantiemoment genomen). Er is geen toestemming van ouders geweest, maar deze foto staat wel al jaren op de pagina, waarbij de minderjarige kinderen herkenbaar in beeld staan zonder toestemming.

Op 28 dec 2025 heb ik een respons op ticket:2025122610003469 gekregen, waarop een medewerker van contactcenter aangaf een verzoek tot verwijdering in te dienen vanwege bovengenoemde redenen. Ik heb op 2 jan 2026 een verzoek tot verwijdering ingediend, maar verzoek lijkt niet in behandeling te zijn genomen. Iemand heeft op de verwijderoverleg pagina aangegeven dat ik dit wellicht aan jullie moet melden, vandaar dit bericht.

Het gaat om https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Revy_rosalia_met_twee_fans-1469960401.jpg. Ik heb meerdere keren een andere foto willen uploaden, maar die wordt om verschillende redenen tegen gehouden door de beheerder van de wikipedia pagina. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revy_Rosalia. Ik heb ook meerdere keren een foutief verzoek tot verwijdering ingediend met een blokkade door de beheerder van deze pagina als gevolg. Ik verwijs graag naar de boodschap van het contactcenter in eerder genoemd ticket, waarin een valide reden wordt genoemd om verzoek tot verwijdering in te dienen.

Hoor grag wat ik nog meer kan doen of moet afwachten met betrekking tot het verwijderverzoek van 02 jan 2026, omdat ik nu best wanhopig ben.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Revy Rosalia ReRo82 (talk) 11:00, 23 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ReRo82: I've hidden the children's faces in the photo. I hope that meets your concern. - Jmabel ! talk 22:53, 23 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Translation: the user says they are w:Revy Rosalia and are concerned about the visibility of the faces of two minors who are fans of him in File:Revy rosalia met twee fans-1469960401.jpg. He also mentions this deletion request which I just closed as the faces have been blurred and revision deleted. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:12, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Does ticket:2020060110006523 question - Why is the photo in such a low resolution when the metadata indicates it is actually 20 times larger? MasterRus21thCentury (talk) 13:18, 26 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

MasterRus21thCentury, I can't see the ticket, but COM:L says "Sometimes, authors wish to release a lower quality or lower resolution version of an image or video under a free license, while applying stricter terms to higher quality versions. It is unclear whether such a distinction is legally enforceable, but Commons's policy is to respect the copyright holder's intentions by hosting only the lower quality version."
Perhaps that's the case here? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:24, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Here is the archived version of photo's source: [1]. It has 600 x 899 as size in exif data. But this is not a VRT question. Nemoralis (talk) 12:21, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

1. Is ticket access logged? (e.g. "$user viewed $ticket_number at $timestamp")
2. If it is, who can review that log, and does it get reviewed regularly?
3. Is ticket access at all ratelimited? In other words, would a single account have the technical ability to scrape all tickets in existence in a short period of time?
I know you swear an oath etc, that's not what I'm concerned about. This question is about the abilities of the system. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:37, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I presume the log can be viewed by anyone if CU is any indication Trade (talk) 19:05, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Josve05a: --Trade (talk) 20:22, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

As a regular VRT agent, I do not have access to any log showing that another user has merely viewed a ticket. I can only see logs for explicit actions taken on a ticket, such as following it, adding notes, merging, forwarding it, etc. I cannot speak for what logs are available to VRTS administrators beyond what is visible to regular agents, so I will leave that part of the question to them to answer if needed. Regarding rate limiting, the system is generally quite slow in practice, but this appears to be due to overall performance and not to any per-account access throttling that I am personally aware of, but for operational security reasons, details about technical safeguards against large-scale access or scraping beyond what we "mere volunteer agents" have access to or knowledge about are unlikely to be discussed publicly. --Jonatan Svensson Glad (talk) 20:25, 27 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Alexis Jazz: --Trade (talk) 03:06, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think @Krd can answer this. Nemoralis (talk) 12:19, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello VRT team, I was the AFC reviewer for English Wikipedia's article for Michael Schumacher, American author, who died a few weeks ago. I also translated the article into French Wikipedia, and want to translate into Spanish once the photo is available. In liaison with his daughter and a family friend I uploaded File:Michael-Schumacher 1950-2025.jpg - and then got the subject's daughter to fill in the Commons Creative webform, this was 2 weeks ago. The ticket number is:
2026011410000066
Can I just check whether I have missed something, given the ticket is still pending? Apologies for hassling, the article is relatively new in both languages (there is also a German version) so I am keen to get a photo in while it is still fresh. Though I've been through CC before on Commons, last time it was pretty slick so I'm concerned that maybe I've missed some flag or setting. Personally I have no COI with either the subject or the photo. ChrysGalley (talk) 14:27, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ChrysGalley a reply asking for more information was sent on 14 January. No reply has been received to that email. Nthep (talk) 15:17, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for that, I'm not sure what happened there but I will ask the daughter. ChrysGalley (talk) 15:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Nthep - I have heard back from the daughter (who took and owns the photo). She has checked, including her spam box and says that she can't find any email around this period. Can you please re-send the email to E., the address was a gmail with the local-part ending 33. Alternatively it can be sent to my email address. Apologies for this but without sight of that email we are stuck. If necessary I can reload the photo again and restart the process all over, but I am hoping to avoid that. ChrysGalley (talk) 22:04, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ChrysGalley resent but the email was not a gmail account. Nthep (talk) 22:11, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Nthep I think that comment has solved the mystery - she didn't recall using the iCloud account but checked it, and has thereby received and responded to the email. ChrysGalley (talk) 22:50, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Was genau ist hier durch das VRT-Ticket abgedeckt? Etwa nur das Recht des Fotografen am Foto? Was ist mit dem abgebildeten Werk? GerritR (talk) 20:42, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

Das Ticket betrifft auch File:Rossle Aktuell 2000.jpg und File:Rossle 50er Bild.jpg und ist nach heutigem Standard nicht ausreichend. Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob man das als Vorgang von 2009 so behalten kann, aber ich tendiere zu Nein. Krd 06:06, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Doesn't seem like this was added by an actual VRT member? Can someone confirm that this is legitimate? ticket:2018051310002832. Am I missing something? Please help me understand what's going on here. Aplucas0703 (talk) 05:47, 2 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

It is {{IsraeliPoliceLicense}} which is created by a VRT member (and admin). It is valid. Nemoralis (talk) 22:50, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi, I'd like to inquire on behalf of the uploader (who is not very proficient in English) if this ticket was previously approved. Thanks! 0x0a (talk) 10:07, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The ticket is still pending a reply from the permission sender. Krd 10:19, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello, I hope you're doing well. I'm writing to ask about the status of a few permission emails I've submitted for files I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

I just wanted to check whether everything is in order on my end, or if any additional information is needed to process the tickets. I understand the queue can take time, so this is simply a quick follow-up to make sure nothing is missing. Thank you very much for your time and for all the work you do

Thank you! Chrishm21 (talk) 21:51, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Chrishm21, what is the ticket number? Nemoralis (talk) 22:51, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

ticket:2026012410005917 Chrishm21 (talk) 23:41, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Ticket was answered 36 hours after being received and is now pending feedback from the permission sender. --Krd 06:08, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

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