Editing Guide/File Standards

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 File Standards

Welcome to our subpage for file standards! Click here to head back to the editing guide.

Standards

Undescriptive file names, which either don't describe the file at all or are extremely vague, can cause files to become lost on the Wiki. If a file is just named a series of numbers and letters, it's hard to find it when searching for images when editing a page. A file with a name that's just the term name, or the term name with a number or "flag" may get accidentally overwritten or duplicated. Files are often in weird formats, and their sources are hard to locate and require hours of investigation. To make sure file information is consistent and flags don't become lost, here's some text to guide you.

File names should be formatted as so: [thing] {number} by [creator] mmm-dd-yyyy

  • A number is not needed if there is only one image by this person for this thing. For example, if a creator made two flags it might be "Redgender 1 by flagcreator Jan-01-2020" and "Redgender 2 by flagcreator Jan-01-2020." And a single file might be "Redgender coining by flagcreator Jan-01-2020." But you can still add a number even if there is only one file in the series.
  • The date in the filename is for when the flag, the post in the screenshot, etc. was published to the internet by the creator. If the original date has been lost (for example, because it's on tumblr and the original blog deleted the post without it having been archived first) then it is acceptable to write the date of the earliest reblog. Please make a note in the file summary that it isn't the original post date and that the original date could not be found.
  • Months should be written like: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • If all you have is an archived post that has been deleted where the date cannot be calculated precisely (for example, it says 1 year ago) and there are no surviving reblogs or other archives, it is acceptable to write the day as 00 and the month as Unk in the file name.
  • In the event that any kind of date information is unable to be found, write "unknown date."
  • A lost author may be contributed as "unknown creator," or "anonymous" when applicable. You may also credit the earliest post found of the flag which you are using as the source. For example, citing the pride-flags upload.

Example: Redgender 1 by flagcreator Unk-00-2020 or Redgender 2 by flagcreator Unknown date or Redgender 3 by Unknown creator Unknown date

  • Acceptable file formats are png or jpg/jpeg file format for images, gif or apng for animated images. Webps and other file formats are unacceptable. (If you are having problems because your file is a webp, try converting it using Ezgif's converter.)
  • A file summary page should include an image ID and an archived source link so the flag's origin isn't lost. Image descriptions aren't required on upload as they are hard to write and someone may not have the spoons or ability to write one. But they must be added to "Category:Needs Description (Image)" if a description isn't added.

If you need help writing a description, you can ask in #image-transcriptions in the Discord or make a topic on the Talk page asking for help. Remember to always check the original post for an image description. Twitter posts may have embedded alt text you can find and copy by using inspect element, and if the post is live you can go to the live version of the twitter post, hover over the "alt" label, and copy the alt text from there, or use inspect element if that doesn't show up.

  • A source is required on upload, and if you do not have a source for your flag you should not be uploading it to the Wiki. If the source link cannot be archived at the time of upload (for example, because the archives are not working), please drop the link in #take-this or one of the editing channels on the Discord, or ask around on the forums for help.

If you cannot archive your source and nobody can help, add the non archived link to the upload and add "Category:Needs Source (Image)"

  • If you see a flag without a source, please add "Category:Needs Source (Image)" to its categories. It would also be appreciated if you found and added the source.
  • Do not upload a flag to the Wiki as a flag coining. They should be treated like terms and uploaded externally first.

Here is an example of an acceptable file: File:Toren- by nlmgalaxy Nov-13-2018.png

  • The following guides will use the location of buttons on "Metrolook."

How do I add a source or image description to my file after it's been uploaded?

  • A file page's UI is not very clear because often a file page will not generate with any summary text. All you need to do is:
  1. Go to the file page.
  2. Click "Edit"
  3. Put the description, then the source on a new line. Put any notes you have after the source, on their own line as well.
  4. If you need to add any categories, type [[Category:(the category name)]] just like any other page.
  5. Click save.

What do I do if I find a file that doesn't meet these standards, or if I uploaded a file that doesn't meet these standards?

You can move the file to a new name!

  • For example, if the file is named "Catgender flag (3).jpg", you could move it to "Catgender 1 by Username Jan-02-2020.jpg". The "Move" option is found at the top of the file's page, nested in the ... menu. Click the menu and select move. It is ok to move a file page, and all users can move pages; you do not need any special permissions to move a page. (Please use the "leave a redirect" function.)
  • Note this doesn't actually work right now. Don't worry about it just contact a staff member to move something. This will probably change in the near future so this section is being left in for the moment.

You can also reupload the file under a new name and ask a staff member to delete the old one. Be sure to link the page directly.

What if my file uses the wrong type of file?

If your file is a webp or another bad file extension, moving it to a ".png" etc. page name won't fix it. To fix it, you can download the file and use an online converter to fix it. Just google something like WEBP to PNG or WEBP to GIF etc. I recommend using the ezgif file converter site mentioned previously. Then, reupload the file with a new, correct name. Notify the staff that the old page needs deleting.

What do I do after fixing the filename?

If the file is listed on any pages as the previous filename, please fix all the pages with the previous filename. This can be found at the bottom of the page. Any pages using the redirect to display this file will be indented, so they can be easily identified.

  • Fixing bad file links on pages is very simple:
  1. Copy the filename of the correct file page.
  2. Go into source edit for one of the pages that uses the old name.
  3. Locate all instances of the old filename and just completely replace them with the new name.
  4. Then save, and it will be fixed.
  5. For example, if your old filename is "File:Catgender flag (3).jpg", you can replace every instance of this with text replacement in the editor with "File:Catgender 1 by Username Jan-02-2020.jpg".
  6. Once there are no more pages using the redirect, ask a staff member to delete the old file page.

I don't know who made the file!

  1. First, look at where you got it from. If it doesn't attribute anyone, and then when you reverse search the image and it doesn't come up anywhere else, that account may be the original poster of the file.
  2. If some posts do come up with the image, check them out and see if anyone say they made the flag.
  3. If nobody seems to be attributed to the file, anywhere, credit the earliest post you can find. You can add a note that you aren't sure about the source.

I think the creator of the file uploaded it to a Wiki only! Help!

If you find a flag that was coined on a Wiki, with no external coining posts, then you have to cite the original wiki upload as mentioned in the Editing Guide. If the file page itself has no information, you can check the term page it's on and see if it has any attributions to anyone. Make sure to archive the term page (and file page if possible; screenshot the file page if not.)

If the flag is definitely an on-Wiki coin or you can't find it anywhere else:

  1. Go to the Wiki page for the file.
  2. Take a screenshot of the page.
  3. Write down who initially uploaded it and when. These should be from the FIRST version of the file, not any later edits.
  4. Copy the file link and archive it using the web archive or archive.is.
  5. Go back to the file upload screen or file move screen for the version of the file on our wiki.
  6. Use the wiki uploader's username as the creator name, and use the initial upload date as the date.
  7. Use the archived file page as the source.
  • If you are really anxious about the source, you can add a note and put the file in Category:Needs Source (Image) so someone can try to find it later.
  • If the Wiki page is clear that the wiki uploader didn't actually create the flag, credit them anyway, but write a note that we don't know who actually made it. "Unknown true creator" or "Unclear if this user created the flag" etc.

What categories should I add to a file?

For flags: [[Category:Image]], [[Category:Flag]], possibly [[Category:Gender Flag]] or [[Category:Orientation Flag]], [[Category:Flag (SVG)]] if applicable, and [[Category:Needs Source (Image)]] and [[Category:Needs Description (Image)]] if necessary.
For other images: [[Category:Image]], [[Category:Pride Graphic]] for page use and [[Category:Profile Decor]] if it's not planned for page use.
For non-image files: OGGs or MP3s use [[Category:Audio]], MP4s use [[Category:Video]], GIFs and APNGs use [[Category:GIF]], and SVGs use [[:Category:SVG]].
If you are uploading an image file, you can copy and paste this: {{Image|id=|idnote=|source=|sourcenote=|note=}} and then add categories.

Okay, ready to upload!

Great! Head to Special:Upload.

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