This page is an attempt to construct a timeline of the confusion caused by deletions and uploadings of pictures without taking care to check that previous images existed at the same title, either on Wikipedia or on Commons, and failure to check what is really going on with a set of images.
Image histories
The images in question are:
- Wikipedia: File:Pavarotti.jpg (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
- Prior to the first upload date below, use of this image link on Wikipedia may have shown various images uploaded to Commons, or the image link may have linked to previous Wikipedia versions that were deleted before the latest image log was started on 21:48, 6 September 2007 with the upload of a "new version".
- 21:48, 6 September 2007, a new version uploaded by User:Ezeu
- Various protections and unprotections took place due to the image being on the Main Page
- 22:06, 6 September 2007, listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images by User:RockMFR
- 00:47, 7 September 2007, deleted by User:Ezeu (is at Commons)
- From 00:47, 7 September 2007 until 11:21, 8 September 2007, this image link on Wikipedia showed the Commons image of the Las Vegas waxwork model.
- From 11:21, 8 September 2007 until 14:40, 8 September 2007, this image link on Wikipedia showed as a red-link, with no image on Wikipedia or Commons.
- From 14:40, 8 September 2007 to 13:30, 9 September 2007, this image link on Wikipedia showed the Commons image of the Stade Velodrome performance.
- From 13:30, 9 September 2007, the image link turned red again, after deletion of the Commons image.
- Commons: Commons:Image:Pavarotti.jpg (edit|(talk|history|links|logs)
- 00:05, 23 January 2007, uploaded by Commons:User:Sandr0 (from en-wikipedia "Wax figure of Pavarotti found in Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas")
- 16:58, 9 July 2007, deleted by Commons:User:Polarlys (In category Copyright violation; not edited for 168 days)
- 09:57, 6 September 2007, uploaded by Commons:User:Dake (from flickr "Cropped picture of wax statue of Luciano Pavarotti")
- 15:11, 6 September 2007, deleted by Commons:User:Fb78 (wax figures are protected works of art)
- 20:05, 6 September 2007, uploaded by Commons:User:Bayo (from en-wikipedia "Wax figure of Pavarotti found in Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas")
- 11:21, 8 September 2007, deleted by Commons:User:Adambro (Derivative work)
- N.B. All the above pictures were of the Las Vegas waxwork.
- 14:40, 8 September 2007, uploaded by Commons:User:Ciell (Flickr image: "Stade Vélodrome (15/06/02)")
- N.B. This file is not of the waxwork, and is from a live performance given by Pavarotti in France in June 2002.
- 14:46, 8 September 2007, speedy deletion requested by Commons:User:Ciell using a "duplicate tag" pointing to Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg.
- 17:03, 8 September 2007, Commons:User:Yuval Y removes the speedy deletion tag with the comment: "this image is used in many wikipedias"
- 13:30, 9 September 2007, deleted by Commons:User:Bryan (Commons:Commons:Administrators' noticeboard#Confusion over Luciano Pavarotti images)
- Commons: Commons:Image:Luciano_Pavarotti_15.06.02.jpg (edit|(talk|history|links|logs)
- Commons: Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02 cropped.jpg (edit|(talk|history|links|logs)
Article histories
The articles in question are:
- Luciano Pavarotti (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
- 08:08, 16 March 2004, an early Wikipedia version of the Las Vegas waxwork image of Pavarotti (Image:Pavarotti.jpg) was added to the article.
- 09:52, 16 March 2004, the waxwork image Image:Pavarotti.jpg was replaced with Wikipedia's Image:Luciano Pavarotti.jpg with the comment "no wax models please!" This image persisted until 13:40, 5 July 2007 (when it was removed from the article), and was deleted from Wikipedia at 15:25, 17 July 2007.
- 13:40, 5 July 2007, Image:Luciano Pavarotti.jpg was replaced with Commons:Image:Lucianopavarotti1983.jpg. This image persisted until 08:00, 6 September 2007, when it was removed from the article by m:User:CommonsDelinker, following its deletion on Commons 11 minutes earlier at 07:49, 6 September 2007.
- 08:00, 6 September 2007, Image:Luciano Pavarotti.jpg was removed from the article by m:User:CommonsDelinker.
- 08:08, 6 September 2007, Image:Pavaro2.jpg (bronze bust) was added with the comment "how pathetic this is the only image we have - feel free to delete it if you dont like it".
- 11:37, 6 September 2007, over three years later, Image:Pavarotti.jpg (the Las Vegas waxwork image) is readded to the article with the bizarre assertion that this is Pavarotti "in 2003", swiftly corrected a few minutes later to say that it is a waxwork image.
- 12:53, 6 September 2007, Image:Pavarotti.jpg is replaced with Wikipedia's Image:Luciano Pavarotti b.jpg (non free image, uploaded 12:52, 6 September 2007, deleted 22:18, 6 September 2007 at user request).
- 18:26, 6 September 2007, Wikipedia's Image:Luciano Pavarotti b.jpg was removed with the comment "rmv fair use image. using "he's deceased" as an excuse to use a fair use image is pretty pathetic. he's only recently died. this image is currently still replaceable."
- 18:30, 6 September 2007, Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarottti is added. This Commons image (not to be confused with the earlier Wikipedia image of the same name) was uploaded 18:00, 6 September 2007, and deleted 22:04, 8 September 2007 after Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Image:Luciano Pavarotti.jpg).
- 21:48, 6 September 2007, Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarottti is removed with the comment "image tagged for deletion on commons as nonfree".
- 22:32, 6 September 2007, guess what? Image.Pavarotti.jpg (the Las Vegas waxwork image) reappears, and is removed 13 minutes later with the comment "removed wax figure [...] another image would be appreciated".
- 23:55, 6 September 2007, someone came up with the idea of moving the non-free image used lower down in the article, Image:Pavarotti as Rodolfo.jpg, into the infobox/lead section.
- 00:11, 7 September 2007, the bronze bust Image Pavaro2.jpg was readded to a section of the article.
- The image briefly came and went as a bout of edit warring broke out over the infobox.
- 09:18, 7 September 2007, the Rodolfo image was removed with the comment: "pavarotti has only recently died. using this as an excuse to use a fair use image to depict him is not only silly, but against policy. the image is replaceable."
- 10:11, 7 September 2007, the waxwork image was briefly readded, before being removed about an hour later with the comment: "I'll be honest, I just don't like that image in the article - feel free to revert me if you disagree".
- 11:48, 7 September 2007, finally, Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02 cropped.jpg, the free image of Pavarotti performing at a concert at the Stade Velodrome in 2002 is placed in the article. The image was added to the article by the same user who uploaded it 7 minutes earlier at Commons, and was a crop from Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg that was uploaded 8 minutes before that by the same user again. A few hours later, the uncropped image was used in a section of the article, replacing a commented-out deleted image.
- At this point, the image additions and removals should have stabilised. However, the next day (8 September), the waxwork image Commons:Image:Pavarotti.jpg was deleted from Commons, and the Stade Velodrome performance Flickr image that had already been uploaded to Commons as Commons:Image:Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg was uploaded again (at 14:40) as Commons:Image:Pavarotti.jpg. This meant that duplicate versions of the image existed on Commons, and the links on various Wikipedias (including en-wikipedia) pointing at what had previously been the Las Vegas waxwork image, were now pointing at a new and duplicate copy of the live performance image (the Stade Velodrome image). The uploader of the duplicate image, Commons:User:Ciell, seems to have realised the mistake, and 6 minutes later requested speedy deletion of 'Pavarotti.jpg' as a duplicate. However, this attempt to undo the mistake was unfortunately undone a few hours later (17:03) by Commons:User:Yuval Y, who removed the speedy tag with the comment "this image is used in many wikipedias". It is unclear whether the "many uses" comment refers to the 'Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg' link having been replaced by the 'Pavarotti.jpg' image link on many wikipedias, or whether lots of wikipedias still had old links to the waxwork image that had originally resided at this title, which were reactivated by upload at 14:40. Anyway, 1 minute later (17:04), Commons:User:Yuval Y added a speedy deletion tag to 'Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg', the original upload of the Stade Velodrome image, and that image gets deleted as an "unused duplicate" at 22:50. Presumably, by this time, all links to it had been replaced by links to 'Pavarotti.jpg'. However, old links to 'Pavarotti.jpg' were still referring to this as a waxwork image, when what people were now seeing was the Stade Velodrome image. This caused great confusion until the 'Luciano Pavarotti 15.06.02.jpg' image was restored on Commons (13:25, 9 September 2007), and the 'Pavarotti.jpg' image was re-deleted (13:30, 9 September 2007). The page history of Luciano Pavarotti between 14:40, 8 September and 13:30, 9 September, shows the confusion that was caused.
- Wax museum (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
- 07:13, 28 August 2003, an early Wikipedia version of the Las Vegas waxwork image of Pavarotti was added to the article on wax museums. The earliest version in which this image was correctly formatted is here (10:46, 25 February 2005).
- From 14:40, 8 September 2007 (upload date on Commons) to 08:40, 9 September 2007 (removed from article on Wikipedia), the article showed the 2002 photograph of a live performance by Pavarotti with the incorrect caption "A wax figure of Luciano Pavarotti in Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.". This misled several Wikipedia editors who stated, on the basis of this article, that the Stade Velodrome image was of a waxwork model.
- 08:40, 9 September 2007, the image was removed by User:RockMFR.
Other
Examples of confusion caused by this uploading of a new image over an old one can be found in other language wikipedias as well:
