lar wrote:

Alternatively all of the missing images could be made spiffier if so desired.
But there is a feeling that the current "weird blob shape" (which to me looks
like a shape with control handles on it to adjust the curvature and so forth as
you would do in Inkscape) is more confusing than it is evocative of SVG.

Larry, I dissagree with you. The images shown in place of a missing/deleted
image shold not look like anything meaningfull, but make clear that this is what
it is, a missing image. Showing a blank image like for PNG and JPG is the
easiest solution and is the minimum solution for SVG.
A better solution would be to show a broken link, like with images outside a
gallery, or something else that can transport this message.
XorX

lar wrote:

making something "spiffier" has to still convey that the image is "missing".
Which the current svg image does not do. Perhaps if it was broken, or a red X
were on top of it, or whatever, as you say. But just using a blank white
rectangle might well be the very easiest to do, and would be an improvement over
what is there now, as Brianna points out. So I don't think we are disagreeing,
necessarily.

There just doesn't happen to be a specific icon for PNG, GIF, or JPEG at the
moment, so they get the generic icon.

Sorry Brion Vibber, but that is maybe not a solution for the problem. As I understand it, to achieve
the minimum solution for wikimedia commons (blank icons for missing SVG files) this would mean
to remove the generic icon for SVG files. Has this to be done in the software or is it a configuration
thing that can be done by a commons-administrator?

ayg wrote:

It can only be changed by a developer or sysadmin. Maybe the filename could be
added to messages so they're changeable by sysops to any uploaded image (check
that it's protected, though . . .). Or just use magic filenames.