When a file is uploaded, sometimes its not being properly reported by the API for a very long time after the initial upload.
For example, File:DINNER (held by) ? (at) NIAGARA TO THE SEA (SS?;) (NYPL Hades-274181-468456).jpg looked like this 15 hours after upload:
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"query": {
"pages": {
"48145796": {
"pageid": 48145796,
"ns": 6,
"title": "File:DINNER (held by) ? (at) NIAGARA TO THE SEA (SS?;) (NYPL Hades-274181-468456).jpg"
}
}
}
}Even purging the page does not help. However, making a null edit does in fact always fix it:
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"query": {
"pages": {
"48145796": {
"pageid": 48145796,
"ns": 6,
"title": "File:DINNER (held by) ? (at) NIAGARA TO THE SEA (SS?;) (NYPL Hades-274181-468456).jpg",
"categories": [
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:Buttolph collection of menus"
},
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:Images from the New York Public Library"
},
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:Images uploaded by F\u00e6"
},
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:Media needing category review as of 12 April 2016"
},
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:PD-scan (PD-1923)"
},
{
"ns": 14,
"title": "Category:PD 1923"
}
]
}
}
}
}It looks like this has been occurring for over a year (link). It is causing tools to incorrectly report the categories of files; for example, see the number of false positives on this page .