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Change upload dialog edit summary on Commons
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Description

We would like to change the upload comment left on Wikimedia Commons Commons by the upload dialog (also known as the cross-wiki upload tool) on other wikis. At the moment, this is Cross-wiki upload from $SITE, which causes confusion because people often think this means the upload is an import from another wiki. We would like this comment changed to Uploaded while editing "$PAGENAME" on $SITE, which makes it clearer that the file is a new upload and also convenient indicates where the uploader intended to use it.

Changing the comment requires changing a few abuse filters on Commons, and an admin on Commons has asked me to get approval in principle for this change from the system administrators before the abuse filters are changed. Please could you therefore tell me whether you are willing to make this change, but not actually change anything yet?

I think this is just an obvious change to $wgUploadDialog in CommonsSettings.php. Technically this applies to all wikis, but the affected uploads all actually happen on Commons, so I think local consensus on Commons is sufficient.

Local discussion:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Village_pump/Proposals&oldid=645816761#Changing_the_edit_comment_left_by_the_Cross-wiki_media_upload_tool

Request for agreement in principle from sysadmins:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons_talk:Abuse_filter&oldid=646009428#Proposed_change_of_cross-wiki_upload_edit_summaries_(third_attempt)

Event Timeline

Hi! I don't see any reasons not to implement that change globally if there's consensus to do so on Commons. According to the current value of wgForeignUploadTargets it'll only affect Commons and some test wikis.

bjh21 renamed this task from Agreement in principle: changing upload dialog automatic upload comments on Commons to Change upload dialog automatic upload comments on Commons.Apr 3 2022, 1:32 PM
bjh21 updated the task description. (Show Details)

The upload filters have now been changed on Commons: 153, 156, 158. That was the only precondition on the Commons side, so please could the sysadmins make this change at their convenience? I've updated the task description accordingly.

Change 776323 had a related patch set uploaded (by Zabe; author: Zabe):

[operations/mediawiki-config@master] Change upload dialog automatic upload comments

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/776323

Dcljr renamed this task from Change upload dialog automatic upload comments on Commons to Change upload dialog edit summary on Commons.Apr 3 2022, 8:29 PM

How do you plan to suppress comments for otherwise innocuous files? Re-upload them with a very slightly changed version and a comment saying "this new version only exists so we can suppress the original's upload comment", and suppress the original?

How do you plan to suppress comments for otherwise innocuous files?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Is this based on a scenario where someone uploads a file while editing a page on another wiki whose title is so objectionable that it can't be displayed on Commons?

Since I'm not an admin, I don't know what the options are for handling objectionable upload comments, but I assume there must be some since there are plenty of existing routes through which they can arrive (author name and source in the Upload Wizard, initial page text in Special:Upload, a free-text field when overwriting a file with Special:Upload...).

Change 776323 merged by jenkins-bot:

[operations/mediawiki-config@master] Change upload dialog automatic upload comments

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/776323

Mentioned in SAL (#wikimedia-operations) [2022-04-05T20:47:19Z] <urbanecm@deploy1002> Synchronized wmf-config/CommonSettings.php: 8ea86349017e71dcd38bde0663cfb13e86fe127c: Change upload dialog automatic upload comments (T305303) (duration: 00m 54s)

Zabe claimed this task.
Zabe removed a project: Patch-For-Review.
Zabe added a project: Commons.

How do you plan to suppress comments for otherwise innocuous files?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Is this based on a scenario where someone uploads a file while editing a page on another wiki whose title is so objectionable that it can't be displayed on Commons?

Yes. Upload comments don't show up on Special:NewFiles so may be a bit hidden from sysops; I worry about creating novel avenues for abuse without appropriate support in place for the community to react to them.

Since I'm not an admin, I don't know what the options are for handling objectionable upload comments, but I assume there must be some since there are plenty of existing routes through which they can arrive (author name and source in the Upload Wizard, initial page text in Special:Upload, a free-text field when overwriting a file with Special:Upload...).

Those are all wikitext creations that are very simple to over-write and suppress the old revision of; files are not. Was this extra burden on sysops just not considered at all?

Those are all wikitext creations that are very simple to over-write and suppress the old revision of

Everything that I mentioned is also copied into the upload comment. See, for example, File:Art Museum, Forest Park, St Louis.jpg, where I provided the source and (unknown) author, File:Stained Glass, The Great Hall at Rochdale Town Hall (geograph 5289596).jpg, where the upload comment is a copy of the initial page content, and File:Bus on Albion Terrace, Saltburn.jpg, where I provided the entire second upload comment. In all cases, just hiding the page revision will not, as I understand it, hide the upload comment.

Was this extra burden on sysops just not considered at all?

Certainly no-one mentioned it in the two and a half months the proposal was open on Commons, even though there were comments from two admins. I'll try explicitly asking about it at the Administrators' Noticeboard.

@Zabe Can underscores in page names be replaced with normal spaces instead? CC @bjh21.

Change 778475 had a related patch set uploaded (by Zabe; author: Zabe):

[mediawiki/core@master] Use spaces in page names instead of underscores for cross-wiki uploads

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/778475

Change 778475 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Use spaces in page names instead of underscores for cross-wiki uploads

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/778475

@Zabe Can underscores in page names be replaced with normal spaces instead? CC @bjh21.

Should be the case from next weeks train onward.

My question about the extra burden of hiding file comments that have undesirable page names in was archived from the Administrators' Noticeboard without any reply from an administrator: Commons:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive 88#Extra revision-hiding burden from change of cross-wiki upload comments. That suggests to me that the administrators don't think it will be a significant problem.

My question about the extra burden of hiding file comments that have undesirable page names in was archived from the Administrators' Noticeboard without any reply from an administrator: Commons:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive 88#Extra revision-hiding burden from change of cross-wiki upload comments. That suggests to me that the administrators don't think it will be a significant problem.

Sure, as long as they've had the opportunity to re-think it. Ideally this would have been discussed before the change, not after, but oh well. :-)