Talk:MobileFrontend/Photo upload

I quite like the idea of games as it gives more incentive to upload articles. Just recording my ideas on this but am aware there is some overlap with the existing ones!

I could imagine a fun web/android/iphone app that gives you missions based on your location. For example if I was in Westminster, London I might get a mission to go visit Trafalgar square or Big Ben. When I get to within a certain radius of said location I would receive information from the wikipedia article relating to that location. I could also choose to not visit that place and ask for another suggestion. It could be marketed as a 'pocket guide book' that allows you to explore an area. One could imagine giving points for arriving at a location and for uploading images from that location and being able to join 'games' with other players. Such a game reminds me of geocaching.

I could imagine then when editing an article we could suggest images from the commons that might be applicable to the article and could be used. Jdlrobson (talk) 14:35, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Upload button on every article
No game points, but I've been using Google Maps on my phone to bicycle from one [W] to another. I tap the [W] to get the article summary, and tap the link to bring up the Beta mobile version. For a while in early December every article, illustrated or not, had a button for uploading the "first" picture for the article. It was great fun even though the the word "first" was often mistaken. Today bicycling down White Plains Road in southern Westchester County, I found many sites but no button. Disappointment was keen, though I knew it's only a Beta version and not intended to be stable. Is there a place where the trials, tribulations and fate of this feature are discussed? Jim.henderson (talk) 03:02, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Oh no! Such a shame :( Due to a few issues with the photo upload (many of the ones you suggest) it was moved from our beta mode to alpha mode (aka dragons mode) which you can also access from the settings page). In alpha there is also a generic photo upload tool which doesn't require a need to find a photo on articles. It should be back in beta and much more stable come next week! Jdlrobson (talk) 10:45, 21 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Ah. Splendid; thanks. Now I'm flying with dragons and seeing the upload button, though local weather may delay my next photoexpedition by a week. Jim.henderson (talk) 06:50, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

That was then. Today, walking around and finding unillustrated local articles, I saw no upload button directly on the "Dragon" edition. Instead there was a "Contribute" picture button under the menu button, so I did that for two pictures. They uploaded to Commons with and another similarly generic name, and no Commons category or entry in the Wikipedia article or other indication what it is except the caption I manually entered. What happened? Did I misunderstand something? Was the feature dropped for awhile? Or what? Jim.henderson (talk) 22:08, 26 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The feature is still there but shows up in slightly different circumstances. For example it now doesn't show up for articles with infoboxes and navboxes as the result of adding an image above these was looking strange. It also doesn't show up when a small image appears in the lead section. If you can point as at some example articles that you expect the photo upload to appear on we can fine tune things. The Donate image menu item is intended to provide a route to upload photos and add these to articles later.

This feature will be getting lots of attention over the next month so hopefully will gain some stability and even be promoted so more users can make use of it. There is also a nearby feature which should help with your bike rides to find candidates for your photos!

Thanks a lot for testing it out with such enthusiasm! Jdlrobson (talk) 00:03, 28 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, I've long enjoyed bicycling and comptering and hometown history, and when Wikiphotography combines them all, it's heaven except when some part of the system doesn't meet my wishlist, which is more often the software than anything else. This morning before setting out to photograph the windy Bronx I discussed this in Talk:Apps/Commons. The pictures whose treatment by the upload process disappointed me (their quality also disappointed me, but that's another matter) are File:Lead Photo For Special-DonateImage0-5087899656500667.jpg and File:Lead Photo For Special-DonateImage0-1913371654227376.jpg.


 * What disappointed me is that Commons got practically no information about them from the upload process, even though the mobile site knew what page I was looking at. I am not much disappointed at having to enter them manually into their respective articles, since an article is live, front-office merchandise and consumers shouldn't be offered rough cuts. But Commons is a back office, where the point is more to catch all relevant information for insiders to dig into, than to present it to outsiders in always presentable condition. So, yes, I'd like to see the upload button on all articles. When there's already a picture or complications such as infoboxes make difficulties for automatic insertion in the article, that part doesn't have to be done. But all the services previously done in Commons should still be done, ready for cleanup by human minds. Which means, it should be for insiders who won't be confused by the distinction. Maybe someday the whole thing including auto inserting can be ready for prime time. Jim.henderson (talk) 22:06, 31 January 2013 (UTC)