Shortcut: COM:AN

Note

• Remember to sign and date all comments using four tildes (~~~~), which translates into a signature and a time stamp.
• Notify the user(s) concerned via their user talk page(s). {{subst:Discussion-notice|noticeboard=COM:AN|thread=|reason=}} ~~~~ is available for this.
• Administrators: Please make a note if a report is dealt with, to avoid unnecessary responses by other admins.

Uploads by Mheekanong

Mheekanong (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · edit filter log · block user · block log) is a new account (created on June 10, 2025) that has uploaded several photo from the official website en:Japanese Imperial Household Agency. All of these photo's are licensed as {{CC-by-4.0}} which could be OK per kunaicho.go.jp/e-copyright/ but which is something that probably needs to be assessed given the "No infringement of third party rights" section which specifically makes mention of photographs of the Japanese Imperial family. All of the uploads seems to be sourced to kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/activity/activity03.html, but only File:Prince Hisahito in early summer 2024.jpg seems to be directly taken from that page: this file, by the way, has COM:OVERWRITE issues and probably needs to be split if properly licensed. Most likely these photos come from some inner page of the agency's official website, but a direct link to their source page probably needs to be provided, assuming the "CC-by-4.0" licensing is correct. I think this was a good-faith attempt to upload these files, which is why I'm asking about it here instead of COM:AN/U: however, the licensing claim really should be assessed by more people because if it's OK, then there are lots of photos from the agency's site which could be uploaded and used under similar terms. -- Marchjuly (talk) 06:58, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for your feedback. I admit I'm new to editing Wikipedia and understanding image copyrights. I've been gradually updating information about the Japanese Imperial Family for a while now and noticed that photos of the family members haven't been updated in many years. That's why I tried to find a way to update them and came across the copyright permissions on the Imperial Household Agency's website.

Regarding "No infringement of third party rights," my understanding is that the Imperial Household Agency's role is to publicize and disseminate the activities of the Imperial Family members (third parties). Naturally, these activities would always present them in a positive light, causing no harm to the individuals.

I also agree that I should update the sources for some of the images I've uploaded. I'll go in and correct the details for those specific photos. Thanks for understanding my intentions. Mheekanong (talk) 07:43, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

@Mheekanong: I'm not sure you got the point. "No infringement of third party rights" is almost certainly not about the personality rights of the royal family, which are non-copyright restrictions in any case, and could be covered (if relevant) with {{Personality rights}}. It presumably refers to the intellectual property rights (copyright) of photographers whose copyrighted work may be reproduced on the site. - Jmabel ! talk 17:25, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

The two examples given by the website are "portrait rights in a photograph, publicity rights". Wouldn't these be personality rights? Dajasj (talk) 20:11, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

Ah, then those would be non-copyright restrictions, fully dealt with by {{Personality rights}}. - Jmabel ! talk 23:53, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

I've reviewed the Imperial Household Agency's (IHA) website licensing information again, and it explicitly states: "Matters pertaining to copyrights, images and likenesses of members of the Imperial Family 1. 2). Persons wishing to make use of the above mentioned items, are requested to submit an inquiry to the contact detailed below." (https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-copyright/other-terms.html)

So, I've already sent an inquiry to the IHA regarding these terms on June 16, 2025. However, I have no way of knowing if or when they will reply.

I understand that this file has been nominated for deletion, and I acknowledge that it hasn't yet received formal approval from the source. Nevertheless, I believe this discussion isn't conclusive until we receive a response from the IHA. While I'm willing to agree to the deletion of some less important images, but I request that certain essential images, such as the updated profile pictures of Imperial Family members, should be kept for now. If you see the articles for younger members of the Imperial Family, you'll notice there are currently no photos that fully meet free license requirements. This means if these are deleted, there will be no accompanying images in their articles, which I wish to avoid.

Furthermore, keeping these specific images would help prevent other users from uploading the same images from the same source in the future, which would inevitably lead to repetitive deletion discussions. I believe consolidating this discussion here, with a clear status that we're awaiting official permission, is a more efficient approach than deleting them now.

While awaiting response, I will not upload any new images from the IHA. Should I receive a clear denial of permission, I'm fully prepared to request the immediate deletion of this file without any objections.

Finally, to any fellow members contributing to Japanese Imperial Family articles who are reading this: I encourage you to also send inquiries to the IHA website. More inquiries might lead to a quicker response from the source.

Looking forward to hearing diverse opinions. Thank you. Mheekanong (talk) 13:42, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Commons can only keep these images if it can be verified that they're licensed in accordance with COM:L; otherwise, they're most likely going to end up deleted per COM:PCP. Moreover, Commons most likely isn't going to wait until you or anyone else receives a reply from the assumed copyright holder of these images. The files listed above have been nominated for deletion, and that deletion discussion is going to last at least seven days; so, if you want to make an argument in favor of keeping these files, then that's the venue (not here anymore) where you should do so. Please understand, though, though the lack of freely licensed images of members of the Japanese Imperial Family isn't really relevant to what's being discussed in that deletion discussion because that's not really a concern of Commons. Commons doesn't accept fair use content of any type and that's not going to change just because there are no free equivalent images currently available of the younger members of Imperial Family. In the same vain, Commons isn't going to keep content with invalid copyright licenses (even temporarily) just to stop others from uploading similar content in the future; if such a thing were to happen, then said content would just need to be nominated for deletion.

One thing that you might not be familiar with about Commons is that the "deletion" of a file from Commons doesn't mean it's gone forever so to speak; the file will still be found on Commons' servers and only really just hidden from public view. So, even if the deletion discussion results in the file's being deleted; they're still there in a sense and can be relatively easily restored if copyright holder consent is subsequently verified or the reasons for deleting the file's are subsequently addressed. This can be done per COM:REFUND.

If all this seems too rash, please try to understand that possibility of someone using these files outside of Commons or any of the Wikipedias increases the longer the files remain on Commons. You've basically licensed the files in a way that allows them to be used by anyone anywhere in the world in pretty much anyway they want, which includes ways that copyright holder might not like. There's no way to limit the use of these files to "Wikipedia only", "educational use only", "non-commercial use", "non-derivative use only", etc. even though you personally might not have uploaded the files to be used in such a way. This is fine when the licensing of the files can be verified to be what the copyright holder wants, but otherwise it can potentially lead to problems not just for Commons and copyright holders but also for good-faith re-users of the files. -- Marchjuly (talk) 03:07, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation. I'll try requesting it under my country's Wikipedia project for Non-free Content. Mheekanong (talk) 03:52, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

Edits by an Indian LTA

IPs in the range Special:Contributions/2409:4040:0:0:0:0:0:0/32 have been responsible for adding completely false information or just spamming random Unicode characters to several wikis (example on enwiki). Here on Commons, they keep creating categories about Unicode blocks that don't exist like Category:Unicode 1CB00-1CB6F Box Drawing Supplement and Category:Unicode 1CB70-1CBFF Chess Symbols Supplement. They also add blocks to Category:Characters introduced in Unicode 17.0 even if no characters are being added. For an example of that, see Category:Unicode 1E030-1E08F Cyrillic Extended-D which had this edit done on it even though the official Unicode website says no characters will be added to this block in Unicode 17.0. This is an LTA that has been doing this for years. I request that they be blocked (I'm guessing the /32 is too wide and will catch good editors in the crossfire so just the subrange the LTA is using) and all their changes be rollbacked. Warudo (talk) 15:25, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

 Done I soft-blocked the range for 2 weeks. Hopefully they would create an account, so we can discuss. Yann (talk) 15:44, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

They won't. Ever since I came across this user on enwiki, they haven't used a talk page once. Nor did they engage with the ANI thread. They will just wait for the block to expire and do it again. In any case, thanks for taking care of it. Warudo (talk) 16:20, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

Also, they sometimes edit outside the /32. See w:Special:Contributions/2409:4080:8A:3D73:FAC3:1E27:B3E3:20A5 on enwiki for an IP outside that range doing the same things. Warudo (talk) 16:46, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

User:Jonathan le Niska BP

User:Jonathan le Niska BP, a new user, has been adding their username to pages as a French caption. See . Not sure if this is deliberate vandalism or just a new user experimenting, but thought it was worth kicking up the chain, as it were. - The Bushranger (talk) 21:30, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

Once is an experiment. If they keep doing it, we can take action. The Squirrel Conspiracy (talk) 04:11, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Block evasion

8diq (talk · contributions · Statistics · Recent activity · block log · User rights log · uploads · Global account information) (assign permissions)

Block evasion by 8bhakt. The user has mentioned this by themselves on their user page. 8diq got active only after 8bhakt was blocked by @Yann a few days before. 8diq is the older account. This too has been previously blocked twice for uploading un-free files even after warnings. Both the Talk pages are full of red notices. They have uploaded a few GODL-India files. I too uploaded the same files from the same source. But 8diq uploaded them first. The problem I wasn't warned while uploading was bcoz they removed the Exifs. So I believe we should be deleting their uploads since they were made while evading block. I will be mentioning them below in a few minutes. Thank you. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 12:35, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Also to note that these are COM:INUSE but still their versions should be deleted bcoz it was made during evading block. Also my versions carry the Exif, relevant categories and source depiction in the best possible way. The replace can be carried out by the CommonsDelinker by Move & Replace command upon deletion with redirect.
My uploads → Their uploads

• File:Prime Minister of Bharat, Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi is received by the President of Cyprus, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides on his arrival.jpg → File:PM Modi meets President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, June 2025.jpg
• File:Prime Minister of Bharat, Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi receives ‘The Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III’.jpg → File:Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded the Grand Collar of the Order of Makarios III by Cyprus.jpg

These are the recent ones that I found. There might be some more. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 12:45, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

They removed this thread once at Revision as of 12:40, 16 June 2025. And they removed the admission at their user page at Revision as of 12:41, 16 June 2025. It can still be found in Revision as of 15:10, 15 June 2025. Thank you. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 12:50, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

== Response from 8diq == 8diq (talk) 13:10, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Shaan Sengupta,

I respectfully deny the allegation of block evasion. My account "8diq" is older and independent. It has no connection with the account "8bhakt". If there is a similarity in topics or file uploads, it is likely due to shared interest in documenting official Bharat-related subjects, especially government releases.

The GODL-India files I uploaded are sourced from official Indian government websites such as https://pib.gov.in and https://india.gov.in, which are considered acceptable under Commons policies (GODL license). Any missing EXIF data was not intentionally removed — many images from official government sources come without EXIFs, or they get stripped during compression or sharing.

I am always open to correction if any technical error exists in a file. Please assume good faith and point out any specific concern so I can review and improve it. However, labeling my activity as block evasion without solid evidence is not fair.

Thank you.

– User:8diq== Clarification regarding Block Evasion Allegation ==

Hello @Shaan Sengupta,

I respectfully deny the allegation of block evasion. My account User:8diq is older and completely independent. It has **no connection** with the account 8bhakt. Any similarity in topics or file uploads is purely coincidental due to shared interest in documenting official Bharat (India)-related content — especially material available under government licenses.

All files I uploaded under the GODL-India license are sourced from official Indian government portals such as PIB.gov.in and India.gov.in, which are widely accepted under Commons licensing guidelines. If any file is missing EXIF data, it was not done intentionally. Many official images are released without embedded metadata or may lose it during web compression.

I fully respect Commons guidelines and am always open to constructive feedback or correction if any issue exists. I kindly request that you assume good faith as per our community norms and avoid making strong accusations without concrete evidence.

Thank you.

– User:8diq — Preceding unsigned comment added by 8diq (talk • contribs) 12:47, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

• The exact same way of writing, just like 8bhakt wrote in their unblock requests at their TP. Also both here and at the TP looks AI-generated. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 13:05, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

 Done. I blocked both indefinitely, including 8bhakt without talkpage access. Any unblock request must come under account 8diq without using artificial intelligence and it must refer block reasons (abusing multiple accounts) and lying in administrators' noticeboard. Taivo (talk) 21:04, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Would you support an policy against using AI to communicate? Trade (talk) 23:02, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Yes and no. It's difficult to make difference, at least for me, and I do not want to lean on others, at least in that matter. But AI-generated unblock requests are not good, because they do not show, that the user understands, why (s)he is blocked. Taivo (talk) 09:31, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

@Trade I think some things are better unwritten. Anyways, the whole community generally rejects AI-generated responses across WikiProjects. Still if a need for a written rule arises, I am all in for it. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 10:31, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

@Taivo you seem to have missed the second part of my request, i.e. the duplicates. I have explained everything above about that too. Thank you. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 03:17, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

I deleted two scaled-down duplicates. Taivo (talk) 09:31, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks Taivo. I believe we are done here. Shaan Sengupta^Talk 10:29, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Revision delete request

Hello, I request any admin to delete the previous two versions/revisions of this File:Green Vehicle Expo 2025 (Bangalore International Exhibition Centre) 145.jpg. The reason is because I used original QRcodes in the previous uploads, now I have used dummy: File:QR Code Example.svg. --Gpkp (talk) 11:16, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

@Gpkp  Done. Best, ChemSim (talk) 12:31, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

Thank you @ChemSim: . --Gpkp (talk) 12:39, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

Clarification needed: Use of user talk: pages whilst blocked?

This at User_talk:Dronebogus#You_have_been_blocked_for_a_duration_of_1_week_2 seems to be a really startling interpretation of talk: page access policy for blocked editors.

Finally, because you are only allowed to edit your talk page to request an unblock, which you already did, you should not respond any further comments or talk page access will certainly be revoked.

I've never seen this before. I've never seen it cited, I've never seen it implemented. WTF ? Even to the extent of this.

Is this a real policy? Where is it stated? I don't see Commons:Blocking_policy#Appealing_a_block as supporting this interpretation.

@Bedivere: @Dronebogus: , @HingWahStreet: Andy Dingley (talk) 14:26, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

It seems to depend on whether the talk page usage qualifies as "abuse". AFAIK, there is no guidance indicating that anything other than requesting an unblock constitutes abuse. GMG^talk 14:56, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

Re. "to the extent of this" - I don't see how that's related. The edit being reverted was by HingWahStreet, not Dronebogus. I agree that it's inappropriate for another user to configure archiving for an active user's talk page. Omphalographer (talk) 18:10, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

I don't see anything here that gets into the range of being a problem, but if it were to continue at this pace for several more days, that might be an issue. - Jmabel ! talk 19:35, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

• I would disagree that it's inappropriate for another user to configure archiving for an active user's talk page. Archiving is a PITA. It's often tricky to set up, in particular because most editors need to do it so rarely. For an editor to see a page that clearly needs it, to do the necessary, and especially when they label that clearly as 'Here's a default setup for you, do what you want with it, including reverting it' I would see that as absolutely a helpful and good faith action from one editor to another, and in this case evidently welcomed.

In today's missing the point special, this post here is nothing to with archiving, or even with HingWahStreet. (I pinged them only out of courtesy). This is about Bedivere making up policies that no-one has ever seen before, and threatening that talk page access will be revoked without any further option for discussion. (I don't write "will certainly be" if it's just a polite request to not do it again.) We don't have any such policy. It is wrong (but sadly not unheard of) to threaten editors for breaching policies that don't exist. Andy Dingley (talk) 20:45, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

@Andy Dingley @Andy Dingley Sorry for that. I would consult others first before setting it up (I replied to Bedivere here). 〈興華街〉📅❓ 01:27, 20 June 2025 (UTC)

Quoting from Template:unblock: Please note that trolling or otherwise abusing your ability to edit your talk page will result in that ability being revoked. Counterfeit Purses (talk) 21:02, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

We all knew that. Andy Dingley (talk) 21:39, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

• I view the threat to revoke TPA in the context the comment immediately above it, Dronebogus saying "I didn’t know pings worked while blocked, that’s interesting". If they abuse that functionality to troll, revoking TPA is clearly within policy. If they don't, it isn't. The Squirrel Conspiracy (talk) 22:13, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

  Exactly. The word choice may not have been the best but that's exactly what I meant. And the blocking policy allows for interpretation on what is meant to be an abuse of talk page edit access. Using a talk page to ping users to start conversations while blocked is not OK imo (they did do that by pinging me, by the way). Moreover, my final comment on Dronebogus' talk page is a friendly one, urging them to just take some days off while blocked. Bedivere (talk) 00:29, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

  This is what the case of Shāntián Tàiláng actually did: blocked in wikt, pinging others cross-wiki in its talk page asking for edits in wikt, and led to a global ban. But not responding to any comment is somehow impolite, I think. 〈興華街〉📅❓ 01:15, 20 June 2025 (UTC)

Edit war

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Motd/2025-06-21&action=history

I put up a VOA Chinese video on the topic of world refugee day (20 june) as Template:Motd/2025-06-21 and restored it once. User:Prototyperspective has now removed it twice. I expect the motd be restored. RoyZuo (talk) 21:15, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

I added English subtitles to the video, so there shouldn't be any problems with it anymore. Tvpuppy (talk) 00:14, 20 June 2025 (UTC)