Commons talk:Wiki Loves Earth 2018/Rules

Questionable changes of rules

This page and the changes on it are linked to from the (german orga's discussion page). So far four organizers have left their comments and none of them liked the changes. There has even been a little edit war on the Project page. I think it is better to discuss these topics here.

• Time: Why do the rules have to be changed now? Most national contests start next week, the orga teams have not yet been informed. They need time to react, change their own rules, withdraw from the contest or whatever.
• Resolution: Who needs pictures with a resolution of at least 5 MPx and why? Even the pixel fetishists at QI accept 2 MPx. The main purpose of WLE is the illustration of Wikipedia, not of your calendar.
• Coordinates: What is the problem to be addressed with coordinates? So far, a quite low percentage of WLE pictures has coordinates. An estimated 10 % of them are completely wrong and show the position of the uploader's hotel or living room. There are always pictures without any indicator where they have been made (file name, description, category, coordinates, uploader does not answer...). These pictures usually do not make it to the national jury. The national jury also checks for protected area, plausibility etc. Coordinates can be helpful in the process, but they are no cure for all diseases. It does not help anybody, if I add random coordinates for a position somewhere in a 250 km² biosphere reserve. We also have to accept if uploaders do not want to publish coordinates of orchids, peregrine falcon's nests and so on (even if I do not think that this is often the case).

--Blech (talk) 19:04, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

@Blech: Hello there! The only thing that has changed: coordinates. Please remember, that this is a set of rules for the international part. Your local contest can comply with the local rules. The only change is for those top 10 pictures that the local organisers will submit and the international team will accept and pass to the jury. We need the local teams to check the location and verify that this is indeed a picture in the protected area or a picture of a protected area (to a degree that it is possible). I have added more info to the FAQ section. Does it answer your concerns? --アンタナナ 16:16, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

@Antanana: You want to have a kind of guarantee, that the pictures are really taken in a protected area. Why don't you simply ask the local organizers to sign a declaration when they submit their Top 10: We carefully checked the pictures and we do not have doubts that they were taken in the protected area mentioned in the description. I would not mix the "guarantee" with coordinates. A coordinate does not guarantee anything, everybody can add a random one to a picture. Adding center-of-the-nationalpark-coordinates by local organizers even is a kind of abuse of coordinates. --Blech (talk) 20:33, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Can we accept photos without coordinates in local contests?

Note: This section is moved from the main project page: Concern: Yes, photos without coordinates can be accepted in local contests, but should such photo be nominated for the international part the author or the organising team will have to add coordinates or such photos will be disqualified.

This is no good idea adding coordinates to every photo. You forget, that protected plants like Orchidaceae often are lifted by people. Also many protected plants are sensitive to soil compaction. It is no need to know where a protected bird has its nid. Y 've spoken about this problem with several people working for nature conservation authorities or cooperating with them. Most of them evaluate coordinates as an additional risk for protected plants and animals. --Belladonna2 (talk) 09:55, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

It is unacceptable and without consensus to mandate coordinates. For monuments that would be understandable, in nature that is not! There are protected areas that do not necessarily have to be announced exactly to everyone. And we do not all live in developed industrial nations. Participants from Africa or Asia are already happy if they even own a camera. @Satdeep Gill: Please report on your experience that photographers from India still go to the lab with the film. Photographers in China have few options for retrospectively entering coordinates because the Internet is limited. We can not claim that coordinates have to be with every picture. (sorry, google translate) - Ralf Roleček 18:15, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

@Belladonna2: Hello there. I have added more information about the coordinates to the FAQ section about concerns for endangered species. As the international rules apply only for top 10 pictures from each participating country, there is no need to add coordinates to all submissions. Does this answer your concerns? --アンタナナ 16:19, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

Coordinates are not mandatory. With this requirement, many participants are excluded, which is not necessary. Fewest cameras have GPS installed, usually just phones. Do we want winning pictures only from phones? --Ralf Roleček 16:22, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

@Ralf Roletschek: Hi! I have added more information about 1) this page being the set of rules for the international part of the contest (so only top 10 submissions from each participating country should comply with them); 2) and what to do if your camera does not include coordinates automatically (the author or the local ream or people concerned can add them later even); 3) and if you (for some reason) cannot share the info about coordinates with the whole world. Does this answer your concerns? I am really sorry for us not being able to communicate this change soon enough: we had some technical reasons with the mailing list for the team and our core volunteer (responsible for communicating) was not active :( --アンタナナ 16:26, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

@Ralf Roletschek: P.S. I have added that "such photos might be disqualified", it makes it less mandatory and leaves it up to the international team to decide if they are going to find out the coordinates of the place (if we happen to know it, for example; or if it is famous and recognisable enough for google images) --アンタナナ 16:30, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

There is no consensus for this requirement. Here you are the only one who speaks out for it. Coordinates are not required in international competition. --Ralf Roleček 16:32, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

@Ralf Roletschek: I am speaking on behalf of the international team of this edition of Wiki Loves Earth. The changes to the rules were discussed in the mailing list of the international team. The rules of the international part are decided by the international team, as the one responsible for awarding winners of the international round and reporting about the project --アンタナナ 16:39, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

I only know this mailing list, where the topic was not mentioned. Local contests/organizers should be informed before a rule is changed. --Blech (talk) 20:46, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

As a member of the German jury I will suggest that we do not nominate any pictures for the international competition on these conditions. --Ralf Roleček 11:43, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

People in the photos

Can we upload pictures with people in the picture? Mikedelescapada (talk) 10:49, 6 May 2019 (UTC)