The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

There are a handful of instances where the shadowing of commons files is done deliberately, either as a placeholder to prevent poorly-named uploads (such as File:Background.jpg), or because Commons has a bizarre picture for a simple name (i.e. the widely used File:Otters.jpg which shadows Commons:File:Otters.jpg). Nevertheless, these images are tagged with {{ShadowsCommons}} and appear in Category:Wikipedia files that shadow a file on Wikimedia Commons as backlog items to be cleared.

I propose that an optional parameter, deliberate= be added to {{ShadowsCommons}}, which, if set to true, causes the template to note that no action is required and places the file in a new category Category:Wikipedia files that shadow a file on Wikimedia Commons (no action required) (a subcat of the above) so that they can be distinguished from backlog items needing attention. --LukeSurl ^{t c} 17:58, 3 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

• I suggest deleting all of those placeholder images. They show up in a lot of maintenance categories and do not seem useful. If you don't want people to upload files with that name, then it is enough to simply protect the file name. --Stefan2 (talk) 18:05, 3 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
• Also, things like File:Otters.jpg need to be resolved. Users sometimes copy wikicode from one project to another project, and it is confusing if you see different images on different projects. I solved File:Otters.jpg by uploading it to Commons under a different name and then tagging it for speedy deletion. --Stefan2 (talk) 18:12, 3 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
• Regarding File:Background.jpg it was deleted on Commons for being an overly vague name. Perhaps the way to go about this is to either ask the Commons admins to redirect it to commons:File:Name.jpg or just delete and salt the local copy. commons:File:Otters.jpg could be redirected in the same way.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 13:43, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Local salting on English Wikipedia is inappropriate in many ways. One problem is that it is still possible to upload files with the same name on Commons, causing trouble for us when we need to unshadow Commons and for the uploader who can't use the file on English Wikipedia until it has been unshadowed on Commons. It would in my opinion be a very good idea to unsalt all file names on English Wikipedia and then salt the same file names on Commons instead. --Stefan2 (talk) 13:48, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    • Well, if you don't salt the local filename as well, then an inappropriately named image can still be uploaded locally.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 13:54, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
      • You need the reupload-shared user right in order to upload a local image if one already exists with the same name on Commons. According to Special:ListGroupRights, admins are the only ones who have this user right. --Stefan2 (talk) 14:07, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.