User:Jkelly/Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion closure flowchart

The following is a flowchart to assist in the decision-making process for Administrators who are closing Images and media for deletion nominations. This is not a Wikipedia guideline, nor the proposition of one, but is intended only as a potentially useful tool for navigating IfD or as an explanation of closure decisions to other parties. For the brief official advice, see Images_and_media_for_deletion/Instructions_for_administrators. Remember to follow common-sense media deletion rules, including removing references to any media to be deleted from any namespace the media is being rendered in or linked from.

Follow the steps below to help determine what should be done with media nominated for deletion.

If the nomination was uncontested
Even uncontested nominations can require judgement and research on the part of the closing administrator.

Is the media released under a free license or in the public domain?

 * 1) If the nominator is the author of the media, delete with summary "By request of author at Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".
 * 2) Are there any publicity or likeness rights concerns? Is the media an image of a departed Wikipedian or the friends of a departed Wikipedian?  Is the media an image of a person whose biography was deleted for failing WP:BIO and we have therefore argued that they are not a "public figure"?  If so, delete with summary "Uncontested nomination from Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".
 * 3) Is verifying that the claim of the media being released under a free license or in the public domain impossible? Does the media lack source or authorship information and is not clearly the work of the uploader?  Check the image page history for edit summaries that may indicate more information than is present on the image page.  Check any captions that were used for the image in articles that the uploader placed the image into.  Search for the image on Google.   If verifying the license claim fails, delete with summary "Uncontested nomination from Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".
 * 4) Is it absolutely inconceivable that the media could serve any educational or aesthetic purpose? If so, delete with summary "Uncontested nomination from Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".

If none of the above conditions are true, move the media to Wikimedia Commons. If the media was released under the GFDL, remember to individually upload every revision of the media with proper authorship information in the upload summary, or use the Transwiki system. Remember to provide all available information about the media, use a descriptive media title, and to place it within either a Commons article or Commons category so that the media may be easily found by users. Delete the media on en: with the summary "Now at Commons". If you changed the title when moving, include the new title in your deletion summary.

Is the media a copyright infringement being defended by a claim of Fair use?

 * 1) Is the media lacking detailed source, authorship, and copyright holder information, or lacking any sort of Fair use rationale? If so, delete with summary "Uncontested nomination from Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date, also fails WP:FUC. ".
 * 2) Has the media been orphaned for more than seven days, or is only being used in Template: or User: space? If so, delete with summary " Criteria for speedy deletion I5:  Unused image not under a free license. ".
 * 3) Was the nomination performed correctly, including notifying the uploader and placing Template:Ifd on the image description page, and Template:Ifdc in any captions? If so, delete with summary "Uncontested nomination from Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".

If the media is both not in egregious violation of Image use policy or Fair use criteria and the nomination was not completed correctly, evaluate the media's use. If the image can be replaced with a freely-licensed alternative, do so, and place the image into Category:Orphaned fairuse images. If it is theoretically replacable, but there is no currently available media with which to do so, add Template:Fair use replace to the image description page and relist for deletion after completing all steps in listing for deletion. If the reasoning behind the nomination was that the image was a copyright infringement, place the template Template:Fairusedisputed on the image description page and relist for deletion after completing all steps in listing for deletion.

If the nomination is contested
Determining consensus by Wikipedia standards in contested media deletions involves the judgement of the closing administrator. That judgement involves evaluating the merits of the arguments presented in any discussion, and an understanding of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, but not a judgement on the merits of the media. Don't defer responsibility by only using a straightforward tallying of "votes".

Is the media released under a free license or in the public domain?

 * 1) If the nominator is the author of the media, delete with summary "By request of author at Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date ".
 * 2) Is verifying that the claim of the media being released under a free license or in the public domain impossible? Does the media lack source or authorship information and is not clearly the work of the uploader?  Check the media page history for edit summaries that may indicate more information than is present on the description page.  Check any captions that were used for the media in articles that the uploader placed the image into.  Search for the image on Google.   If verifying the license claim fails, apply either Template:Nsd or Template:Nld depending upon the problem to the media description page, follow the template's instructions for alerting the uploader.  Editors who have expressed interest in keeping the media should also be notified, as they may expend time and effort towards, or have additional information that is helpful in, solving the problem.

Otherwise move the media to Wikimedia Commons. Images that have anything but the most spurious arguments against deletion are almost certainly of value to a Wikimedia project, and the nominator's wishes are also being satisfied. If the media was released under the GFDL, remember to individually upload every revision of the media with proper authorship information in the upload summary, or use the Transwiki system. Remember to provide all available information about the media, use a descriptive media title, and to place it within either a Commons article or Commons category so that the media may be easily found by users. Delete the media on en: with the summary "Now at Commons". If you changed the title when moving, include the new title in your deletion summary.

Is the media a copyright infringement being defended by a claim of Fair use?

 * 1) Has the media been orphaned for more than seven days, or is only being used in Template: or User: space? If so, delete with summary " Criteria for speedy deletion I5:  Unused image not under a free license. ".
 * 2) Ignore any arguments against deleting the media that do not take into account Image use policy or Fair use criteria. If no remaining arguments against deletion remain, delete with summary "Nomination at Images and media for deletion/Year Month Date and contravenes Image use policy".
 * 3) If arguments are based in policy, but the media is lacking detailed source, authorship, and copyright holder information, apply either Template:Nsd or Template:Nld, depending upon the problem, to the media description page and follow the template's instructions for alerting the uploader.  Editors who have expressed interest in keeping the media should also be notified, as they may expend time and effort towards, or have additional information that is helpful in, solving the problem.

If the arguments to continue to infringe upon copyright are more convincing than any arguments to delete, consider not deleting the media.

Keeping copyright infringing images
Be conservative in closing IfDs of copyright infringing media as a decision to continue hosting the media on the Wikimedia servers. Remember that you have been asked by the nominator to remove a copyright infringement, have the ability to do so, and are making the deliberate decision to continue the infringement. At the same time, remember that en:Wikipedia has made the decision that certain unfree-copyrighted media can qualify as fair use.

Any kept media should have their Ifd template removed, and a note left on the media's Talk page linking to the appropriate Images and media for deletion subpage. Remember to add any appropriate templates, such as Template:Fairusedisputed or Template:Fairusereplace. If the media is a copyright infringment lacking a fair use rationale, provide one or ask one of those users arguing that the media should be kept to do so. This will involve specifying exactly which articles the media are claimed to be fair use in. If no one involved is comfortable signing a fair use rationale, this is likely an indication that the media should instead be deleted.

Complaints
Image deletion complaints are often from users who missed the IfD notification. Special care should be taken to avoid deleting media created by users that have edited in the recent past but not since the IfD notification was placed on their Talk page. Refer complaints about unfree media being deleted to Image use policy and Fair use criteria. Many users that accept that they have no ownership of an article can forget that they do not own uploaded media, either. As always, assume good faith and practice civility.