User talk:DCCollis

Welcome!
Hello, DCCollis, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful: Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome!
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You are doing good work. One of the things that is lacking with many existing politics articles is poor referencing. You should get into the habit of always stating your sources when you work on something. I'm most happy to show you how that's done. If you want a hand with anything, reply right here and I'll see what I can do.  Schwede 66  18:33, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Photos and copyright
Hi there, I see that you are working your way closer to the present, and that brings you into the area where copyright for photos is an issue. I have several suggestions:
 * Do not upload photos to Wikipedia, but upload them to Wikimedia Commons. That's much cleaner.
 * Most important politicians would have a category set up for them. Simply add photos to the category - that is the most important thing to do with photos that you upload to Wikimedia Commons.
 * Only upload photos when they are clearly out of copyright. This template summarises the most important copyright issues for NZ.
 * One of the important bits is that the photographer must have died before 1 January 1963. On the next New Year's Day, that date moves one year forward.

One of the most prolific photographers of NZ politicians was Stanley Polkinghorne Andrew, who died in 1964. Hence, on 1 January 2015, copyright on his photos will expire. I suggest you and I lean back, wait 15 months, and then start uploading big time. In the meantime, concentrate on those photos that are free. I can't see this file lasting very long. My understanding is that since a free photo is available, there is no reason to host an unfree photo. That said, I'm by no means an expert on copyright.

There's nothing wrong with uploading files from the National Library. It does not matter what they say about copyright of individual photos, but what matters are the issues outlined in the linked template. They certainly don't like it when you help yourself to their photos, but there's nothing they can do about it. They do make it hard for users to get to the high resolution originals, though. If you are interested, I can write down some instructions how to go about it.  Schwede 66  09:22, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

National Library photos
Hi Schwede66,

Thank you for your comments so far. As of last week I am completely new to editing on Wikipedia. I was just searching through political pages and saw an area for development with the vast information that I currently have about politics in New Zealand.

I would be interested in finding out about how to get high resolution images from the National library.

Thanks, Douglas


 * I hope these instructions make sense.  Schwede 66  22:04, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Replaceable fair use File:Joseph Gordon Coates 1931.jpg
Thanks for uploading File:Joseph Gordon Coates 1931.jpg. I noticed that this file is being used under a claim of fair use. However, I think that the way it is being used fails the first non-free content criterion. This criterion states that files used under claims of fair use may have no free equivalent; in other words, if the file could be adequately covered by a freely-licensed file or by text alone, then it may not be used on Wikipedia. If you believe this file is not replaceable, please:


 * 1) Go to the file description page and add the text   below the original replaceable fair use template, replacing   with a short explanation of why the file is not replaceable.
 * 2) On the file discussion page, write a full explanation of why you believe the file is not replaceable.

Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media item by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by creating new media yourself (for example, by taking your own photograph of the subject).

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these media fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on [ this link]. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per the non-free content policy. If you have any questions, please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. A free alternative has recently been uploaded to Commons. The Big Bad Wolfowitz (aka Hullaballoo) (talk) 18:39, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Joseph Gordon Coates 1931.jpg
 Thanks for uploading File:Joseph Gordon Coates 1931.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 02:55, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

New Challenge for Oceania and Australia
Hi, WikiProject Oceania/The 10,000 Challenge and WikiProject Australia/The 5000 Challenge are up and running based on The 10,000 Challenge which has currently produced over 2300 article improvements and creations. The Australia challenge would feed into the wider region one and potentially New Zealand could have a smaller challenge too. The main goal is content improvement, tackling stale old stubs and important content and improving sourcing/making more consistent but new articles are also welcome if sourced. I understand that this is a big goal for regular editors, especially being summertime where you are, but if you'd like to see large scale quality improvements happening for Oceania and Australia like The Africa Destubathon, which has produced over 1700 articles in 5 weeks, sign up on the page. The idea will be an ongoing national editathon/challenge for the region but fuelled by a series of contests to really get articles on every province and subject mass improved. The Africa contest scaled worldwide would naturally provide great benefits to Oceania countries, particularly Australia and attract new editors. I would like some support from existing editors here to get the Challenges off to a start with some articles to make doing a Destubathon worthwhile and potentially bring about hundreds of improvements in a few weeks through a contest! Cheers.♦ --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:12, 24 November 2016 (UTC)