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Restrict non-(auto)confirmed users of most, if not all, wikis besides Commons from cross-wiki uploading
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Description

Per unanimous consensus at Commons, users who are neither confirmed nor autoconfirmed nor above must be restricted from transferring uploads from one local wiki to Commons. In other words, IP editors (who are neither confirmed nor autoconfirmed) may be also restricted from using the tools.

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This task, IMO, must apply to the FileImporter extension, (already done, perhaps? per T370598#10105456) the Upload dialog, and any other applicable tools that perform cross-wiki uploading. Of course, technical limitations of making changes to these tools might make this task impossible to fully achieve.
(EDIT end)

Abuse filter was already made at Commons to implement such restriction, but I can't help wonder whether it's adequate to prevent such users from misusing crosswiki tools. As I think, most (if not all) local wikis must also restrict such new users from misusing crosswiki tools

Per a study conducted by WMF on English and Arabic Wikipedia users (document), many uploads by new users tend to be eventually deleted primarily for copyright infringement and/or out of the project's scope, and many survey participants (new to uploading) were "marketers" or "self-promoters".

The implementation was discussed especially at Meta-wiki, but almost no replies have been made from what I've learned. Implicitly, no opposition or objection was raised.

tl;dr Besides Commons, most local wikis must also restrict non-(auto)confirmed editors (most likely especially IP users) from transferring uploads from local wiki to Commons. (Almost) no opposition to such implementation was raised at this time.

EDIT: Just realized that IP editors may be already restricted from uploading files to or in Commons.

Event Timeline

Let's say someone is autoconfirmed at English Wikipedia, but not on Commons. Would you want them to be allowed to upload or not? And vice versa?

Shouldn't be just autoconfirmed (or perhaps a new permission specific to upload dialog) on Commons? That would be more straightforward and make more sense to me. At least an autoconfirmed user at Commons is more familar with Commons procedures than a user without that permission.

Let's say someone is autoconfirmed at English Wikipedia, but not on Commons. Would you want them to be allowed to upload or not? And vice versa?

Shouldn't be just autoconfirmed (or perhaps a new permission specific to upload dialog) on Commons? That would be more straightforward and make more sense to me.

@whym Dunno why a non-autoconfirmed Commons user is and should be treated as any different from a non-autoconfirmed Wikipedia user, aside from extra criterion (ten edits minimum) for enwiki autoconfirmed users. The WMF study was more concerned about English and Arabic Wikipedia editors, so this task should concern enwiki and/or arwiki users as well.

gh87 renamed this task from Restrict non-(auto)confirmed users from cross-wiki uploading to Restrict non-(auto)confirmed users most, if not all, wikis besides Commons from cross-wiki uploading.Jul 22 2024, 12:11 AM
gh87 renamed this task from Restrict non-(auto)confirmed users most, if not all, wikis besides Commons from cross-wiki uploading to Restrict non-(auto)confirmed users of most, if not all, wikis besides Commons from cross-wiki uploading.
gh87 updated the task description. (Show Details)

I would state "transferring uploads from one local wiki to Commons" differently, unless you meant what is done with FileImporter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FileImporter). Something like "Doing cross-wiki uploading using Upload dialog (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Upload_dialog )" will be clearer.

Also, aren't all IP users already disallowed to upload on Commons? If so, "most likely especially IP users" doesn't make much sense when talking about uploads.

@whym This task should apply to all tools performing cross-wiki uploads, IMHO. I can accept possibility that this task might be impossible to fully achieve on all applicable tools.

I think this task shouldn't be marked as invalid or declined just because making changes is technically impossible on just one tool, but I can allow such marking if making changes on all tools is technically impossible.

I think the community favors restricting non-confirmed users from using especially those crosswiki tools you mentioned, especially for unintentional copyright infringements. The WMF study conducted actions by certain enwiki and arwiki users.

Pikne subscribed.

From task description:

This task, IMO, must apply to the FileImporter extension, the...

I don't think that FileImporter is relevant here. Respective tab button ("Export to Wikimedia Commons") is already hidden from non-autoconfirmed users (T160891). Even if it wasn't hidden it's unlikely that non-autoconfirmed (new) user bothers to take this specific export task.

I opened a discussion since August 25 on arwiki, Most of the discussion participants agree to restrict non-(auto)confirmed users from uploading files to Commons.

To this date, the enwiki community has supported (the implementation of) restricting non-confirmed users (of enwiki) from migrating uploads into Commons.