User:Tim Pierce/Drafts/WikiProject Photo Requests
This is a draft of a proposed WikiProject for categorizing photo requests.
Overview
Wikipedia editors use {{reqphoto}} templates to flag an article as needing a photograph. These templates add articles automatically to Category:Wikipedia requested photographs. Unfortunately, that means that the category now contains literally thousands of requests for photos of all kinds, organized strictly in alphabetical order. The category is almost useless because it is nearly impossible to navigate. Many photographers specialize in one subject or another (e.g. architecture, portraits, nature and wildlife), so placing these photo requests in an appropriate subcategory improves the chance that a matching photo can be found.
I have written PhotoCatBot to categorize image requests automatically wherever possible. That helps a lot, but there is still a lot of work to do, and most of it will have to be done by hand.
Guidelines
Figuring out how to classify a photo request is mostly common sense. Here are some useful things to keep in mind:
Stick to existing categories whenever possible. If there's already a architecture category, it's probably not necessary to create an additional category for "buildings."
Try to think like a photographer. If you were a photographer trying to find out what images Wikipedia needs the most, where would you look? What's the most sensible way to divide up the image requests in a way that would be useful to the people who will be actually taking the pictures?
Don't be afraid to take liberties with the category definitions. If you're looking at an article that does not seem to fall neatly into any category that we have, it's okay to put it in a category that's generally related to its subject matter. For example, a request for a photograph of a music studio probably fits better into the musicians category than in the architecture category -- the reason that the music studio is of interest is probably less for its physical design than in the artists who record there.
When it is necessary to create a new category, be general. If you're reorganizing the cars category, it's probably overly specific to create a "1957 Chevrolets". A broader category for "Chevrolets" is a better place to start.
Tasks
- Removing the photo request template from any article that already has a photo (will almost certainly require human confirmation)
- Removing the photo request template from any talk page for an article that has been redirected (i.e. an orphaned talk page).
- Replacing
{{reqphotoin|foo|bar|baz}}with{{reqphoto|in=foo|in2=bar|in3=baz}}. - Categorizing photos on crowded subcategories, like Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of people.
- Renaming photo categories from "Plotz articles needing photos" to "Wikipedia requested photographs of plotz" (both for consistency, and to make it possible to use {{reqphoto}} templates with them). This will require changing the templates for {{AARTalk}}, {{BirdTalk}}, {{MaTalk}}, {{airportpicreq}}, {{electronic-music-project}}, {{WikiProject Micro}}, {{WikiProject Plants}}, {{WikiProject Cincinnati Reds}}, and {{WikiProject Boston Red Sox}}.
- Going through other lists and tables of missing photographs (e.g. Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes/Galleries/Image missing and updating their talk pages with {{reqphoto}}.
Other ideas welcome!