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PayphoneTag:Photo guidelines

From Payphone Tag Wiki
Revision as of 02:26, 8 June 2026 by CrimsonWolf (talk | contribs)

This page explains how to upload photos to this wiki.

Taking the photo

Payphone photos should:

  • Show the payphone clearly. A wide shot of the phone in its surroundings beats a tight crop of just the handset.
  • Daytime, in focus, level horizon. We're not pixel-peeping but blurry phone-camera shots in the dark are hard to use.
  • Multiple angles welcome. Front, side, the cabinet ID plate, the surrounding street — it all helps build a visual record.

You may also upload other images (e.g. phonecards) if they are relevant to the article you intend to use them in.

Do not upload:

  • Photos that aren't yours. If you didn't take it, don't upload it. Pulling images off Google or social networks is the fastest way to get an upload rejected.
  • Identifiable people. Try to avoid people's faces in shot. Members of the public have a reasonable expectation of not appearing on a wiki without consent. Crop or wait for a quieter moment.
  • Anything containing personal info from the phone itself. Cabinet ID plates are fine (public info). Don't upload close-ups of any displayed phone numbers, personal notes left on the cabinet, etc.

Note that most phones will embed GPS location data in the EXIF metadata in photos, and this data remains accessible when uploaded to this wiki. This is not a concern for payphone photos (as their location is public), but keep this in mind if uploading photos of other things.

How to upload

There are two ways to upload an image. If you are uploading a photo of a payphone, open the wiki page for the phone first and click the "Add a photo of this payphone" link. This automatically populates some of the fields for you. Alternatively, you can open the wiki menu on the left and click "Upload File".

Click the "Choose File" button to select the file from your device storage.

Destination filename is already populated if you clicked from a wiki page, otherwise use a descriptive and unique name that describes the image you are uploading.

Under summary, you should include the following:

  • Categories: You must include these for the photo to automatically appear on the relevant pages. For each payphone that appears in the photo, add a line in the format [[Category:Photos of payphone cab ID]], where cab ID is the 10 character cabinet ID of the payphone. Also add [[Category:Payphone photos]] for any photo that includes payphones.
  • Licence: Confirm that the conditions your photo will be published on this wiki under. Unless you want to use a different licence, put {{cc-by-sa-4.0}} to release your photo under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence, which allows anyone to reuse your photo with attribution and the same licence.
  • Caption: Describe what's in the photo. If you clicked from a wiki page, some example text is already there. Be sure to remove this entirely, including the to ensure the text is visible.

Here's an example of a completed summary:

[[Category:Photos of payphone 02956418X2]]
[[Category:Payphone photos]]

{{cc-by-sa-4.0}}

Front view, looking east

Finally, click "Upload file" to complete the process. As with other page edits, your upload may be held for moderation if you are a new user. This is usually completed within 24 hours.

Please note, if you wish to upload another photo of the same phone, go back to the phone's page and click from there, do not use the back button on your browser to return to the upload page - this will cause an error from duplicate file names.