PayphoneTag:Photo guidelines
From Payphone Tag Wiki
More actions
This page explains what makes a good payphone photo, what not to upload, and how the moderation flow works.
What makes a good photo
- 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.
- Caption your photo in the upload description. "Front view, looking south along Watson Place" is more useful than "IMG_4521".
What not to 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.
- Embedded GPS in indoor shots. Most modern phones embed location data in EXIF. If you accidentally upload an indoor photo, that data leaks your home/office. The wiki preserves EXIF; strip it before upload if it matters to you.
- 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.
Licence and attribution
All photos uploaded to this wiki are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. By uploading you confirm:
- It's your own original photo.
- You agree to share it under CC-BY-SA 4.0 — anyone can reuse it with attribution and the same licence.
The upload form pre-fills the licence declaration. Don't change it unless your photo really is under a different free licence.
Moderation
If you're a new account, your first uploads sit in Special:Moderation until a moderator approves them. This usually takes a day or so. Approved photos appear automatically in the Photos section of the relevant payphone page — no further action needed.
If you've made several edits over a week or so without anything being reverted, you'll be auto-promoted past moderation.