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The discussion on photos seems strange to me. Obviously I'm not fully up to date on wikipedia policies, but the comparisons to Reagan or actors using photos fro
by Macha 4y ago
The discussion on photos seems strange to me. Obviously I'm not fully up to date on wikipedia policies, but the comparisons to Reagan or actors using photos from their prime rather than their later years seems a bit misleading. US presidents and actors both are much less active at the end of their life to the peak of their age so people remember what they looked like at that peak (I remember being surprised at W's current appearance in his post-election video with Obama and Clinton), but the Queen was active and old for a long time.
Similarly, even on actors, I'd kind of expect a photo of an older Morgan Freeman or Ian McKellen to continue to be their picture even post-mortem, while I wouldn't expect the same for, for example, Mark Hamill.
- AlecSchueler 4y agoInteresting. If we posit that the age representation on Wikipedia someway not only reflects but perpetuates the "normal" canonical age of someone's memory, then we might ask if they need to follow neutrality policies (random age in pictures) or try to find sources for what ages are used commonly elsewhere.
- kibwen 4y agoIf you look at the article right now, they appear to have agreed with you, as they're using a photo from 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II
- Denvercoder9 4y agoThat is the photo that was on the article before her dead; the discussion on whether it should be changed, and if so to what, it is still ongoing.
- vl 4y agoI actually think Wikipedia would benefit from way more photos. Even in this example - give me 10 different photos on the right, right below right information panel. For many things and topics there are too few photos (and maps, for that matter), often it’s easier to go to other sources if you want to learn about something visually. I.e. “how this historical building looks?”, and “where is this town?” both are not answered well by Wikipedia.
- slyall 4y agoOne thing to remember is that Wikipedia prefers free photographs. Non-free photographs can be used but the preference is towards free ones. The availability of free photographs varies a lot. Often the best source for politicians is when they meet the US President, since photos by the White House photographer (and other federal employees) are public Domain (simplification). eg the Photograph on King Charles' Wikipedia page is a White House photo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III#/media/File:Charles,_Prince_of_Wales_in_2021_(cropped)_(3).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III#/media/File:Charle... Apart from the US Government it is often hard to get "free" photographs from earlier than 2000. Cameras were less common and those that took photographs were/are not uploading them to the Internet under a free license (and they won't age into Public Domain for many years).
- Macha 4y agoIn this case at least 8/10 options including 2/3 depicting her in older age are freely licensed, so it seems to not be license based.