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hi can i make a wiki page for myself ? -- Luvkayxe ( talk) 21:40, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Hi Luvkayxe. It depends on what your mean by Wiki page. If you mean a Wikipedia user page, then it's fairly easy to create one as long as you follow the guidance given here and don't try make the page to be anything like this. If you mean a Wikipedia article, then things get much trickier and you should probably read this, this and this before trying to do so. -- Marchjuly ( talk) 22:26, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

1) If you want to add a photo to a Wikipedia article, and the photo's copyright owner is OK with using it in the article, does it have to be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons first? 2) Also, if the copyright owner of said photo knows nothing about the Wikipedia editing process, what is the simplest way for them to sign off on its usage? Is it the Interactive Release Generator at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikimedia_VRT_release_generator? And if so, is that the best URL to send them? Peterh6658 ( talk) 00:36, 28 June 2022 (UTC)Peterh6658

Hi Peterh6658. Only files (e.g. photos) uploaded to Wikimedia Commons or to English Wikipedia itself can be added to English Wikipedia articles; in other words, you can't add the url for a photo found on an external website if you want the photo to be visible to readers of the article. Files uploaded to Commons are sometimes referred to as "global files" because they can be used by all Wikimedia Foundation projects including English Wikipedia; files uploaded to English Wikipedia are sometimes referred to as "local files" because they can only be used on English Wikipedia.

You should make sure that the photo's copyright holder understands what it means to give their WP:CONSENT (or c:COM:CONSENT) if they want to upload their photos to Commons or Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation's licensing requirements basically mean that copyright holders can only use certain types of licenses for their photos; any license that places any types of restrictions on commercial use or derivative use is too restrictive and not allowed. Any type of license that tries to limit use to "Wikipedia only", "Peterh6658 only", "educational use only", etc. is also too restrictive and not allowed. Basically, by giving their CONSENT, the copyright holder is agreeing to allow anyone anywhere in the world to download their photo at anytime and reuse for any purpose as long as they comply with the terms of the license the copyright holder has chosen. Any real world problems that develop between copyright holders and reusers outside of Wikipedia are going to need to be resolved by the parties themselves; the Wikimedia Foundation will not typically get involved to try and resolve any such disputes. Non-copyright related restrictions aren't really a concern of Commons or Wikipedia and it will be up to the copyright holder to try and enforce any such rights.

The Interactive Release Generator is one way of verifying copyright holder consent, but I believe that the copyright holder will need to register for a Commons account if they want to go that route since they will need to upload the file themselves. Another way would be to have someone else upload the file, but then have the copyright holder email their CONSENT to Wikimedia VRT as explained here. One other possible way would be for the copyright holder to publish the photo on some other website (e.g. Flickr, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, personal wesbite) and clearly indicate that they are giving their CONSENT by releasing the file under an acceptable license as explained here. In such cases, though, some form of additional verification may still be required if the claim of copyright ownership appears a bit sketchy (e.g. license laundering, even if unintentional, is suspected). -- Marchjuly ( talk) 03:25, 28 June 2022 (UTC)