SmashWiki:Images

This page documents an official SmashWiki policy, a widely accepted standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. If in doubt, consider discussing changes on the talk page.

Images are an integral part of every wiki, and SmashWiki is no exception from this rule. However, there must exist a set of guiding policies regarding the inclusion of pictures on the wiki. The goal of using pictures in an encyclopedic wiki is to clarify the topic at hand and improve the quality of understanding one can achieve from reading an article. This policy exists as a guide to what images are allowed on the site and where to use them properly. If you need help in the uploading and insertion of images into articles, please go to Help:Images.

Primary Rules

• Mainspace articles should have at least one image, with few exceptions. Stages, characters, moves, techniques... all of these need pictures to help show the article's content. Exceptions and variations are explained below.
• Images must be relevant. If a page about a Sonic combo needs an image, do not simply add a general picture of Sonic. Make the images as focused on the article's content as possible.
• Image size and location are important. Images should make an article more readable and understandable. The main idea of this policy is ignored if images are too distracting or force the text into odd shapes.
• There is such a thing as too many pictures. While having a few pictures is ideal, some articles may not need five images to make the content clear.
• Use a gallery. Usually, more than one or two pictures can overwhelm an article. For additional images, try using the <gallery> tags.
• Wherever applicable, include at least one image per game. Fireball should include images of the move from all five Smash games, Vegetable should have pictures from Melee, Brawl, Smash 4, and Ultimate, etc.
• Categorize your images. Use the list of categories to figure out which of the existing categories your image falls under. Always have at least one category on every image. Note, however, that a character's category should not be added to an image when the character is incidentally included in the image, a character's category should only be added to the image when the character is the direct focus of the image; for example, a screenshot showing a character's move should be in that character's category, but another character included in the image just to serve as a dummy to get hit by the move should not have the image in their category.
• Usage of the "image-needed" template. Add {{image}} to mark an article as needing additional or higher-quality images, and it will show this:

This article is in need of additional images. If you have a good image for this article, upload it here.

Additionally, it will add the article to this category.

Exceptions to the Mainspace Rule

The following mainspace articles might not require images:

• Smasher articles: Sometimes a smasher may wish to have no picture of them on SmashWiki, in which case the wiki will usually oblige. When this happens, an editing note should be left on the page noting that the smasher does not want any pictures of them up. In other cases, there may not be any known pictures of the smasher available online, especially of those that played in the era before widespread streaming.
• Team articles: Otherwise notable teams may have no proper group photo or acceptable logo available, leaving there no suitable images to be inserted in the article.
• Articles not explainable with a still image: Certain techniques or glitches may not be apparent by simply a still image. The recommendation is to use an animated .gif file. See Yoshi Bomb or shield jump for examples. Some articles, for instance those depicting complex techniques or glitches with intricate set-up methods, would be better off by an external link to a video, or else usage of one that has been uploaded.

Personal Images

SmashWiki allows users to upload personal images for user space purposes, with some restrictions.

• Images must not violate any copyright laws and must be licensed correctly.
• Image content must be appropriate. Anything deemed disruptive or obscene may be deleted.
• Images meant for only user space purposes must only have the user images category on them. Like with user pages, user images should not interfere with the main spaces in any way, which includes not putting them in all other categories meant for categorizing wiki pages and images.
• While there is no hard limit on the amount of personal images one may upload, users are expected to not upload an excessive amount, with less leeway given to those with minimal constructive contributions compared to their user space edits. Users who are deemed to be uploading too many personal images will be reprimanded, and may have their excess images deleted. If a user does desire to have an excessive amount of images on their user pages, rather than uploading them, the user should instead use external images via the external image template.

Appropriate Image Naming

• An image's name should be relevant to the image itself. For example, an image used for a specific user, such as a signature image, should be named File:Example_sig, where 'Example' is the user name, or something similar. Pictures of images to be used in articles should be named for the article it is being used in, e.g. File:Kencombo_ex or File:Summit_sliding.

Not acceptable

• Code names, from the DOJO image naming system (i.e. "Mball 70482397vs4"), SD Card names, frequently via Brawl Snapshots, etc. These names tell searchers nothing about the image's content.
• Inappropriate names. Things like "Funny Ridley LOL" or "Fuck yeah! Goldeen!" are inappropriately named. These will be deleted or renamed, or if the image itself is inappropriate, not uploaded again.
• Unnecessary numbers. Additional numbers that are not needed to distinguish the image only serve to make the image more cumbersome to search and add to articles, as well as take up more text space within the article.

Other concepts

• Generally, edited images should not be used in the mainspace. Images should represent the subject as "natural" as possible; altering artwork or a screenshot gives a false impression, while screenshots involving hacks or codes should be limited to pages discussing said hacks or codes.
• An article having a gallery is not a free pass to upload whatever images you have that happen to be related to the article's subject, any images uploaded to the gallery should demonstrate something relevant and noteworthy to the article that no other existing image on the page does. As an example, if adding images to the gallery on the Time page:
  • An image showing how a Time match looks in a Smash game that no other image currently on the page shows would be acceptable.
  • An image of a random Time match that shows nothing uniquely noteworthy from the other images would not be acceptable.
• Redundant or unused images will be deleted; do not upload a duplicate image. The exception to this is if you wish to have use of an image as a signature image (see above).
• Do not replace existing images just for the sake of it, replacing an image is only acceptable when the image is a clear improvement over the old image. Such acceptable instances include replacing an image with a higher resolution one, or replacing an image with one that more clearly demonstrates something relevant about its article's subject.
• Images that are of subpar quality, or otherwise contain undesirable elements (e.g. borders of blank space), should be tagged with {{lowquality}}, signaling to other users that the image is in urgent need of a better quality replacement. However, images that are of so excessively poor quality that they're no better than the wiki having no image of the subject at all, such as someone taking a photo of their monitor instead of using an ingame screenshot, or a smasher's photo whose face is completely obscured, should be removed from their articles and deleted instead.
  • Note that there will be cases where an image is of undesirable quality but a better quality image is not realistically obtainable, for instance a photo of a long retired smasher that last competed in 2008, or a gif of footage from a required video that was uploaded in only 240p. In such instances, the {{HighQualityUnavailable}} tag should be used instead.
• No image can "belong" to any user or group of users. Images "belong" to the wiki once uploaded; if not needed or against this policy, they will be deleted.
• Do not use fanart in the mainspace. There are limited situations where it may be used to demonstrate a point, but in general, articles should stick to screenshots and official images only.