Commons:Volunteer Response Team
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![]() | Current backlog (oldest unanswered mail or ticket) in permissions-commons queue is 3 days. |
The Volunteer Response Team (VRT) (formerly known as OTRS (Open-source Ticket Request System)) is a group of volunteers who handle queries, complaints, and comments from the public by email to Wikimedia projects since September 2004. The Volunteer Response Team Software (VRTS) is a tool used by the Wikimedia projects, including Commons, to manage and archive email conversations. The main use of VRTS in relation to Commons is to verify and archive licensing permissions.
In some cases, sending email to the VRT may be required in order to provide evidence that the copyright holder has given permission to publish a file under a free license. Such evidence should be sent to permissions-commonswikimedia.org (or a language specific address). VRTS is also used to handle email reports of copyright violations.
Emails sent to VRTS are handled by a multilingual team of trusted volunteers. Each topic is assigned a unique ticket number to keep related emails together and to ensure that correspondence can be found and re-examined at a later date. The correspondence is not visible to the public.
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-https-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/OTRS_6_Wikimedia_%28en%29.png/300px-OTRS_6_Wikimedia_%28en%29.png)
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-https-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Air_Inuit_Boeing_737-200_Hechema-2.jpg/300px-Air_Inuit_Boeing_737-200_Hechema-2.jpg)
Each ticket will be reviewed by a volunteer. If there is sufficient evidence of a valid permission, the volunteer will mark the file(s) concerned as reviewed. The volunteer will also act to restore any files which may have been deleted before the permission could be verified, so when following the procedure described here, there is no need to request undeletion. If there is no sufficient evidence, the volunteer may request additional information from the correspondent. Volunteers will also act to ensure that any copyright violations that come to their attention are deleted.
The number of active Commons VRT members is quite small in relation to the number of emails received. The current backlog for tickets in English is approximately 3 days. Experienced Commons editors are encouraged to join our team of volunteers and improve our response times.
Inquiries about the validity or status of an VRTS ticket can be made at the VRT Noticeboard.
Emails are handled by community volunteers. VRTS tickets in the permissions-commons queue are visible to all volunteers who have access to that queue. The Wikimedia Foundation cannot guarantee confidential treatment of any sensitive information you include in your message, although all volunteers are required to treat it with confidentiality. Users should be careful of revealing personally-identifying information of subjects or creators, particularly names, physical addresses, and emails. |
When contacting VRT is unnecessary
If any of the following statements is one you could make with regard to the file you wish to upload, you do not need to contact VRT:
I do not have permission to use the file and it has not been released under a free license.
I created the file myself, it hasn't been previously published, and I am the sole owner of its copyright.
The image was first published on my website, or on my own space of a shared website.
- I/We publish on Bandcamp
- You can use CC BY or CC BY-SA.
- I/We host on Blogspot
- Follow the steps to update your theme.
- I/We publish on DeviantArt
- You can use CC BY or CC BY-SA.
- I/We publish on Flickr
- Follow Flickr publish steps.
- I/We publish on SoundCloud
- You can use CC BY or CC BY-SA.
- I/We publish on YouTube
- You can use CC BY.
- I/We publish on Vimeo
- You can use CC BY or CC BY-SA.
- I/We host on Wordpress
- You can place the entire website in CC BY-SA license in a handful of clicks.
- I/We publish on social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
- Post your photo with a description or comment indicating that it is published under a free license. (Alternatively, edit an existing post to include such a comment. If the platform does not allow editing of posts, then make a new post referring back to the photo.) Please ensure that visibility is set to public.
I found the image on Flickr where it was marked as having been released under a free license.
Licensing images: when do I contact VRT?
If any of the following statements is one you could make, then you must send an email to the VRTS system:
I have received permission from the original author (not me) to upload the file to Commons.
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-https-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Ampoule-electrique.png/17px-Ampoule-electrique.png)
I am the copyright owner but my file has been previously published without a free license on a medium I can't alter.
I am an employee of the copyright owner.
I regularly publish my work elsewhere and want to avoid the hassle of sending permission statements for every upload I make.
I am the copyright owner, and my work is being hosted on Commons without permission.
![@](http://178.128.105.246/cars-https-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/At_sign.svg/15px-At_sign.svg.png)
If you are NOT the copyright holder
If you are not the copyright holder and the work is not in the public domain or readily available under a Commons-compatible free license, you will need to contact the copyright holder and obtain permission for their work to be uploaded to Commons. Please follow these steps:
- Before you upload the file to Commons, please identify and contact the copyright holder and ask them to release the work under a free license.
The copyright holder must choose one of the licenses permitted on Commons; in particular, restricting use to Wikipedia or Wikimedia projects is not acceptable. See Commons:Email templates for a recommended reply from the author. Remember: It is entirely up to the copyright holder to decide whether to allow release of the file under a free license.
- When you receive a reply, please check that the license authorized by the copyright holder is appropriate to Commons. If so, upload the image to Commons and place the tag
{{subst:PP}}
("Permission Pending") on the file description page in addition to the license chosen by the copyright holder. - Following this, ask the author to forward the email with their clear statement of permission to permissions-commons
wikimedia.org, including the full header and any previously exchanged correspondence with you, and a link to the image on Commons. Make sure to ask the author to include information on the origin (source) of the file and its license.
- A VRT volunteer will check the email to verify that the permission statement is sufficient and authentic, and will then replace the {{Permission pending}} tag with {{PermissionTicket}}.
(If you are the copyright holder writing to confirm the license for a previously published work that you have already uploaded to Commons, you should, of course, send the permission statement yourself.)
Declaration of consent for all enquiries
COM:CONSENT redirects here. For information about consent to deal with photographs of people, see Commons:Photographs of identifiable people.
If you have been directed to this page because you wish to release the rights to a file to which you own the copyright, please consider clicking on the link above rather than completing the following email template. The Interactive Release Generator is designed to make the process of releasing the rights to a file efficient and simple. The use of the following template, though still perfectly valid and certainly useful as a work of reference, is now discouraged and should only be used in exceptional circumstances. Thank you! Email message template for release of rights to a fileWe receive a large number of email messages from copyright holders wishing to allow Wikipedia to reuse their content (messages such as, "I allow Wikipedia to reuse my photos", etc.). Unfortunately, such statements are insufficient from a legal standpoint: we require a more specific declaration of consent to accept your permission. The following template will allow you to produce such a declaration.
To: permissions-commons@wikimedia.org I hereby affirm that I choose one: [am name] or [represent copyright holder's name], the choose one: [creator] or [sole owner] of the exclusive copyright of choose one: [the media work][1] or [the work depicted in the media][2] or [both the work depicted and the media][3] as shown here: [exact URL of the file uploaded on Wikimedia Commons],[4] and have legal authority in my capacity to release the copyright of that work. I agree to publish the above-mentioned content under the following free license: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.[5] I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work, even in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws. I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites. I am aware that the copyright holder always retains ownership of the copyright as well as the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by the copyright holder. I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project. [Sender's name]
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Templates to use on image pages
- Users who have sent a permission to VRTS but haven't received confirmation yet can use
{{subst:PP}}
to tell others that it's in progress. - VRTS volunteers can use
{{subst:OR|id=number}}
when the permission has been received but further clarification is needed and {{PermissionTicket|id=number}} when the permission has been accepted and archived in the Wikimedia VRTS system. This template should only be used by VRT members. Unauthorized use will cause a AbuseFilter logentry and a warning will be shown. VRT users are encouraged to use the "PermissionVRTS" gadget.
See also
- On Commons
- Email templates – use these when requesting permission by email
- VRT Noticeboard – for asking agents a question or verifying a ticket
- Guidance for paid editors
- List of VRT agents
- WikiProject Permission requests
- Information team
- On other projects
- m:VRT/Volunteering has information for people who would like to be VRT agents
- Example requests for permission on English Wikipedia
- Requesting copyright permission on English Wikipedia
- Licensing contact information on English Wikipedia (including information on photo submission via email)
- Wikiportrait (Dutch) on Meta
- Public VRT coordination and policies on Meta