Unflattering portraits

[Beeblebrox]

I recently nominated a small pile at commons uploaded by the same user. They were taking screengrabs from youtube videos of zoom meetings that were cc-by-sa and cropping them into terrible blurry headshots. I don't think it was malicious, but I also don't think living people should be subject to random crappy screengrabs being used to represent them.

So, these discussions have been open this whole time, and were finally closed, all by the same admin, all with the same rationale "no valid reason for deletion". I'm not surprised, Commons will be Commons, where basic human decency is a foreign concept.

[Ada Sinn]

I like it. Dawn is one of the prettiest women in England.

That says a lot about England and their standards.

[Hemiauchenia]

From current RD nominee Eugene Melnyk (T-H-L)

[Hemiauchenia]

Ayako Fujitani (T-H-L)

[Konveyor Belt]

Just about everything on User:GaryColemanFan/Pictures (T-H-L). Luckily most aren't used in the infobox, but a few are (for example Henry O. Godwinn (T-H-L)). It's really hard to get a good shot in a dark building even with a good camera, and the camera quality here did the subjects no favors.

[Newyorkbrad]

Honorable mention in this category goes to Donald Trump, whose talkpage archive includes multiple threads from 2017 like this one:

Talk:Donald_Trump/Archive_60#Photograph_chosen_is_biased_to_the_point_of_being_a_joke! (T-H-L)

[Hemiauchenia]

Yoshiaki Fujiwara (T-H-L)

[tarantino]

There's a twitter account called Footballer's Wikipedia Pictures that shares " the worst, most bizarre, shittest, pictures of footballers from their own wikipedia pages."

I like this one the best.

Kyle Bartley

[FelinaLavandula]

Had to post this one.
Willie Bobo (T-H-L)

[The Blue Newt]

Had to post this one.
Willie Bobo (T-H-L)

You got a twofer there, at the very least. Anyone who thinks “bobo” only means “life of the party” doesn’t know as much Spanish as they think they do.

[FelinaLavandula]

A lot of these articles about “classic” musicians in ethnic/worldish genres, even if they’re American musicians, are pretty bad. It’s a shame, because it’s good music and they deserve to be remembered better. It would probably be best if they didn’t have Wikipedia articles at all, but such is life.

[tarantino]

TikTok User Claims He Uploads the Worst Photos Ever Taken of Celebrities to Their Wikipedias

A man on TikTok claims it's his personal mission to upload the worst, most unflattering photos of celebrities to their respective Wikipedia profiles.

"Did a fan take a flash photo of you seconds after he tapped you on the back? I'm gonna upload it," user @pablogoldstein says while showing a bad photo of Luke Wilson.

"It doesn't matter if you're Hollywood's most notorious schlong slinger, I will upload a photo of you going through puberty," he continues, showing a particularly unfortunate photo of Pete Davidson.

The photo of Pete he's referring to is the one I posted here.



That photo was transferred from flickr by Chinese user SSYoung. Tiktok user pablomgoldstein is definitely not Chinese, so his funny rant is just made up.

[SerkaVerduchka]

Gareth Ainsworth (T-H-L), current manager of English Championship team QPR

[SerkaVerduchka]

There's a twitter account called Footballer's Wikipedia Pictures that shares " the worst, most bizarre, shittest, pictures of footballers from their own wikipedia pages."

I like this one the best.

Kyle Bartley

On a footballing note, Eric Djemba-Djemba (T-H-L)'s one is similarly shit.

[Jip Orlando]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

[Zoloft]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

The shady face?

Oh, and

[SamX]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

I've replaced the image with a cropped version. CropTool is a nice little gadget.

[Jip Orlando]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

The shady face?

Oh, and

Thanks! Welp, it's been cropped since I posted, but here is an old rev for posterity: diff

[redbaron]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

The very first thing was the branding on the shirt. The second thing, though...

The photo has since been replaced with a cropped one, but I believe there are better options in the Commons category.

[SamX]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

The very first thing was the branding on the shirt. The second thing, though...

The photo has since been replaced with a cropped one, but I believe there are better options in the Commons category.

Yeah, I noticed that as well.

[Jip Orlando]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

The very first thing was the branding on the shirt. The second thing, though...

The photo has since been replaced with a cropped one, but I believe there are better options in the Commons category.

The article picture has been replaced by a much better one from commons. It's nice to have a pic of his face and not one that emphasizes his Bert Junior or his brand sponsor. Thanks again, all!

[Giraffe Stapler]

Hello everyone, I found this while hitting 'random article': Bert De Backer (T-H-L). What's the first thing you notice?

Ha. When I checked the article, the portrait looked like this:

I thought you were talking about how the SKIL SKIL SKIL popped out but his face is in shadow. But really you were talking about the version of the article before someone edited it (presumable based on your comment here). The image looked like this:

[rnu]

Dan Povenmire (T-H-L)

[Beeblebrox]

I was once at a fairly informal event where a reasonably notable old-timer Alaskan showed up. I considered trying to get a stealth shot with my phone but I decided that was both a shitty thing to do and a likely to produce a shitty result anyway, He was deep in conversation with some other older folks and I wasn't going to interupt that either as they clearly knew him. So I didn't get it, and now he's deseased so I won't get another chance, but I'd rather it that way than taking one terrible shot with my phone and hoping it works out.

That's what I assume a lot of these are though. Pretend to be checking a text and take their picture real quicklike.

[tarantino]

K-Fed from eleven years ago.



His wikibio uses a more recent and flattering image.

[rnu]

K-Fed from eleven years ago.

Kevin Earl Federline (born March 21, 1978),[1] often referred to, and also known as K-Fed, is an American dancer, rapper, actor, model, professional wrestler and DJ.

Make this the lead picture for Model (person) (T-H-L).

[redbaron]

Dan Povenmire (T-H-L)

Cool, a new season of Phineas and Ferb (T-H-L) is on the works

[Hemiauchenia]

Calico Cooper (T-H-L)

[rnu]

Dan Povenmire (T-H-L)

21:58, 12 October 2023‎ Yngvadottir talk contribs‎ 35,109 bytes −5‎ Replaced image with tightly cropped version of 2009. I see there has been toing and froing, but the 2013 image is sufficiently bad (focus, his expression) to have been noted at the unnameable site, only 4 years difference, and his appearance is not appreciably different. This edit per the subject's dignity is not an endorsement of the WMF.
[emphasis added]

[Giraffe Stapler]

Calico Cooper (T-H-L)

This seems like an opportune time to mention that the blonde woman with the guitar who appears 7 times in Commons' Category:Calico Cooper is actually Nita Strauss (T-H-L), not Calico Cooper.

[Hemiauchenia]

Calico Cooper (T-H-L)

This seems like an opportune time to mention that the blonde woman with the guitar who appears 7 times in Commons' Category:Calico Cooper is actually Nita Strauss (T-H-L), not Calico Cooper.

This appears to be a recent change within the last few hours by Yngvadottir, who usually fixes mistakes noticed by Wikipediocracy, can't be right all the time I suppose.

[rnu]

Peter Rosenmeier (T-H-L)

There are several alternative options, all of which are not only more recent, but also arguably better (at least they show his full face).

[rnu]

Not just in the article, but thanks to the ITN crowd right on the main page: Kalle Rovanperä (T-H-L)

[eppur si muove]

If you were looking for a stereotypical picture of an academic who edits Wikipedia, you couldn't get a better example one than this

From Commons:

Description Brian Josephson, winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics
Date March 2004
Source Released by Brian Josephson by email; taken from his homepage
Author Brian Josephson
Permission
(Reusing this file)
VRT Wikimedia
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The Wikimedia Foundation has received an e-mail confirming that the copyright holder has approved publication under the terms mentioned on this page. This correspondence has been reviewed by a Volunteer Response Team (VRT) member and stored in our permission archive. The correspondence is available to trusted volunteers as ticket #2013122910004145.

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Do we think it is more likely that he had a camera on delay ("own work")or got a friend, family member or colleague to snap him (not own work)?

[Giraffe Stapler]

Look at the picture of Mitchell Baker (T-H-L) used in her Wikipedia article.

It makes her haircut look ridiculous.

closer.jpg

[rnu]

Jazzie Redd (T-H-L)

[rnu]

Look at the picture of Mitchell Baker (T-H-L) used in her Wikipedia article.

It makes her haircut look ridiculous.

closer.jpg

To be fair her haircut is ridiculous. Still, there are better and newer pictures available at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... hell_Baker

[Ron Lybonly]

To be fair her haircut is ridiculous. Still, there are better and newer pictures available at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... hell_Baker

Like this one:

Mitchell_Baker_@_Mozilla_All-Hands_2018_Orlando_(31242487587).jpg

[rnu]

This doesn't strictly fit the theme of this thread because Wikipedians aren't to blame for it, but I think it's too good/bad not to showcase it.
Eutropius (consul 399) (T-H-L)

[The Blue Newt]

Tamara Keith (T-H-L). Her running dog, Sonic the Hedgehog (T-H-L)…sorry, Amy Walter (T-H-L), has a photo more in line with an actual encyclopedia.

[tarantino]

Paul Stacey (T-H-L), on the left

[rnu]

Paul Stacey (T-H-L), on the left

This is perfect. The entire picture is blurry. He is barely visible because of poor lighting, completely out of focus, eyes hidden by the shadow of the hat, only seen in a small part of the picture and not even in the center. I doubt his own mother could identify him.

[The Blue Newt]

Tamara Keith (T-H-L). Her road dog Sonic the Hedgehog…sorry, Amy Walter (T-H-L), has a photo more in line with an actual encyclopedia.

Dunno whether it was spillchequeritis or brain fog, but the above is how it was supposed to be, as opposed to how it came out.

At least it didn't say "These Herostratean gentry" or such.

[rhindle]

Jess Wade's BLP photo does not look like the greatest. It's not the worst one, but having an open mouth is not always "flattering."

[Vigilant]

Jess Wade's BLP photo does not look like the greatest. It's not the worst one, but having an open mouth is not always "flattering."

"How big was he?"

[Midsize Jake]

Yeah, you never really want to have a photo of yourself out there, making that gesture in those dimensions with that facial expression and the fact that people on the internet exist.

[rhindle]

Checked the talk page and there has already been discussion about it.

[Dan of La Mancha]

That's really bizarre. I feel like she's meant to be holding a Wikipedia globe or something, but... someone forgot to fill it in?

I see Jess Wade nixxed an even more unflattering image of herself a few years back, but has apparently made no objection to this one. Looking at the Commons category, it really is the best of the options available, but you'd think someone so active on Wikipedia would have uploaded a couple of decent selfies.

[Ryuichi]

Checked the talk page and there has already been discussion about it.

Nice to see Ed Erhart drop his tuppence in that pot. Wonder if, as one of the WMF bloggers, he might be persuaded to provide some actual proof of the CC-by-SA licence.

[ltbdl]

Charlie Aitken (footballer, born 1942) (T-H-L)