Why do files referenced or attached to profiles "disappear" unexpectedly?

Question

As part of the 24 Jul 2023 "Data Doctor Challenge of the Week: Correct simple errors in reference tags" challenge, I started looking at Error 971: Missing image (Difficulty: Easy).

Now, I'm been looking at these errors for three weeks and it has been anything but EASY.  After my investigating these errors and some very recent anecdotal evidence, I'm suggesting that a majority of these image files are getting deleted (or lost, misplaced, corrupted, gone missing, etc.) by some unknown WikiTree internal process, rather than user error.

My analysis is that some of the files have many references in many other profiles (lots are images used in {{Descendant}} templates) that should not be able to be deleted by the user until all the references go away.  Yet the profiles show up in the 917 error report.  I'm willing to say more if needed.

But to keep it short, my recent anecdotal evidence is contained in:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1559169/images-disappeared-after-new-system-started

Also I just saw in the comments of that G2G question, that David Draper had 74 pictures vanish from his Free Space page.

So I'll leave it at that for now... and yes, Virginia, this is my first G2G post!

Comments

One of the symptoms of this issue is found in the changes to the profile.  Looking under the Changes tab, you should see a message such as:

16:07: Delta Bravo uploaded [deleted] for John Alpha (1595-1680).

where [deleted] should be the filename.

Answer 1

So I'm going to answer my own question as briefly as possible:

Referencing an image from within the TEXT of a profile (that is, in the Category Templates, Biography, Research Notes, Source, or Acknowledgements sections) will NOT prevent the image from being deleted from Wikitree!

Once the last profile is "disconnected" from an image, it is marked as Private, flagged to be deleted (aka "orphaned") and then will be removed from the system typically within 30 to 90 days.

Thanks to a new warning message in these cases, this is less likely to happen:

So I was incorrect, this is caused by basically user errors, and the normal way Wikitree cleans up the orphaned images.  I was assuming (yeah, I know the old adage) that referencing an image with the {{Image}} or {{Descendant|img=}} templates would keep the image from being deleted.

Once I took the time to read the G2G entry https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1559169/images-disappeared-after-new-system-started after I posted my question, did I understand.  I apologize for wasting anybody's time and effort and thanks to those who responded.

Answer 2

Image files get deleted if they are disconnected from all of the profiles they were connected to. It's possible that members have been disconnecting images by mistake.

Also, maybe some of these images were deleted when a member account was closed and the non-public profiles managed by that member were deleted.

Comments

We did recently add a warning if someone is going to disconnect the last profile from an image to prevent this from happening since this was definitely confusing for some people.

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Thanks, Jamie!

Answer 3

I've found this thread to be educational, and not a waste of time at all.

So...does this mean that, in order for an image to remain on Wikitree, it has to be linked to profiles or Free-Space pages within the image detail itself?

(Here for less than a year...still new at lots of the details....)

Thanks!

Comments

Right! An image which is not linked on its image details page to at least one personal profile or free-space page will be deleted, after a delay.

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Yes, exactly.  Those links to profiles or free space pages that show up on the image itself are what keeps the image active and it will NOT be deleted until the last link gets disconnected then it goes away sometime later. The documentation is NOT very clear and the section https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Photos_FAQ#How_do_you_remove_or_delete_a_photo.3F needs some work.  I have written a revision that I need find out how to submit recommended changes.

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Hi Mike. Thanks for raising this. Official Help pages are written and maintained by the WikiTree Team. You could try describing your suggestions in a new G2G question, tagged  improvements  .