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Improving Mindat.orgWhy isn't my edit and/or photo listed?

12th Jun 2007 15:14 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

When you add data to mindat or you upload a photo it may not be shown immediately - there are two reasons for this.


Firstly, unless you're a long term contributor with a proven track record on the site who is looking after a particular area, your contributions are approved before posting (and even if you are lucky enough to have your contributions approved automatically, they still get listed in our daily reports for reviewing afterwards). So, if you post something and go looking for it immediately on the site, it won't be there. Note that we sometimes have a backlog of approvals - we get around 100 photos per day post so don't be too surprised if they are not approved immediately.


Secondly, even if your items have been approved they may not show up because we use a caching system to reduce the workload for the server. Generating a complex locality list page can be an intensive process, so we keep a cached copy of the output and use that when someone else asks for the locality again, so even if your item has been added to the database, if we still have an older copy of the locality page in the cache then you won't see your change immediately. We're trying to improve things so caches are updated automatically when pages are edited, but in some cases things won't be right until the page gets cleaned out and replaced. If it takes more than a couple of days then contact me and I'll check it out for you.


Thirdly, you may find your photo is listed in your personal gallery but not in the mineral/locality pages - not all photos submitted are accepted for the mineral and locality pages - this depends on the quality of the photo and the number of similar photos we already have for that mineral at that region.


Jolyon

16th Sep 2007 21:01 UTCMichael Roarke Expert

Jolyon

I uploaded this photo last week, but it has not appeared in the Fedotovite gallery. Could you check on it? (It does appear my personal gallery, however)http://www.mindat.org/photo-119476.html

Thanks

Mike Roarke

19th Sep 2007 16:48 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Cleared the mineral page cache. Getting the caching working right is high on my priority list.

26th Oct 2007 08:00 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

Dear friends,

I know it takes time and of course this is okay for me. I appreciate your work!

But now I wonder if I made a mistake, because pics I uploaded from Saturday 20th on are still not mentioned when I surch for locality, e.g. Gridone ( I loaded a zircon photo, but if selected after location there is no pic).

And after spending a few weeks in the Zermatt - Saas Fee area I restructured the localities again and uploaded a couple of mineral pics e.g. the Täsch Valley. Same problem, when selecting Täsch Valley there is no sign that there are mineral photos.

Same with locality Churfirsten.

My mistake, or it takes just more time at your side?


Thanks, yours Christian

26th Oct 2007 13:00 UTCPeter Haas

Christian,


See: http://www.mindat.org/mesg-7-77468.html (last three messages)

26th Oct 2007 13:20 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

Thank you Peter !!!

I will be patient.


Christian

6th Nov 2007 08:22 UTCMarzio Mamberti Expert

How is possibble correct a own mistake in the descrition of a locality image?

Many thanks.

6th Nov 2007 09:30 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

Log in, select the location, select site photos. The locality pics will show up, under each description is a button "Edit this photo" which you can choose and edit the pic.

Cheers, Christian

6th Nov 2007 11:47 UTCAntónio Manuel Ináçio Martins

Olá Jolyon :-)



I made my Home page and I noticed that in Edit in Top Image are the last 50 photos that I carried. Has one for Default....(Olivine), but I did want it was to choose one of my Gallery of my pleasure and I don't get :-(. It is possible to do some thing in that sense ?

Thank you for the attention.

6th Nov 2007 13:40 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

From instructions on edit page for your homepage:

"Select the photo you want shown at the top of your page. Note we only allow you to select from the 50 photos in your collection with the highest rating - so go and update your images with your personal rating to make sure you can select them here."


You have to go to edit the photo that you want to use and raise it's value as a favorite of yours.

6th Nov 2007 20:27 UTCMarzio Mamberti Expert

Thanks Christian,

I had already tried this, but when I press submit...I see this message:" there are errors on this form, you must enter a mineral name, you must select a photo type".

I dont understand,why?

7th Nov 2007 07:59 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

Hi Marzio,


seems to be the same problem that others faced and mentioned in


http://www.mindat.org/mesg-6-77852.html


Let´s see if the admins can solve this, I can´t help, sorry.


Christian

7th Nov 2007 13:11 UTCMarzio Mamberti Expert

I had not seen these messages.

Thanks Christian.

26th Feb 2008 15:21 UTCGiovanni Golinelli

Recently I have uploaded four photos of minerals but no one is present in the gallery of localities like so in the mineral's one, but only in my page.

I know that it could happen but photo n°148356 is several time that has been uploaded, but is present only in my gallery. Is it a problem of the photo's quality?

Thanks.

26th Feb 2008 16:08 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

Giovanni,


which locality do we talk about?


Christian

26th Feb 2008 16:26 UTCGiovanni Golinelli

The localities are:

- Fittà, Soave, Verona Province,Veneto,Italy

- Santa Lucia Mine,Fluminimaggiore, Carbonia-Iglesias Province, Sardinia, Italy

- Fonte del Prete,San Piero in Campo, Campo nell'Elba, Elba Island, Livorno Province, Tuscany, Italy

26th Feb 2008 17:19 UTCChristian Bracke Expert

@admin

Giovanni posted pic # 148356, wulfenite from loc. 2125 Santa Lucia Mine, which is not shown in location galery, but appears on his users page.

Please fix.

Thanks, Christian

26th Feb 2008 18:44 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Please read the first message in this thread!


Jolyon

2nd Sep 2008 23:32 UTCJesse Crawford

Several weeks ago I uploaded a photo of what appears to be a graphite pseudomorph after diamond. It's in my photo list, but has never appeared in the photo listing for graphite. I've assumed that this is because there must be some question as to whether it's even possible to have such a pseudomorph. The photo shows both diamond and graphite with both clearly exhibiting the same form. My question is, am I correct that there's an issue here, or has it just fallen through the cracks so to speak? I'd be interested in any thoughts relating to this specimen.


Aloha,

Jesse

3rd Sep 2008 16:53 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

"... appears to be a graphite pseudomorph after diamond."


If it wasn't analysed I'm sure one of us has sent a message questioning the ID. (Did you check hardness or is the sample too small? Is the locality known for such pseudomorphs?)

Please re-upload and we'll have a look again.

4th Sep 2008 00:25 UTCJesse Crawford

It cuts quartz very easily. It is very small so I didn't want to do too much messing with it. I don't think the system will let me upload the photo again because it's already in my collection of photos. I may have missed it, but I didn't see any response from the editorial board. It was part of several dozen photos that I uploaded on the same day, so I may have overlooked an email. It's the only graphite photo in my mindat photo collection. I'll edit the photo and upload it again (so it won't trigger the duplicate photo error trap) if that would be more convenient.


Aloha,

Jesse

4th Sep 2008 00:30 UTCJesse Crawford

Well, uh... I guess there's no reason I can't upload it here. Duh!


Here's the photo. The width of field is 0.25 mm taken with a Bausch and Lomb Microscope using differential interference optics.


Aloha,

Jesse

4th Sep 2008 11:44 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

I remember that photo and that either me or someone else has sent a complaint on it.

Graphite is black and the centre shows a brown phase.

If this is not analysed, please don't upload it.

4th Sep 2008 16:04 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert

I can see how this (graphite ps. diamond) would be a tough call, as indeed many pseudomorphs would be. I didn't think graphite after diamond was very likely, but from googling around I see some technical papers suggesting that it is indeed at least possible (I didn't see any from South Africa, though). And it sounded like the jury was still out on whether the specimens examined were really psedomorphs after diamonds (on some specimens the graphite appeared to be a thin coating on diamond crystals). I'm not making a judgement myself on this specimen. I'm not qualified to do so anyway. I have a very interesting specimen, that I've wanted to upload, that was labeled as opal ps.after quartz. It's a sharp one-inch quartz crystal (from Brazil) that appears to have been completely opalized or replaced by opal. I will post a picture sometime. But some folks I've shown it to say it's just a hydrated quartz crystal. Opal is not a true mineral, so I guess it's probably not really a pseudomorph anyway. Come to think of it, wouldn't graphite after diamond actually be a polymorph?

4th Sep 2008 16:21 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

The minerals graphite and diamond are polymorphs (same chemistry, different crystallography). Pseodomorphs refer mainly to the process of replacing one mineral by another. They are commonly have different chemistries, but when one has polymorph minerals, if the conditions are proper, you can get pseudomorphs. The reaction rate for the diamond to graphite transformation is slow at low temperatures, but can occur at higher temperatures. One of the reasons that you can find diamonds at the surface is because their host rocks cooled at (geologically) very fast rates. When this cooling is much slower (as you get where rocks are exposed by erosion rather than in eruptive forces), you will stay long enough at temperatures where the diamond to graphite transition can occur.

4th Sep 2008 22:47 UTCJesse Crawford

Well, here's the thing, the photo was taken using differential interference contrast optics, and the colors are not representative of the actual colors of the specimen. Differential Interference contrast is a false color technique. The graphite in the center is black as black can be. Would it help if I also include a photo using conventional microscopy for comparison?The hardness is right and it's isometric as evidenced by the fact that between crossed polarizers it remains dark for 360 degrees of rotation, so I'm pretty confident that it's diamond with a graphite inclusion. As to how such an inclusion might come to be, I'll leave that to people better educated in the science. I just thought it was an interesting picture and that others might think so too.


Aloha,

Jesse

5th Sep 2008 01:23 UTCJesse Crawford

This is embarrassing. Pseudomorph, polymorph, would you believe optical illusion? Closer examination shows that the graphite is much deeper within the crystal than the surface features, causing the graphite to appear to take on the form of the diamond. Puzzle solved. Oh well, it's probably not the last time I'll make a fool of myself. Sorry about that.


Aloha,

Jesse

5th Sep 2008 06:24 UTCJesse Crawford

I have another question for this thread. Photo number 172755 is also one I uploaded as one of several dozen in one day. It's in my personal collection but doesn't show up as one of the fiedlerite photos. I haven't received a notification of any problem. Is there a question about it?


Aloha,

Jesse

5th Sep 2008 18:59 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

172755 is a user-only photo.

5th Sep 2008 20:39 UTCJesse Crawford

Please accept my profoundest apologies if I said something to offend. It was not my intention. I'll shut up now.


Aloha,

Jesse

6th Sep 2008 21:42 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

No worries, Jesse - you said nothing at all that would offend anyone.

In fact, I would be glad if everyone would give such detailed description and explanations for photos that had complaints.

Lots of photos of other users are user-only photos.

10th Oct 2008 13:54 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi,


I noticed something strange.


I loaded a few months ago a specimen of Kasolite from Shinkolobwe : http://www.mindat.org/photo-147242.html.


I find it back in my gallery, the Shinkolobwe gallery but when I look under Katanga, the site brings me to the list of all the places in Katanga. When I choose to view all the photo's ( 1485 or something ), it does not appear.


Could you check this please.


Thank you in advance.


Take care and best regards.

Paul.

10th Oct 2008 18:26 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

A program bug?



http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?cform_is_valid=1&loc=4326&cf_pager_page=28


"We have only shown a small selection of photos on this page to make this page easier to browse.

Click here to see all photos of Kasolite from Musonoi Mine, Kolwezi, Western area, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo ."


Usually, if you would click on this text, you would see your photo (among others). However, I also can't find it.

10th Oct 2008 21:09 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

The mineral/locality gallery is not set up to look at sub-localities.

10th Oct 2008 22:59 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi Uwe and David,


Good to hear from you.


There must be a bug because the specimen I posted is from Shinkolobwe and not from Musonoï.

I checked and non of the Shinko Kasolites is shown.


Best regards.


Paul

10th Oct 2008 23:47 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

When there are more than 10 photos of a mineral, the 10 highest rated ones are shown. This is what is happening in the Katanga gallery.

13th Mar 2009 17:00 UTCRichard Felicioni

I posted Photo ID: 216172 (Parent), Photo ID: 216173 (Child), Photo ID: 216174 (child), Photo ID: 216175 (Child) and the photos do not show up in Apophyllite (KF) photo section. I did not see anything like it posted already and I try hard not to just post pictures of my collection, but to add photos of minerals that are different then what others have posted already. My goal is to try and share back with the mindat community for all the wonderful information and photos I have used as a learning tool to expand my knowledge of minerals.


Also when you select the parent photo in my home page Photo ID: 216173 (Child) does not appear (the other two do), but it does show up if I go to the edit this photo section of the parent.


Please let me know if I posted something incorrectly and thank you for the great site.

1st Apr 2009 09:36 UTCThomas Uhlig Expert

Paul De Bondt Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi,

>

> I noticed something strange.

>

> I loaded a few months ago a specimen of Kasolite

> from Shinkolobwe :

> http://www.mindat.org/photo-147242.html.

>

> I find it back in my gallery, the Shinkolobwe

> gallery but when I look under Katanga, the site

> brings me to the list of all the places in

> Katanga. When I choose to view all the photo's (

> 1485 or something ), it does not appear.

>

> Could you check this please.

>

> Thank you in advance.

>

> Take care and best regards.

> Paul.


This phenomenon (or feature?) seems to be a general one. E.g. if I look after fluorite pictures in the photo gallery of the Freiberg district . There will be a lot of photos from specimens from the "Beihilfe Mine" (a sublocality). After the last shown picture the well-known text "We have only shown a small selection of photos on this page to make this page easier to browse. Click here to see all photos of Fluorite from Beihilfe Mine, Halsbrücke, Freiberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany." appears. This link leads only to pictures from this sublocality. In the main picture table, the next picture of the next mineral is listed, not the next picture of fluorite from a different sublocality, e.g. from Gersdorf .


This means, I am not able, to see all fluorite photos from freiberg district in the Freiberg district picture table, even if I click to see the additional photos. Am I right?


Could there be a way, to include in the link for additional photos all other sublocalities, e.g. this way:


"We have only shown a small selection of photos on this page to make this page easier to browse. Click here to see all photos of Fluorite from Freiberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany." ?

1st Apr 2009 15:40 UTCPeter Haas

"This phenomenon (or feature?) seems to be a general one."


Yes. A known bug in the photo display routines. Unfortunately not easily fixed, but we're working on it.

2nd Apr 2009 14:03 UTCRichard Felicioni

Richard Felicioni Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I posted Photo ID: 216172 (Parent), Photo ID:

> 216173 (Child), Photo ID: 216174 (child), Photo

> ID: 216175 (Child) and the photos do not show up

> in Apophyllite (KF) photo section. I did not see

> anything like it posted already and I try hard not

> to just post pictures of my collection, but to add

> photos of minerals that are different then what

> others have posted already. My goal is to try and

> share back with the mindat community for all the

> wonderful information and photos I have used as a

> learning tool to expand my knowledge of minerals.

>

> Also when you select the parent photo in my home

> page Photo ID: 216173 (Child) does not appear (the

> other two do), but it does show up if I go to the

> edit this photo section of the parent.

>

> Please let me know if I posted something

> incorrectly and thank you for the great site.


It's been a couple of weeks and I have not received a reply. I have also tried to PM Jolyon Ralph but have not received an answer. I would appreciate some type of reply, thank you.

2nd Apr 2009 14:13 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Richard,


I don't generally reply to issues where photos have been approved for user gallery only (as this one has), as there are too many and we really don't have time to explain every decision. Also people get upset when we criticise, but in your case:


a) The photo is of a common mineral, we have many similar photos.

b) The photo is not sharp and a little grainy - I think the quality of your camera is the problem here, are you using a video camera or a very old digital camera?

c) The locality is very general and doesn't give an accurate source for the mineral.


None of these things are problems for photos in your user gallery, but these together make it impossible for us to select this to show up on the Apophylite-(KF) page.


Jolyon

4th Apr 2009 02:44 UTCRichard Felicioni

I apologize. I misunderstood the use of this thread. I do appreciate you taking the time to answer my question and I respect your input.


b) I am using an older 2.1mp camera and I didn't realize the photo's were grainy.

c) I actually purchased this specimen from a company in India and the only location description I got was the Deccan Plateau, Maharashtra, India.


I am a novice and I will not even pretend to know all or most of what makes a mineral specimen unique or interesting. Thanks again for letting me know and thank you for this great site and outstanding resource.


Kind Regards, Richard

4th Jan 2010 00:20 UTCWilliam W. Besse Expert

"User Only" photo? Did I miss this option?


Bill

4th Jan 2010 11:57 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

That's part of the managers rating/quality control option.

5th Jan 2010 05:39 UTCFred A. Schuster

Jolyon


Greetings

I am frustrated. I have an article I wanted to publish about Westerly Granites RI USA, but when I paste it on the new article page, submit an message says I am not connected to the website. I tried to submit the article jsut to see how the photos were laid out in the page. in the past I remember I was able to do this. ans resubmit, but alas. I cant get the article to go. THen on my home page the article are listed according to the headings and can't be opened. Is this because the articel is being reviewed?

Then I tried connecting to Chat for some help. But I couldn't. The page said I may need java so I down loaded it. Still couldn't connect.


is it that I am using WIFI and that I need a better connection? I have been down loading new localities and photos though.

If my article is not up to reveiw I would like to know too.


Hey, to change the subject

Happy New Year and happy trails of collecting. Health and Peace.

Fred Schuster

5th Jan 2010 11:42 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Don't use the forward slash in the title. It messes things up.


You get logged out if there is more than about 25 minutes with no activity. It is a good idea to check in another tab to make sure you are still logged in.

5th Jan 2010 21:37 UTCFred A. Schuster

David


thank you so much. It was the forward slash. It is always the little details that can get you every time!

Because I had the forward slash in my title it would not go through. Bingo!

THANKS MUCH


Fred Schuster

1st Apr 2010 22:44 UTCScott Sadlocha

I hope I am listing this in the right spot, and that I am not supposed to start a new thread. Anyways, I uploaded some photos to my personal page a few days back, and they seem to have been approved. Two of my photos were of the same specimen, one of the entire piece, and one a close-up. When uploading the close-up, I chose the "Add another photo of this specimen" option, and uploaded it. However, when viewing my pictures, I don't see the close-up. There is the stacked photo icon in the heading of the original picture in my gallery, but when I go into the picture and fullscreen it, I don't seem the thumbnail of other views below. Is there something else I am supposed to do to get this working? If so, let me know. I looked through the info in this page and didn't see anything that fits. If I missed it, I apologize.


The photo link is http://www.mindat.org/photo-295029.html


Thanks-

2nd Apr 2010 13:22 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

The close-up is not approved yet.

2nd Apr 2010 18:43 UTCScott Sadlocha

Ah, I see, thank you Uwe. Please let me know if there is something I need to correct on it (if it has to do with the mineral composition, I will also need to correct the larger shot).

4th May 2010 03:20 UTCJake Harper Expert

Jolyon,


Approx. three weeks ago I uploaded the NEW locality:

Calaveras River Canyon, Valley Springs area, Calaveras Co., California, USA.


Shortly after I uploaded two photos to the locality:


http://www.mindat.org/photo-300105.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-300085.html


Both of the photos are on my homepage, but neither are added yet to the locality.

Should I try and re-upload?


Thanks in advance, Jake

4th May 2010 13:29 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Have manually cleared cache of the locality page - now photos are present.

4th May 2010 18:19 UTCJake Harper Expert

Many thanks, Uwe!

I will now prepare a larger batch of specimens for photography!


Jake

6th Jun 2010 12:39 UTCCedric Van Hove

Hello !

Excuse me if my English is bad.

I upload aphoto of stellerite from Felskinn - Wallis - Zwitserland and i add "stellerite" in "mineral list" but we can't see it.

I would like to know why ?

It's the first time that we can see this mineral from this area. Nobody speak about it.

It's a pity that it is hidden. If you consider that my image is bad then don't show it. But indicated the name of this mineral in the list would be a good thing.

Thank you in advance,



Cédric

6th Jun 2010 15:30 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Hi Cédric,

you had uploaded a photo with stellerite from this locality - I had sent an email inquiry via Mindat, asking if this stellerite is analysed. Unless this is clarified we can't approve stellerite for the mineral list.

Approval takes some time anyway (see top of this thread and the manual - http://manual.mindat.org/).

7th Jun 2010 09:18 UTCCedric Van Hove

Hi Uwe,

thanks for the answer, I understand.

i don't have the analyse.

I will try to do the test without distroyed the crystal. ;)

4th Aug 2010 11:25 UTCDan Fountain

Last week I added autunite to the minerals list from the Outback quarry in Maine (http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=211817). Later I added a photo of the autunite crystals to that locality. The photo shows up on the locality page, but the mineral doesn't. Is it just a matter of refreshing the cache, or is there another problem? Thanks!


-Dan

4th Aug 2010 11:29 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Personally collected as a reference is insufficient. We need something like Dan Fountain collection instead.

4th Aug 2010 12:01 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Also, for something like autunite, we would need to know how it was identified, as visual identification alone isn't enough for this mineral.

4th Aug 2010 13:25 UTCDan Fountain

Thanks. I'll request the (admittedly crummy) picture be removed from the locality page, and I'll post it on the ID Help forum. I thought the crystal shape, color, LW & SW fluorescence, and radioactivity (which very arguably might be from some other mineral in the specimen) would be sufficient.

5th Aug 2010 12:34 UTCVandall Thomas King Manager

The identification of the autunite seems accurate for this locality. No survey of the chemistry of the species has been made for Maine and probably there would be surprises, but in lieu of the scattered chemical analyses of US pegmatite autunites, the ID seems to have a very high probability. The identification of any mineral has an error bar associated with it, even when instrumental analyses are used. I'll see if I can get a graduate student interested. :)

29th Aug 2010 00:03 UTCJason Evans

Please can you correct the image of Grandidierite, the one used as the main photo, I have changed the photo to one which i beleive is better, when you click on the origianl image it brings up the new photo but i would like the original photo changed to show the new one.

I dont mind if it is not used as the main pic anymore, although it is nice that it is, but i would prefer it to be a photo that i took.

4th Sep 2010 17:45 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

I put up some photos of a rock from Hincks Bridge, Quebec under "Other". It doesn't seem to want to post to that locality, why?

4th Sep 2010 18:07 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Which ones? Presently, there are four site photos you had uploaded (http://www.mindat.org/sitegallery.php?loc=591).

4th Sep 2010 19:41 UTCMaggie Wilson Expert

http://www.mindat.org/photo-331428.html


this is one of four photos of prismatine bearing paragneiss on Reiner's homepage


thanks for your help

9th Sep 2010 16:57 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

Here is the problem. Photos of rocks go under the "Other" category which excludes them from going to the locality page. That makes no sense and needs to be changed, you need a rock category that one can upload photos of rocks found at a particular locality to that locality. I would like to post my four photos of paragneiss ( Photo ID331428,25,21&10) from Hincks Bridge, Quebec to that locality. The photos are all of the same specimen so three should be as daughter photos.

9th Sep 2010 17:16 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Once we build in proper support for rocks and rocks photos in mindat this will be possible. But, for now, it's not, so photos need to remain in the "other" category, otherwise we'll end up with a lot of work that needs to be changed once the rock database side of things is running.


Jolyon

6th Oct 2010 17:27 UTCCharles Calkins

Greetings


Over the last few weeks, I've uploaded a number of location photos, and while some have appeared in the corresponding location pages (Buick mine, Pea Ridge mine), the majority do not appear on their respective pages (Lester Park, Missouri Mines, Herkimer Diamond Mine, etc.). Early in the thread, it is mentioned that photos not appearing are due to either technical reasons such as the page cache not being refreshed, or to policy ones, where a photo is not selected for inclusion. Is there a way to tell, for a given photo, the reason that it does not appear? If it is for content, could you describe the criteria that are used to determine whether a location photo is used? In the future when I take location photos, that would help so I would know what would become "official" vs. which would remain in my gallery only.


Thanks very much,


C.

6th Oct 2010 17:38 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Yes simple way.


Look at the locality page, right at the very bottom it says "Current server time:" and that figure is the date the page was last generated. If it's before your photos were uploaded, then it's just the page has not yet been updated to show your additions.


Jolyon

6th Oct 2010 17:47 UTCCharles Calkins

Ah - thanks. Unfortunately, doing a spot check of Missouri Mines and Columbia Quarry pics shows that the images show just a date, but the "server time" entry of their corresponding locality pages shows both the date and time. In the case of these, the day of the last locality refresh is the same day as the images were uploaded. I presume that the images must have been uploaded minutes after the locality page was refreshed, but there doesn't seem to be a way to tell for sure.


Thanks,


C.

6th Oct 2010 17:58 UTCCharles Calkins

To follow up to my own question... I just realized that if I edit a locality, and save it again without making any changes, then the cache is refreshed and the location images appear. I'll try that with the other localities and see what happens.


Thanks again,


C.

6th Oct 2010 18:28 UTCCharles Calkins

One more follow-up... Re-saving the 10 locales that didn't show my photos caused all of the locale pages to update, but one locale remains where my location photos do not appear: Falling Springs Quarry (http://www.mindat.org/loc-220793.html). The server date and time shows that the page was refreshed, and looking at my images shows that they are indeed locale images associated with that locale, but the location page still does not show my images (it doesn't show any images at all). Just in case there was something not quite right behind the scenes, I wanted to mention it.


Thanks again for your help,


C.

7th Oct 2010 13:10 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Cache cleared, photos are now there.

7th Oct 2010 13:12 UTCCharles Calkins

Thanks! I appreciate it.


C.

12th Dec 2010 08:06 UTCDavid Bruno

Hello,

This one is a bit complex ... I uploaded three photos of the same specimen showing different views, the specimen is a Petalite with Phenakite on Microcline from the Palelni Mine , Mogok, now, one photo shows up in my account in my list of photos,


http://www.mindat.org/photo-312189.html


if I click the link to other photos of the same specimen it says there are none, if I try to upload the photo I have showing the whole specimen it tells me the photo is already in the database and when I click the link it is there,


http://www.mindat.org/photo-312188.html


in the Mindat gallery of Petalite from Palelni it shows the third photo which is a close up of another part of the specimen and like the previous pictures is not linked to the others,


http://www.mindat.org/photo-312191.html


as you can tell by the sequential(ish) numbers I uploaded them at pretty much the same time,

well Im confused anyway,


any suggestions ideas what might be the problem?

cheers

db

18th Dec 2010 16:19 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

The photos has not been posted at the same locality. Try to fix that.

6th Feb 2011 00:23 UTCDavid K. Joyce Expert

Hi All,


I have decided to photograph all of the key mineral specimens in my collection and load them onto/into mindat.org. I looked up uranophane from Madawaska Mine and noted that my specimens were not there, so I attempted to upload an image of one of my specimens. I got a pop-up that noted that this was a "duplicate". I checked and sure enough, it is in my "Home Page" but it does not show up if I search for uranophane. Can this be corrected? Have I done something incorrectly? This uranophane was put on mindat.org quite a long time ago, I think.


David K. Joyce


ps, I somehow posted this message on a different topic (newer topic). Please ignore it and/or remove it from there?

6th Feb 2011 13:45 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Actually it is there. The mineral and location galleries just show 10 photos of a mineral/locality combination. To view all the photos, you need to get to the photo gallery for the locality/mineral pair. The photos are ordered by "best" voting by managers, users and how often they are viewed.


http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=4107&loc=542

7th Feb 2011 04:46 UTCFred A. Schuster

I was trying to write and article about a locality. I wanted to include around 10 photos in the article. So I was down loading them by logging in, going to my page, photos, then editing, and downloading to minerals, locations or other so as to get the photos into my blog. ( I have to added photos to the database in context to the story, like the local villages or even local fauna to keep continuity in the article) Then when I write the blog or article I use the HTLM tag to place the photo in the blog using the photo id number.

1) is this the proper procedure to write a blog or am i doing something wrong?

2) after downloading 4 photos I get a message in red saying that the photo is too large or not a JPEG. Well the photos are and are the same size.

So am I doing something wrong?


I really like to share a lot of trips if I can


So after reading It seems the problem might be that you have to edit the info coming in. I can understand that takes time. But is that what is happening when I get the message in red that the photo is too large or not jpeg? I'll be patient but just want to know if I am understanding the process


Fred

2nd Jun 2011 10:51 UTCGeorge Eric Stanley Curtis

Jolyon,


Two points, but I am not moaning. Mindat is a wonderful site.


1) Could there be some system of feedback to 'track' progress of uploaded photos that are a long time getting approved? A long wait makes me feel that something has gone wrong, or the photo has been rejected without anyone telling me.

I understand the delay, but not knowing what is happening after a week is very frustrating. At what point do I accept that something is wrong?


2) I have a couple of child photos uploaded which have just vanished, never seen again. The parent photo gets the little 'multi-pic' icon, but the child is not on the display. This is misleading for viewers.

One of the Child pics that vanished caused a false 'One other photo' note to appear on my home page photo count, and the multi-pic icon to appear on the photo, but the actual mineral child photo did not appear anywhere. This is also frustrating. Do I need to re-upload or what?


These problems appear on my latest metazeuneraite upload, still awaiting approval, and http://www.mindat.org/photo-333998.html.


I assumed you would like to know about these little bugs, I am not bitching.


Cheers

Eric ;)

2nd Jun 2011 11:59 UTCRock Currier Expert

George,

Jolyon may step in here with a few comments, but if not, I will comment that management does realize we have a problem with the approval of submitted images and we have been discussing various ways of handling the problem. Because we are all volunteers here on mindat we also have the privilege of working on what ever it is that we want, and often times that is not looking at the list of submitted images to improve them. Perhaps in the future, if mindat gets wealthy, we may be able to hire some employees that we can assign to various mindat tasks, but that is not likely to be for quite a while. Jolyon is having enough trouble getting himself paid enough so that he can work on the site, and that is absolutely critical, let alone hire full time let alone employees. Now that he is working full time on the site, we are seeing some cracks in the log jam of problems that need attention. Right now, In the managers forum, we periodically get a posting that will say something like, "hey guys, the images waiting for approval list is getting out of hand and you need to go there and help approve, disapprove or send complaint letters on the images in the list." and we all run over there and try and clean up some of the back log.


We have discussed various ways to improve the situation and Jolyon is now "on it" and working on ways to make the situation better. When it is obvious that at everything is OK with the species designation, the locality and the caption we can assign them quickly to the general gallery or the users gallery if the quality is not all that great and I must admit that as time passes, more and more are being assigned to the user only galleries. The problem comes when a manager looks at the image and says to himself "hell if I know" and skips over the image to go on to the next one that he may know something about. We have talked about creating a list of people that are specialists on various minerals or localities that we can refer those images to when we don't feel confident about saying yes or no on a particular image, or to have a check box by the image that says I don't know. We have talked about putting a time limit of two weeks on the images in the to be approved list and if no one knows by the time two weeks are up we will give the benefit of the doubt to the uploader and the images will be automatically moved to the general gallery. I think that by July we may have a system in place that will improve the situation. We now have in place a permissions system where we can permit others (mostly level 2 people) than managers to approve images of different kinds and to edit captions, send out letters with questions to the uploaders abut about the images they have uploaded and as this system gets used, and populated with helpers, images should be approved in a more timely manner.


What did you submit. Ill try and find it on the list and see where it stands.

2nd Jun 2011 12:55 UTCGeorge Eric Stanley Curtis

HI Rock,

I understand the difficulties, and like I said, I am not moaning.

I just thought it might help if there were some kind of feedback to the poster so he could track 'progress' if that means anything.

It might cut down on the number of complaints.

The other problem was the missing child photos, which is not so much a matter of approval, but a bit of a 'bug' as I see it.

The little 'multi-pic' icon appears in one or two of my pics, but the child photo itself is missing.


I recently uploaded a couple pics of metazeunerite from Cligga, (Photo ID: 388764) The main pic is awaiting approval, but the child pic is not to be seen on the awaiting approval list.

I am happy to wait for approval, but what puzzles me is the child pic missing.

The same happened to Photo ID: 333998 which was approved ages ago, but the child pic uploaded at the same time did not appear, even though the Multi-pic icon is there.



As I say, this is not so much a personal gripe, more an attempt at pointing out a possible 'bug' in the system.



Regards

Eric

2nd Jun 2011 19:16 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

I couldn't find the two child photos either (or do you know their numbers?). Must be a bug.

For the time being, just upload them again if you want.

2nd Jun 2011 19:22 UTCGeorge Eric Stanley Curtis

Thanks Uwe,

Will do that in due course.


Eric

3rd Jun 2011 12:12 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Fixed metazeunerite. Reuploading the same photo won't work as we check for duplicate images.

3rd Jun 2011 13:00 UTCRock Currier Expert

George,

I searched through the images waiting approval and could not find your image but finally realized the Uwe had beat me to it. Anyway, I am feeling richous because I reviewed a bunch of images and helped clean up the backlog. I feel guilty about not doing more of this work.

3rd Jun 2011 15:57 UTCGeorge Eric Stanley Curtis

My thanks to all of you.


I fully realise that it must be a very time consuming job approving all those photographs, which brings me back to my original 'feedback' suggestion.

Would it not be possible for the software to include a counter, such that all the pictures on your 'awaiting approval' stack would have a list number?


The list number would change as the picture moves up your 'awaiting approval' stack, so if it was also to appear on the users 'waiting approval' the user could see how far down the list his picture was.


i.e. If the end user were to see a message on his 'Awaiting approval' picture saying "This picture is number 10,003 on the awaiting approval list" would inform the uploader that it will be a while to wait.

If the message said "This picture is number 3 on the awaiting approval list" the uploader would know it would not be long.


If this were done, it would cut down on the number of queries about 'where has my picture gone?' and would perhaps cut down on the managerial workload - you wouldn't have to answer all those queries.


It may not be possible of course, it is just a thought.


Again, thanks for all your work and efforts.


Eric B)

3rd Jun 2011 20:19 UTCRock Currier Expert

George,

I think Jolyon or Dave must be the one to answer that question. They have a list of things to do and make better on the site a mile long and it is always the fires that must be put out first, and I don't begin to know enough about the programming of the site to know how much work what you suggest would take and how important the other things they are doing are compared to your request. Perhaps they will weigh in on the matter if they are not too busy doing other stuff.

3rd Jun 2011 20:26 UTCGeorge Eric Stanley Curtis

It was just a thought, - not important.


All the best


Eric :)-D

3rd Jun 2011 20:38 UTCRock Currier Expert

George,


No, it probably is not all that important in the over all scheme of things, but mindat only grows and gets better by people like yourself seeing a problem and saying "hey, can we change this and make it better?" and that starts the rest of us thinking and it kind of goes on the pile of other suggestions and if enough other people chime in and say, "hey! you should really change this", in most cases it will eventually get done. So please don't think that you should not have brought this to our attention. All suggestions that are made can help the site improve, and I for one certainly don't think you should not make them or were the least out of line in making this suggestion.

8th Jun 2011 11:39 UTCLiam Schofield

Hi Guys,


Just a quick one from my photo's; I uploaded a couple of images a week or two ago but they're still waiting approval. Now, usually, I'd just ignore it but I recently uploaded another image (two days ago) which was approved this morning so wasn't sure if the others were missed. Numbers are;


388234, 288235 and child photo, 388236.


I've not had a query/issue raised about them either, so I thought I'd ask.


Cheers!

8th Jun 2011 16:59 UTCRock Currier Expert

Liam,

I try and stay away from the photo approval process as I have plenty of other work here on mindat. I suspect the garnet photo, if it has not been approved is because it would appear you labeled is only garnet and didn't bother to put down what species of garnet it was or even a locality in the photo upload page. I didn't even know it was possible to upload an image without a locality, but I guess it is. As for the other two specimens from Pavel, someone is probably waiting for him to approve them or is checking with him. I personally would believe those are what Pavel says they are. He knows his stuff.

8th Jun 2011 17:27 UTCLiam Schofield

Ahhh, I put down 288235 and it should have been 388235... The Garnet isn't mine!


It should be an SEM image of Rucklidgeite, a Rucklidgeite crystal group shot (Child image) and the Nabokoite with Atlasovite.


As for the reasoning; that seems fair enough if Pavel needs to approve, though the Pb-Bi Tellurate sample has been approved and that was also from Pavel and was uploaded at the same time...

23rd Oct 2011 14:01 UTCNicu Pascanu Expert

Hi,

I submitted a few specimens that came to my collection from well-known dealers. Also, each specimen has his original label and the reference, I think so, to be accurate. I would be interested if their disapproval, until this moment could be generated by missing information and other misrepresent notes and photos.

The ID specimens are:

388380-added 25th May 2011-Hubeite, Quartz;

394531-added 29th Jun 2011-Hubnerite

415961-added 7th Oct 2011-Cylindrite

415963-added 7th Oct 2011-Hubeite, Inesite, Quartz


I'm very grateful for your kind support here.

Regards,

Nicu

23rd Oct 2011 15:27 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

Hi

I checked your photos. As far as I can see, they were all approved , and you can see them all in your gallery. Regarding the informations, reference etc given, there seems to be no problem with that.

But the reason, I would guess, is that when you uploaded your photos there were already many other photos of the same mineral from the same locality in the database.


Generally speaking, if there are already a large number of photos of the same mineral from the same locality in the database, and the ones already there are of a better quality or of a better educational value compared to the new ones to be approved, they will be approved for the users gallery only, and not for the mineral or locality gallery. Your photos is compared to other photographs of specimens from this location


EDITED away the word "not" in the last sentence. A typo from my side, sorry,

23rd Oct 2011 16:03 UTCMichael J. Bainbridge Expert

Rock,


As to your earlier suggestion that locality 'experts' may be called upon to help with certain images, I'd like to volunteer to help out with photos of Canadian minerals. I'll admit, I'd be relatively useless with rare micros from Mount-Saint Hilaire, or massive sulphides from the Cobalt area (so an "I don't know" button would be good), but I could certainly help clear a lot of the more 'common' stuff, especially the high volume of field-collected Grenville Province material.


At your service,

Michael

23rd Oct 2011 18:20 UTCNicu Pascanu Expert

Knut Edvard,


The only purpose of my request was for a correct information and I appreciate this prompt explanation.


Thanks

24th Oct 2011 12:58 UTCRock Currier Expert

Michael,

Why don't you start by looking at some of the Canadian mineral photos from localities that you are familiar with and see if there are some really wrong ones. Tell us what the image number is and what is wrong with the locality, species and or caption.

25th Oct 2011 04:12 UTCMichael J. Bainbridge Expert

Will do.

31st Oct 2011 20:31 UTCMichael J. Bainbridge Expert

I added several photos a while ago for my Bancroft show report - mostly "others", but a few minerals as well. All have been approved, and all are showing up except the Child photos of mineral cases (not even in my gallery). I don't really care if the only way to see the closeups of the cases is through the parent, but the following mineral photos where also uploaded as children of one of the "other - mineral display" photos, and are not showing up at the locality, or in either the public, or my private gallery. Check out the parent and you'll understand why I did it that way http://www.mindat.org/photo-415909.html


http://www.mindat.org/photo-415940.html and http://www.mindat.org/photo-415957.html not showing up.


This is probably just a lack of understanding on my part about the role and use of child photos, could someone please explain? And/or suggest a different way to link these photos so that the "mineral photos" show up in the right places?


Thanks,

Michael

1st Nov 2011 16:07 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

A child photo is a second photo of a mineral specimen (a closeup, showing the matrix - backside of specimen, photo that shows some specific point of interest, a photo of the entire specimen). They tend to not be applicable for site and other photos except in rare cases.

10th Jan 2012 18:19 UTCPaolo Giovanni Biffi

May you please check this message about missing locality photos ?


sorry for not appropriate placement, I discovered this topic right now

24th May 2012 20:10 UTCDennis Tryon

I have uploaded a photo (twice) of a Palomo mine, Peru specimen of realgar, sphalerite, and quartz with minor chalcopyrite and orpiment, and both times it has completely disappeared. It is not in the directory for Palomo mine, or even in my directory.

Have never seen this before.


Dennis

30th May 2012 20:06 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

Hi Dennis

I too are not able to find it. My best guess is that something went wrong under the uploading process. Please try again

2nd Jun 2012 19:39 UTCDennis Tryon

I have just uploaded it for the third time, and it is completely gone in less than an hour. I unloaded a second picture that is awaiting approval. I don't think it is my fault as I have successfully loaded over 400 photos with no problem.


Dennis

6th Jun 2012 17:23 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Did/Do you record the photo no.?

6th Jun 2012 21:49 UTCDennis Tryon

I did not record the photo number, I guess I can try one more time.


Thanks for your reply,


Dennis

6th Jun 2012 23:08 UTCDennis Tryon

It appears that it may have worked this time. I have no explanation.


Dennis

7th Jun 2012 21:32 UTCDennis Tryon

I guess that this is improvement, the photo was there overnight, but is now gone. There were two photos, 469519 and child 469520. It apparently disappears during the approval process, as it was there, but not yet approved, several hours ago. The location is listed (Palomo mine) as of now, but I have nothing from there. What is going on??


Dennis


P.S. Checking today (Nov. 8) , the location is now gone from the list.

8th Jun 2012 01:57 UTCEugene & Sharon Cisneros Expert

I understand Jolyon's first post stating that "not all photos submitted are accepted for the mineral and locality pages - this depends on the quality of the photo and the number of similar photos we already have for that mineral at that region". However, in the case of Desautelsite there are only 15 images, none of which showing a crystal in high resolution as image 466554. I'm not looking for recognition, but just trying to provide a view of the mineral that that provides crystallographic information that is currently lacking in the mineral photos page.


Gene

8th Jun 2012 12:44 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Gene, thanks for the photo. "not all photos submitted are accepted for the mineral and locality pages - this depends on the quality of the photo and the number of similar photos we already have for that mineral at that region" - this is not the case with 466554. We limit the maximum number of photos of a mineral/locality pair to the top 10 photos (you can see the rest by clicking on the link to display all the photos)

Additional Photos

+ We have only shown a small selection of photos on this page to make this page easier to browse.

Click here to see all photos of Desautelsite from Artinite pit, Clear Creek area, Picacho Peak, New Idria District, Diablo Range, San Benito Co., California, USA.



We base which 10 photos are shown by manager votes, user votes, and the number of times the photo has been viewed. This does put newly loaded photos at a disadvantage, but hopefully quality will eventually win out.


Photos from full members are automatically made available on locality and mineral pages.

8th Jun 2012 16:01 UTCEugene & Sharon Cisneros Expert

David,


Thanks for the explanation. Photo quality is one thing, and we all strive for it, but for me the scientific importance of an image is in how much information it conveys. The photo in question certainly isn't of the highest quality. But IMO, it is the only one, so far, that illustrates the morphology of the crystals. I hope that I didn't stick my neck out so far as to seem pretentious.


Gene

14th Jun 2012 11:27 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

http://www.mindat.org/photo-466554.html


is (now?) approved site-wide. I have cleared the cache of the locality and the mineral photo count jumped from 43 to 44.

14th Jun 2012 22:33 UTCHarjo Neutkens Manager

And, it's a great photo, Gene! It's now the head photo for the Desautelsite page.

23rd Jun 2012 13:35 UTCJean-Yves Lamoureux

Hi,


I have uploaded three pictures (471384, 471385, and 471387), who appear in my home page.


These concern the Boucherville site (235882), but they do not show in this site's photos.


I searched for unapproved or questionable photos on my home page, and there are none.


I know they're out there somewhere, but... where ? :-S

23rd Jun 2012 14:07 UTCAmir C. Akhavan Expert

The cache of the locality had to be cleared. Now they are visible.

Can you please add a scale or size info for photo 471385?

23rd Jun 2012 20:46 UTCJean-Yves Lamoureux

Hi Amir,


Thanks for the prompt action ! :)-D


I had not included a scale as this is a site photo, but you're right : the average size of the crystals appearing in the picture should have been provided, for the members' interest.


Correction gladly made !

19th Aug 2012 01:35 UTCBill Dameron 🌟 Expert

Hmmm. Unusual. I am doing barytes, by locality; for some reason Meikle Mine number 482261 won't show on my home page photos under sort by date added. It shows everywhere else -- that is, in the gallery, my photos when sorted by locality.... I tried editing it to see if submitting it again would fix that. Not important, but perplexing.

19th Aug 2012 12:27 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Yes, strange since I see it there.

3rd Nov 2012 20:51 UTCJean-Yves Lamoureux

Hi,


I've just conducted a search for unapproved photos in my Home Page, and found 10.


Two were uploaded yesterday, and it's understandable they are still pending approval.


But the others date back to weeks or months, the oldest having been uploaded May 22nd of this year.


Guess someone has to manually clear the cache for each locality, alas...


Business as usual. Any volunteer ?

27th Nov 2012 08:43 UTCMichel Ambroise

Hello,


I have had some pictures for this place in Portugal.


http://www.mindat.org/loc-64905.html


But the pictures are only on the upper level of the locality and not specifically for the exact locality!!! Any reason?


http://www.mindat.org/loc-132121.html


Thanks a lot


Michel

27th Nov 2012 09:06 UTCAmir C. Akhavan Expert

>> Any reason?

Caching.

Now they are visible.

27th Nov 2012 10:40 UTCMichel Ambroise

What is Caching??

27th Nov 2012 12:27 UTCAmir C. Akhavan Expert

Mindat's web pages are generated dynamically, that is, they are generated on the fly from data (images, locality infos etc.) in a database. If there are many requests, the web server needs to generate many pages simultaneously and will be under a lot of stress - and very slow.

To reduce the load on the web server, the web pages are stored in a "buffer" after they have been generated. If you type a certain address in the browser, the web server first checks if there's a copy of the page in the cache ("buffer") and delivers that copy to the browser.

If there are new entries in the database, it may be necessary to regenerate the respective web page and refresh the cache.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_cache

27th Nov 2012 13:31 UTCMichel Ambroise

All right, thanks a lot for this very good explanation:-)


Bests


Michel

1st Dec 2012 10:26 UTCPierre Rondelez

Hi all (administrators),


I posted this photo some days ago:

http://www.mindat.org/photo-500192.html

with light green apatite from Otjua Farm, Karibib District, Namibia.

Before posting it, I noticed that apatite was not on the location's list so I mentioned that in my caption, thinking that Mindat would be glad to add a previous unknown mineral to a certain location.

What happened was: nothing........

No questions about the mineral from any admin. but my mineral does not appear on the location, only I can see it on my personal photo page.

That was NOT the idea, I mean: my contact who sold me the specimen is a Namibia expert and he is adamant that the adamite specimen comes from said location.

About the identity of the apatite: believe me guys, after 35 years of intense self-collecting all over Europe and far beyond, I recognize an apatite when I see one, my dealer also has extensive knowledge about minerals and especially of those coming from Namibia.

So what do I do next time I encounter a new mineral from a certain location?

Keep this knowledge to myself or share it here on Mindat?

I thought that this is what Mindat is all about: sharing knowledge!


Pierre

2nd Dec 2012 11:57 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

Dear Pierre,

You have done perfectly well. Mindat would be glad to add a previous unknown mineral to a certain location.

But please have patience. Your photo is in line among 399 others waiting to be approved, that's the reason...

2nd Dec 2012 14:57 UTCMike Ruprecht

I can't list a new location for my topaz from New Hampshire when I upload

a photo to my page is this done some place else?

2nd Dec 2012 19:26 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

You can add a new locality by following the instructions in the manual:

http://manual.mindat.org/index.php/Main_Page#How_to_Add_Localities

22nd Jan 2013 10:48 UTCAndrea Sansoni

I changed the locality for this photo http://www.mindat.org/photo-472980.html and for the child close up photos, but for some reason the child close ups are in the gallery for the new locality, but the parent is not.

22nd Jan 2013 11:10 UTCClosed Account 🌟

Andrea,


massive changes to a photo, like the change of locality, requires a new approval of the photo. I did that, and now the photo is visible in the gallery.


Branko

29th Jan 2013 22:05 UTCPhilip Simmons

Hi all,


I'm having the same problem that Pierre did. My photo of the blue halite(posted 3 days ago) shows up on my home page, but not on the Locality page. I assume that it's still in the queue waiting to be approved. How long does it usually take to approve the photos?


Thanks,

Philip

29th Jan 2013 23:33 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

Philip,


It depends on the availability of the managers to review the photos. Some photos may be reviewed by a particular manager based on the locality of the mineral occurrence (area expert). Right now there is a large backlog of photos.

21st Feb 2013 20:48 UTCJason Evans

00642980014958102862485.jpg
A few of my recent photos have not yet been approved, I am well aware this can take some time so not so worried about that , one of them is a specimen of native iron from Disko island,It was previously approved as native iron, but when i checked a few weeks ago I noticed a note saying native iron does not occur at this locality however it says that the location i put (Blaafjeld, Ulvfaq, Disko, Greenland) does not have native iron but has kamacite, so I changed the name to kamacite.


What is confusing me is that one of those i uploaded now seems to have been approved because it does not appear when i click the blob to show unapproved photos. yet i cannot see it in the gallery. Maybe this is just because of the backlog of photos.


This is the photo in question.

24th Feb 2013 18:32 UTCJason Evans

I would like to know why how when i uploaded my native iron specimen over a year ago it was approved with no questioning at all, then i notice it has the "this mineral does not occur at this locality" (Blaafjeld, Uivfaq (Ovifak), Qeqertarsuaq Island (Disko Island), Kitaa (West Greenland) Province, Greenland) note. So I check the locality and see that iron is not listed but Kamacite is, so I change the name to Kamacite. Then the photo gets questioned, and surprise surprise suddenly native iron is found at Blaafjeld. I also see no other problem with my photo it looks just the same as the other photos of iron from that locality. I dont normally get so frustrated but i do feel I am owed an explanation to why my photo was questioned (when it was previously approved) and why did i have that note saying it does not occur at this locality and then suddenly it does.


I am going to re upload the photo as native iron not Kamacite.

25th Feb 2013 13:15 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Hi Jason


I've looked into this and would like to explain, since the photo was uploaded & approved in Oct 2009 mindat has grouped together a bunch of people who want to help, there is now a much longer list of members who approve photo's leading to a more vigorous checking process, any edit of a photo needs approval (always did) so you created that by changing the name, this lead to questions which was resolved because a manager took time to research & found a reference so that Iron could be added to the locality, this automatically removes that message 'not found here' from the photo.


So you are right there was nothing wrong with your photo, what is wrong here is that the database didn't have the info but thanks to Knut, we now do :-)


Regarding the 'not found here' message, majority of the time it's because we don't have the data not because we don't believe you, it should be viewed as encouragement to find the info & add it to the database.


Debbie

28th Feb 2013 08:23 UTCKarsten Ivan

Hi everybody,


Sometimes happened , that I must wait few days for adding my photos after upload, but sometimes there was done nothing.

Example: this photo

http://www.mindat.org/photo-516884.html

and this one

http://www.mindat.org/photo-516882.html


was uploaded in February, circa 10 days ago. Daily I am looked at the Today´s photo gallery and for any case also for Yesterdays photo gallery, but those were no displayed...:-S

I am patient 10 days , but now I became little bit fretful.

That´s why I´m writing this message;-)


How can I identify, that my photo is visible for all,

or in opposite - how can I identify that my shot wasn´t approved by admins? Thank you in advance for answer.

Karsten

28th Feb 2013 10:50 UTCRock Currier Expert

Karsten

I have consigned you agate pictures to your gallery. The locality on the agate is very general and we have many similar images of Brazilian agate in our galleries. As far as the Mexican polybasite it would appear that our Mexican expert has not gotten around to looking at it. The Quartz in the image looks to be quite pink. Is this the correct color for the specimen? I am not familiar with the specimens from this mine. Did you get it at the mine or was that on the label when you got it?

28th Feb 2013 15:01 UTCKarsten Ivan

Hi Rock,

I agree, that Agate photos from locality "Brasilia" must be huge amount on Mindat. But this is little bit other. Of course I cannot introduce accurate locality, because this piece is bought in Junk shop in Slovakia without label. One month ago I discuss this piece in Mindat. Colleagues expressed that this is older piece, artificially coloured probably with old method - sugar or honey maceration few months and than maceration in sulphur acid. This piece is not from todays mass production of thin slabs, is thick 2,5 cm and homemade grinded and polished ;-).

Of course agate photos are in web in gorgeous quantities. But if you look to the daughter photo - how much from all agate photos on internet was done with backlight?


To the second photo: First of all, Slovakia is not in Mexico, this lies European Union - no, Slovenia and Slovakia isn´t the synonyms, those are two different states, with different languages ,without joint borders.

On Slovakia was in underground mined copper ,silver and gold very long period before time, when Christoph Columbus landed firstly after ocean trip:-). Yes , the quartz is little bit rosa, because this is pale amethyst as I wrote in text. This specimen is displayed in Slovak central Mining museum , 5 kilometers from the locality, there is labelled Hodrusa, this druse shape is typical for Hodrusa. I worked in Hodrusa mine Rosalia 10 years and I came any week to hodrusa, because there is one of my flats. So therefore i can say also the Mine name and Vein name: Schöpfer what means "The Creator".

Till this day you can collect the similar specimens (but without silver minerals) on Mayer shaft mine, which is actually excavated. That´s all what I can say.

No hard feelings Rock, I wil be not angry if you refuse those photos :)-D. Later I will send hundreds of other interesting minerals ...(tu)

28th Feb 2013 21:32 UTCRock Currier Expert

Karsten,

Your image of polybasite has been approved for the general gallery. From your description of it and your experience with the locality, I think you probably know more about it than any of us so called experts. Thanks for the good picture. Usually the result of dying agate slabs with sugar/honey solutions and heat/acid is a black or black and white banded agate. Often good died agates are given the locality of Brazil, or Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil when in fact many of them come from near the little town of Artigas Uruguay. With such a general provenance I find it hard to add it to our general gallery.

31st Mar 2013 19:05 UTCJason Evans

My Feri-ghoseite from the Tirodi mine in India would very much like to be added to the public gallery. It was added on the 7th of March. I do understand sometimes it can take some time for someone to approve a photo, but this is just a reminder that the Feri-ghoseite is waiting to be approved.

1st Apr 2013 18:13 UTCOlav Revheim Manager

Jason,


Sorry for taking so long to respond to this. From what I have been able to find out from the ferri-ghoseite type description and also earlier work on similar material, ferri-ghoseite is yellow or yellowish brown.


Although commonly named parvowinchite or ferri-ghosite, the lilac amphiboles appears to mostly be Mn-bearing arfvedsonite or riebeckite root-name-group minerals, see also link to message board for a previous discussion on the matter.


Olav

1st Apr 2013 18:53 UTCJason Evans

I have edited it back to winchite which is what the original label says it was, I hope it is OK to copy your definintion of what it is most likely to be into the description

1st Apr 2013 21:08 UTCOlav Revheim Manager

Jason,


Thanks, I think that's fine for now, but these amphiboles needs to be checked further.


I'll keep you updated on whatever I will be finding out.


Olav

1st Apr 2013 22:58 UTCJason Evans

Well I would be happy to sacrifice my specimen by breaking of a small bit to have further studies done, I'll even pay for the shipping to anyone who has the equipment to conduct the research.

25th Jun 2013 05:36 UTCDavid Bruno

Hello,

I added a photo of Wulfenite from thew Saindak Cu Deposit ... http://www.mindat.org/photo-541662.html it doesnt seem to have made the locality page yet though in my photo's it comes up as being approved, I uploaded on 21/6.

Thanks

db

25th Jun 2013 09:04 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Hello David


The locality page cache needed clearing, your photo is now showing site wide & locality page.

26th Jun 2013 21:03 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

In 2010, I've visited the SW of the USA, and I've posted some foto's. All were accepted except this one:

http://www.mindat.org/photo-330468.html

As I'm going to upload more foto's ,I'd liked to know the reason(s), to learn what I should (not) do. Thanks,


Erik Vercammen

26th Jun 2013 21:18 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

It's an "other" photo. They are not displayed on locality pages.

3rd Jul 2013 20:30 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

The photo's I've uploaded for this locality http://www.mindat.org/loc-194052.html don't appear on the locality page. A problem of time or something else?

3rd Jul 2013 23:45 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Erik, the photo's are awaiting approval.

4th Jul 2013 13:23 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

OK, thanks. I know it is voluntary work "after the hours" and that someone has to find the time to do it. Now preparing for holidays in the Val d'Anniviers, Wallis, Switzerland, and I hope to return wit a lot of photos of mines and findingplaces => I promise to cause a lot of approving work!

18th Jul 2013 09:53 UTCJyrki Autio Expert

Hello

I added a picture of tantalite-(Fe) and it has been unapproved for quite some time now. But I have not received any questions about it or explanation about not approving.

Picture 543716


Greetings

Jyrki

21st Jul 2013 16:26 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

Hi Jyrki


I sent you a private message about it short time after you posted it. You probably didn't receive it.

I asked how the identification of your specimen as tantalite-(Fe) were done. It raised a question mark because:

Tantalite-(Fe) is the most uncommon member of the columbite-tantalite minerals,

there are no references for tantalite-(Fe) given for the listing of the mineral at the locality page (It is listed without any refrerences- yet),

and it's often very diffcult to visually distinguish between members of the columbite-tantalite series and there are several other columbite-tantalite minerals that occurs at the locality.


Knut Edvard

21st Jul 2013 18:51 UTCJyrki Autio Expert

Hello Knut.

Maybe I have deleted the e-mail without reading first. Identification was only by crystal form.

It appears that "columbite" in Rosendal mineral listing in Mindat is misleading. To my knowledge only tantalite-(Fe) of columbite group minerals is found from Rosendal. I only have A Volborths old listing according to Gunnar Pehrman 1945 Die Granitpegmatite von Kimito S.W.-Finnland und ihre Minerale but according to Ilkka Mikkola it is the same with new (unpublished?) list of Rosendal minerals.

Greetings

Jyrki

4th Aug 2013 15:58 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

I've posted a photo of the Waschsee mine in Val d'Anniviers, Wallis, Switzerland, I've taken during my recent holidays in that valley.It seems to be not approved yet, in opposition to my other photos (except one, but that's not a good one). "Just" lack of time from the managers, or another reason?

5th Aug 2013 11:29 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

Hi Eric

Reason: Vacation time and 500 photos in line.

6th Oct 2013 18:14 UTCLiam Schofield

Hi,


I've just found a bunch of photos in my gallery are noted as questioned. One i am aware of and had spoken to Pavel on the subject some time ago (and should probably do something about), one I can see the error (wrong species photographed) but the other 3, (all uploaded more than a month ago) while not the best photos, I've heard nothing from anyone regarding an issue. Anyone able to advise? One (the Roquesite) has provinence stated and is from the same source as others already approved. The photos not going to win any awards but I'm curious why it's been questioned...


Thanks.

16th Oct 2013 15:36 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

If a photo is questioned, an automatic mail with details is sent out to the uploader.

Maybe some of the mails got caught in your spam folder?

16th Oct 2013 16:28 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

01254730016017368164209.jpg
If you go to the photo page you will see a "Photo questioned" button on the bottom row of buttons (just above the search boxes on the bottom of the page). If you click it, you will see the email that was sent to you.

16th Oct 2013 17:25 UTCLiam Schofield

Ah, I didn't know that David, thanks for showing me that. Now I know how to deal with them!


Thanks.

5th May 2014 12:32 UTCSteffen Michalski

I added a few pics 5 days ago, but I can find only 3 of them. What is wrong with all the others? All pics in good quality and with description, size etc... Beste regards Steffen

5th May 2014 13:25 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

http://www.mindat.org/photo-610587.html is misclassified - There is a type in the "Other" category for mineral labels.

5th May 2014 14:25 UTCSteffen Michalski

thank you for your comment, fixed it, but the other pics should be ok!?

29th Aug 2014 23:27 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

It will help everyone if you provide a link to any photos you have queries about as we can't always guess which images you mean.

30th Sep 2014 18:39 UTCRoberto Bracco

Hi all,

yesterday I uploaded two pictures of synchisite-(Ce) from the Luserna quarries in Italy.

The two pictures


http://www.mindat.org/photo-637943.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-637944.html


correctly show in my page or accessing from the users' photo galleries list, but don't appear in the locality+mineral page


http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=157231&min=3853


nor in the synchisite-(Ce) page.

What went wrong?

30th Sep 2014 21:33 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

You didn't wait long enough;-)


The outstanding photos awaiting approval are now down to just over 300 from a recent high of 700.

1st Oct 2014 08:46 UTCRoberto Bracco

Whew... you are doing a terrific job!! :)-D

16th Jan 2015 12:00 UTCMario Pauwels

In total I have updated and added about a week ago around 15 photo's from long time ago approved specimens. Now these 15 photos are missing in my gallery and with the new site format I can not see anymore if they are just waiting to be approved, or if they are "lost" with the move to the new site/server. So what is the problem?


Best regards,

Mario Pauwels

16th Jan 2015 12:06 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Getting the site running properly has taken more time from approving photos. Also Tucson preparations are being made by a number of people. You have 13 photos in the queue awaiting approval.

16th Jan 2015 12:15 UTCMario Pauwels

Ok, thanks David.


Best regards,

Mario Pauwels

19th Jan 2015 15:06 UTCHerman Du Plessis

hi there


I uploaded a few locality photos yesterday, the site went down, and i tried uploading them now but it gives me this,

Sorry - Your photo is likely a duplicate of this photograph.


the photogaphh does not appear n my home page? but yet it is on mindat?


http://www.mindat.org/photo-660774.html


it also does not appear on the locality page?


any help.


Herman

19th Jan 2015 15:18 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Patience please, it is a known problem Jolyon is working on.

2nd Feb 2015 13:46 UTCJan Čermák

Hi,

I'm curious why newly added photo is not listed in my galery?? I added photo January 31, 2015. In old version of mindat I saw all new added photos... (I mean yet unapproved photos) In new version I won't see yet unapproved photo in my gallery??

Jan

2nd Feb 2015 14:17 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

It's a bug; Jolyon is working on it.

15th Feb 2015 19:27 UTCJan Čermák

Jolyon still working on it?? Cos today I added few photos and I can't see it in my gallery again....?? :-S

Jan

15th Feb 2015 21:14 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

He should be when he gets back from Tucson.

15th Feb 2015 21:53 UTCJan Čermák

Ok thanks for info David.

Jan

17th Feb 2015 15:02 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Following the Mindat update, I re-uploaded higher resolution versions of several photos in my gallery (without changing the photos themselves). Before that, all of them were approved. Now, some are "Pending approval" :


http://www.mindat.org/photo-591318.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-605751.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-636241.html


which means (I guess) that I should wait a little to see them back in the galleries, but others are "User gallery only" :


http://www.mindat.org/photo-596260.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-644803.html


Why would these two photos be rejected from the galleries, since they had been previously approved ?


Thanks

17th Feb 2015 16:56 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

All (re-)approved site-wide. Nice photos!

17th Feb 2015 18:26 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Thank you very much Uwe.

12th Mar 2015 12:40 UTCMario Pauwels

More than two months ago I replaced some parent and added some child photos from specimens who where approved already long time ago. Now, more than two months later there is still no sign of some of these photos on this site, and also the unchanged child photos who belong to these parent photos are no longer visible anymore in my gallery since then.


So I was wondered how a poor, blurry and totally out of focus photo of the most common species in the world, for example: http://www.mindat.org/photo-660183.html was approved (for public galleries!) within minutes after it was uploaded?

With 2mm x 1,5mm x 1mm is also the given size of that "approved" specimen completely wrong...


What is going wrong here? Is it only randomness?


Best regards,

Mario Pauwels

12th Mar 2015 13:30 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Probably mistakenly approved as a site-wide photo.

Now user-only.

13th Mar 2015 09:40 UTCMario Pauwels

Changed the status to 'user-only' and that's it? And what about the sizes of that "approved" specimen, who are also completely wrong? To be honest, I don't care much about these mistakes, it was only to explain the randomness and how things work on this site.


In case that no one from the managers noticed it in my previous message, or did not took time to read my message decently, I am more concerned that it takes now already more than two months to approve my missing photos, from specimens who were approved already years ago!


Is this because mass-and-bulk uploads apparently have become more and more become the norm on this site, and are more appreciated than what I post?


Please do me one favor and do not approve my 'missing' photo's, but delete them.



Best regards,

Mario Pauwels

13th Mar 2015 10:43 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Mario, I have approved your photos, if you want any deleted then please file the delete request. I do not believe there is any favouritism over the type of uploads, what the issue here is lack of managers with time to approve photos, at the moment there are nearly 1500 photos waiting, the highest I've ever seen and because of that pressure it may be the reason why some mistakes are made, it is purely randomness.

13th Mar 2015 13:45 UTCJan Čermák

Jolyon thanks for informations.

I have just one question I added photo : 15th Feb 2015 and still not approved. Same the second photo, all others were approved just this two

http://www.mindat.org/photo-667097.html

and

http://www.mindat.org/photo-667095.html


Regards

Jan

13th Mar 2015 13:57 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Debbie Woolf Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> the issue here is lack of

> managers with time to approve photos, at the

> moment there are nearly 1500 photos waiting


Does the Mindat team need more managers ? I would love to get more involved, and I think I have now enough experience in mineral collecting and in using Mindat so as to be useful, for at least some of the managers tasks. Is there a way to "apply" to become a manager ?

13th Mar 2015 14:12 UTCMario Pauwels

Thank you Debbie for your prompt help and you explanation. I appreciate it very much !


Best regards,

Mario Pauwels

13th Mar 2015 15:10 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

Antoine & others,


Mindat managers have a wide variety of functions that they perform in addition to approving photos, including actual management of the database and administrative and managerial functions in general. We do have an "expert" category below manager level. Virtually all photos submitted are designated to be reviewed by one or more "experts" who may, or may not, also be a manager. The problem is that Mindat does not have a full or part time paid staff of reviewers or data input personnel. All our work is done by volunteers. Tucson disrupts the system every year. Even though it is now over, our staff is catching up on personal matters and then Mindat matters.


Chet Lemanski

13th Mar 2015 17:56 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Another problem with Brazil is that the person that was primarily in charge of approving photos died.

14th Mar 2015 08:44 UTCFranco Lazzari

I would like know the reasons why this photo is rated "User gallery only":


http://www.mindat.org/photo-87538.html


This Brookite is one of the longest discovered in this area, so I think it is important to publish it.

If the reason is that few millimeter small Quartz is out of focus then perhaps half or more of the photos are to be removed.

After the entry of the new version of Mindat I found several my photos classified "User only" and without any warning for me.

I unfortunately I removed almost all, but I was advised to report it because they had some pretty good pictures and not necessarily have to be a professional photographer to publish them.

I know perfectly distinguish a decent photo from a poor photo.

These remaining my photos were classified "User gallery only":


http://www.mindat.org/photo-88020.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-239662.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-239725.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-239724.html


I would like, first to remove these, know why.


Best regards

Franco Lazzari

14th Mar 2015 13:48 UTCDouglas Merson 🌟 Expert

Franco,

I am not one of the folks that approve photos but will offer what I think might be the reason,


photo 239724 - the crystals shown look like black blobs, no definition of the faces. A close up of one of the crystals as the main photo would be better and this as a child photo to show overall specimen.


photo 239725 - the lighting could be better to show of the faces of the crystals.


photo 239662 - again, better lighting to define the faces.


photo 88020 - same comment as for 239724


photo 87538 - a closer view would be better


Doug

14th Mar 2015 20:24 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

I think these are all very good specimens and agree they deserve re-photographing with better lighting and resolution. Two of the sites have very few photos so it would be great to get these improved especially.

23rd Mar 2015 17:23 UTCAndrea Sansoni

This photo has been waiting approval since 21st Nov 2014

23rd Mar 2015 17:41 UTCRock Currier Expert

Andrea,

Which photo are you talking about. I have no reference with which to find it.

23rd Mar 2015 17:52 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

http://www.mindat.org/photo-648441.html

It is actually set as user only.

23rd Mar 2015 18:03 UTCRock Currier Expert

Hmm, that's a really good picture and a really nice specimen. I wonder why it is user only.

23rd Mar 2015 18:10 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

I agree - it should be site-wide.

23rd Mar 2015 20:34 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Agreed, now set to public.

27th Mar 2015 11:46 UTCAndrea Sansoni

This and child photos are not in public gallery. I updated the locality a long time ago...

27th Mar 2015 15:47 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Andrea, Those are good photos and you have a mine locality with not a lot of examples, so I set them to general galleries.:-)

1st Apr 2015 13:43 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Franco: http://www.mindat.org/photo-87538.html + child photo now site-wide.

1st Apr 2015 13:46 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Franco:

http://www.mindat.org/photo-239725.html

and

http://www.mindat.org/photo-88020.html

are good enough in my opinion.

Made them site-wide.

23rd Apr 2015 17:01 UTCDouglas Merson 🌟 Expert

In response to the thread under maintenance on photo sort order, I discovered an issue with some of my photos. I am 99.9% sure that I uploaded replacement photos for the following and that they had showed up in the public galleries. They seem to have reverted to the original photos and new photos do not show up in when looking at unapproved photos or for use in my own gallery.


32068 thomasclarkite-(Y)

32069 thomasclarkite-(Y)

32070 tsepinite-Na

32071 gjerdingenite-Na

168965 brookite

168966 nenadkevichite

168967 schorl

168969 phlogopite

168970 todorokite

24th Apr 2015 15:24 UTCDouglas Merson 🌟 Expert

Decided I must not have uploaded the new photos and went ahead and uploaded them.

9th May 2015 21:29 UTCKo Jansen

Please explain why 247 photo's are not been reviewed or taken questions on it, some are older than 9 month because till that time I put text on the photo field,but even at this moment they are free of text,

I know that a lot of the persons who are reviewing are still working,in my case thats not,but such a difference is for me too much.


with kind regards ko jansen

9th May 2015 23:02 UTCRock Currier Expert

Ko,

The reason is that we are not paid to vet the images supplied to mindat and we work on them when we have the time. Also after you do a few thousand of them you get tired of doing them and the task of doing a few thousand more ore does not seem that urgent. Quite a few of the images submitted are pretty obvious and can be cleared quickly and easily cleared. There are a lot of images however that are of micro items from somewhat obscure localities or of materials that are not well crystallized that we, the so called experts, are not familiar with and that can't be verified just by looking at them or that can't be verified for sure at all except by analytical results that are almost never given or even done and then we have to go digging for more information from the uploaders, who often ignore our requests for more information and can require us to spend an hour or more to approve or disapprove a single image. It can be very discouraging. If you have pictures in cue you can speed the process by including in your caption detailed information about the locality and or the species and why you think it is what you say it is. If you can do that it will help assure our experts that you know what you are talking about and help us decide about putting your image in our general gallery or just consigning it to your user gallery which we are doing more and more of all the time.

20th May 2015 10:22 UTCKo Jansen

Rock Currier,


Your explanation is clear but I put as much as possible info about the minerals sometimes I am reffering to the Book with title and writer e.g. "Laurion " The minerals in the ancient slags by Piet Gelaude etc..

Futher for Clara mineralsBlack Forest Germany there are enough books and articals written to check if the photo/name is correct.

Themicromounts of the "Eifel " vulcanic material there must be also enough info available,

But since your answer nothing is reviewed after that date.


with kind regards KO

20th May 2015 20:37 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

I maintain my own "user gallery" here at home and upload only photos that I believe will be of interest or use to others after reviewing what is already posted for that species & locality, specifically seeking to avoid pointless duplication. When one's photo has been relegated to the user gallery instead of being approved for site-wide use, it isn't likely ever to be seen by users seeking images of that species or locality and might as well not be there. Can the uploader be given the option to delete user-only images?

21st May 2015 00:28 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Actually, you can tweak the photo search parameters to view all relevant photos including user only ones.

21st May 2015 01:05 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

Mindat welcomes all photos of any merit. That being said, it is common sense that we would want the greatest percentage possible of quality images of obviously and/or adequately identified species, without distracting backgrounds,significantly out-of-focus images or inadequately captioned photos lacking a guide to the species presented.


If you are posting a photo of a wulfenite from the Red Cloud Mine, Arizona, it better be great. Please don't let this dissuade you! If you have a nice image of a fine specimen, please post it. At worst, it might wind up in the user only gallery. Please have sympathy on the contributors who post photos of Franklin District, New Jersey, specimens - they have to get past me. Virtually all take constructive criticism and their photos get approved for site-wide viewing to the benefit of Mindat and its users. Many of our managers and experts have significant knowledge of specific area(s) and often have the credentials to professionally approve or critique photos for that/those area(s). There are areas without any Mindat staff member with the requisite expertise and we have to "punt" at times. Please don't hesitate to question management decisions for such areas. We all want to learn more!!


Perhaps the most annoying aspect of many photos is what has been termed an "ugly background." This is very common in thumbnail specimens photographed in a "perky" box. Many of these are fine specimens but bad photos due to the visibility of the Perky box. Many can be made great photos simply by masking the background with a piece of dark cloth (e.g., cut a circular piece of cloth, cut a slot to the center and then a doughnut hole in the center to fit around the mounted specimen). Avoid outdoor photos with half the state of Arizona in the background! Carry a piece of dark-colored cloth with you on field trips and place specimens on it to photo them. Avoid hands in the image. Simply use a dark colored piece of cloth in your hand and then hold the specimen on it to mask the hand! This is all easy, inexpensive, common sense stuff!!! Following these simple hints will greatly enhance the chance of your photo being approved quickly and for site-wide viewing.


Further, an adequate caption for the photo will also expedite approval and enhance a great photo's chances for selection as a photo-of-the-day (POTD). If you have verified rare species represented in your collection, first check to see if Mindat has any photos in the galleries. If not, uploading your photo with a meaningful specification of the provinance and analytical data for the specimen will be very welcomed.


Common sense says: An average specimen of a common species from a prolific locality with an unattractive background and out-of-focus areas in critical areas of the photo and a minimal or no caption stands about no chance of being approved quickly or for site-wide viewing.


We thank all of our contributors for their input and look forward to quickly approving all meritorious postings! Don't forget - Mindat is you!


Chet Lemanski

21st May 2015 22:08 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

I don't envy Mindat managers having to deal with the bezillions of photos that cross your virtual desks every week, and I appreciate the time and effort you all put into that and other aspects of keeping Mindat going.


Perky boxes maybe aren't aesthetic, but part of a box or a hand in the image instantly provides universally recognized scale for the specimen, better than a coin if you aren't familiar with that country's coinage. (If I use a coin, I give its diameter in the caption.) I'll think about the hole-in-the-cloth technique; I don't know whether it would be more or less distracting than a glimpse of a naked Perky box.

22nd May 2015 03:08 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Great reply Chet, this needs to be posted where all new uploaders (and many old ones!) can see it.

22nd May 2015 15:47 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

Thanks Ralph - took a little while to thinking it through.


Chet

19th Jun 2015 12:23 UTCKo Jansen

05408130016017368164041.jpg
To all re-viewers of new Photo's uploaded to Mindat,


Since my messages from May 9 and May 20 the quantity not yet approved is raised to 318 and the last photo sent in was June 15,

please is it posseble to do something to get it quicker reviewed?


with regards Ko

22nd Jun 2015 20:32 UTCFred A. Schuster

Hi Mindat team,


I added some new localities in the Mindat data base in my new home of Quebec. Two are roadcuts in close proximity in the Adstock area.

http://www.mindat.org/loc-230290.html


"The road cut Chemin du lac" http://www.mindat.org/loc-264823.html was added


I just read Reiner Mielke's comment about the photo being too dark. I will try to locate that piece and photo it again. I think it should be documented.


Also I was not sure how to edit the page "Chemin du lac" Adstock Qc. but I wanted to add the following minerals which I have identified and I am very confident the are correct:

Epidote, Quartz, Albite, Hematite (specular).


Thanks


Fred

10th Aug 2015 11:36 UTCDavid Hospital

Hi Administrators,


The photo below has the label of "Public Galleries" in "My Photos" menu, but when searched for the locality "Gualba quarries" doesn't appear, why ?

It has the Raman analysis confirming its identity included.


Grossular (Var: Hibschite)

Specimen ID: GH6-5TP


Many thanks.


David Hospital

10th Aug 2015 13:58 UTCDavid Hospital

Hi David,


I'm searching in the mineral list for the locality "Gualba quarries". When I uploaded the photo, grossular was in the mineral list, but later it dissapeared misteriously.


Thanks for your time.


David

10th Aug 2015 17:20 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

David


I'm still not really sure what it is you're trying to do.


The "mineral list" lists minerals, not localities.


Can you try again to explain exactly what you think is wrong?

10th Aug 2015 17:42 UTCAmir C. Akhavan Expert

David, when you assign a photo of a mineral to a locality, the mineral will not automatically be listed at the locality.

You have to edit the locality and add it to the list of minerals.


http://manual.mindat.org/index.php/Add_Minerals_to_a_Locality

10th Aug 2015 17:45 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

The comment of not liking a Perky Box background is noted. However it is a lot of work to photoshop it out and to remove the sample from the box is at times very risky as some are extremely fragile. After all If someone really does not like the Perky Box then they can always photoshop it out themselves.

10th Aug 2015 18:45 UTCJamison K. Brizendine 🌟 Expert

I think I can "duplicate" David Hospital's bug, but Amir is correct in saying that "Hibschite" would need to be added to the database...


A. http://www.mindat.org/loc-3113.html


B. Notice on the "mineral list" that Grossular is not listed...


C. Click on "All photo"


D. Sort to...Mineral => Grossular


E. Notice that there are two photos: 82542 (Carlos Calvet's) and 697412 (David Hospital's).


F. When you click on Carlos' photo it does NOT give the standard line: The mineral species Grossular is not listed in our database...etc...


So...bug or not?

10th Aug 2015 19:56 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

David, Looking at the "changes log" for Gualba quarries, it appears you first added Grossular (along with most of the other species recorded there) way back in 2004, without references. (Back in those dark ages Mindat was not requiring references, or rather they weren't obligatory, but very soon after that, references became de rigueur.)


A few days ago, July 28th this year, you attempted to update the listing for Grossular. My guess is, you did not add the currently required reference, so the update did not stick?

10th Aug 2015 20:23 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

It's in the approval queue. Without a reference it is unlikely to be approved quickly.

11th Aug 2015 20:26 UTCDavid Hospital

Hi all contributors,


Thanks for your extensive comments.


I don't have a reference for the photo/specimen but I have an analysis confirming its identity, already included as two child photos for the specimen.


However, Amir is right when he says that I don't listed the mineral for the locality, even though I tried to do it. I will try again later.


Anyway, I still don't understand why the species"Grossular" disappeared from the Mineral list for the Gualba locality, although there was a previous photo uploaded by Carlos Calvet for the species.


Thanks again.


David Hospital

11th Aug 2015 20:59 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

I added as the reference for the grossular the following: " David Hospital collection & photo, photo-id 697412, Raman spectroscope analysis".

11th Aug 2015 22:27 UTCDavid Hospital

Many thanks Knut !


David

17th Jan 2016 16:31 UTCHartmut Hensel Expert

About three weeks ago I added some locality photos to the Les Chalanches page. The photos were soon approved but still do not appear on the locality page. Probably that is a cache clean up issue? If someone could check and fix it would be great.


Cheers

Hartmut

17th Jan 2016 16:40 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Just needed the cache clearing.

17th Jan 2016 19:43 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

I thought registered users are allowed to clear caches?

Hartmut: can you see a "clear cache" button in th edit menu?

18th Jan 2016 08:24 UTCHartmut Hensel Expert

David, thank you for clearing the cache.


Uwe, I do not see such a button. I only have "Edit locality", "Add minerals" etc., but no "clear cache".


Regards

Hartmut

18th Jan 2016 12:05 UTCLarry Maltby Expert

If there is no significant down side, it would seem to be a good idea to allow all members to clear the cache. I plan to add a lot of new material to Mindat over the next few years and it would be helpful to see the completion of a project prior to moving on to the next.

18th Jan 2016 16:52 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

We have resisted this so far because of performance issues on the server.


Please bear with us - once we resolve our performance problems we'll make sure that all contributors can either clear the caches or that these pages are automatically regenerated as new content is added (or maybe automatically after 24hrs etc).


But I can't do that until we solve our performance issues (which I've had some positive results with today)


Jolyon

18th Jan 2016 21:21 UTCLarry Maltby Expert

Thanks Jolyon

10th May 2016 16:20 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

I've just seen my Photo ID: 642275 of oregonite did become 'user only'. I did'nt receive a message about it, so I am asking this way what the reason(s) is/are for this, so that I can possibly do something about it.

10th May 2016 17:34 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Weird. No editing of any kind was done lately, at least according to the log file.

Last editing was done by you, on 22 Oct 2014 12:41.


Now site-wide again.

10th May 2016 19:22 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

Thanks Uwe. Maybe I have insulted a kobold or something like that.....

10th May 2016 19:27 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

I recently approved 2 photos for site-wide viewing. Within a few days the contributor complained that they were user gallery only. Similarly, there were no entries in the edit log of anyone else changing their status. Fixed them & no more complaints. Don't know what is going wrong.

11th May 2016 01:49 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Erik, That photo should be listed under Awaruite, not oregonite, as no oregonite is visible in the photo. (You'd need to slice it and study a polished surface to find out whether oregonite is present.)

11th Aug 2016 02:15 UTCMichael J Pabst 🌟

I wonder if a manager would be willing to check the status of the pictures that I submitted of specimen with minID: 5FG-FDY. The specimen is labeled as Krautite and Villyaellenite from Sacaramb, Hunedoara County, Romaina. I submitted the photos on 27 June 2016. The first photo was of the labels, and it was later assigned to the “user gallery”. The two photos of the specimen are still “Pending Approval”. I worry that someone thought that the specimen might be too good to be true for Krautite, and intended to consign all the photos to “user gallery”. It is true that this is a remarkably beautiful specimen for Krautite, in my opinion. My only information comes from the labels in the photo, and from talking to Jaroslav Hyrsl, who sold it to me. This specimen is nice, but there is at least one better. A better specimen was auctioned on E-rocks recently: Please see https://e-rocks.com/item/gmn521223/krautite-villyaellenite or Google “gmn521223”. The specimen sold for more than $1500 I believe. My specimen was much cheaper, but I think it is pretty, and should not be lost in the system. If there is something wrong with the identity of these two specimens, perhaps an expert could comment or investigate for the benefit of all of us. Thanks. Michael.

11th Aug 2016 03:22 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Thanks, Michael, great specimen! Jaroslav is on my short list of sellers with reliable IDs.

Should be visible now on both the krautite and locality pages.

10th Oct 2016 22:20 UTCJacob Zonderman

Not sure if it is related to the problems in this thread, but i have noticed that the photo icons are not visible on any locality page. Just a heads up, again may not be related, but then again it may be.

13th Oct 2016 01:39 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

You need to log in to find them.

20th Jan 2017 19:54 UTCGeorge Creighton

Why are these mineral photos in the user only gallery?

http://www.mindat.org/arphotos/250-0717153001303494095.png

&

http://www.mindat.org/arphotos/250-0725100001289692295.jpg


Just curious


Regards

20th Jan 2017 20:48 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

George - need the Mindat photo numbers.

20th Jan 2017 21:03 UTCGeorge Creighton

Hi Chester

Heres mindat photo no.


http://www.mindat.org/2GK-FAY

Photo ID: 382064


http://www.mindat.org/2QH-W84

Photo ID: 346753


Hope this helps


Regards

20th Jan 2017 21:11 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Some one might have been offended by the large copyright on the bornite photo and although the copyright is smaller on the albite, you already have a nice one at that locality. I've set them both site wide. By the way you'll never make POTD with writing on the photo.

20th Jan 2017 21:18 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Both look acceptable. The second one could usefully be labelled peristerite.

20th Jan 2017 21:34 UTCGeorge Creighton

All comments noted, and thanks for releasing them to public galleries:)-D



Rob,

Not my abition to achieve POTD status, only to list local self found minerals and help others to find what is available in this area.


Regards and thanks(tu)

29th Jan 2017 10:48 UTCDavid Hospital

Hi Jolyon,

I uploaded a photo of a piemontite crystal (with its corresponding Raman analysis) from Cap Garonne, in MINDAT, but I see the name was approved and made public, but not the photo of the crystal and the Raman analysis. Why?


Many thanks,


David

29th Jan 2017 17:40 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

The photo, uploaded 6 days ago, is still in the queue.

30th Jan 2017 20:22 UTCGeorge Creighton

Sorry for asking but why is this NGU survey document from Ca. 1909 only in the " User Gallery " and not the " Public Gallery " as it is an integral registered documentational survey of this location?


https://www.mindat.org/photo-797293.html


Regards

30th Jan 2017 20:40 UTCKnut Edvard Larsen 🌟 Manager

George, interesting paper, but this is not the correct way to show reports and pdf papers. The document you have uploaded in your photogallery is owned by the NGU, you don't own it. However we may put a link to it on the locality page, as I just did, see on the bottom of Hamre MIne locality page : https://www.mindat.org/loc-219706.html

30th Jan 2017 20:59 UTCGeorge Creighton

Cheers Knut Edvard


Was not claiming my ownership to this Doc but gave clear ownership to NGU. ( source ).


Am really happy that you have included it as additional info as I feel any additional location documentation is helpful.


Best regards George

20th Feb 2017 07:38 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

I do not like to complain like this, but could someone explain to me why this photograph was set to "User gallery only" ?


https://www.mindat.org/photo-804335.html

20th Feb 2017 17:42 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Must have happened accidentally - now site-wide.

21st Feb 2017 05:06 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Thank you very much Uwe !

1st Sep 2017 10:18 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

The following photo has not been approved as fast as the previous ones : https://www.mindat.org/photo-839473.html


Is there something wrong with it ?

1st Sep 2017 10:34 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Nothing wrong at all Antoine. I have approved your picture.


Minéralogiquement.


Paul.

15th Jan 2018 19:59 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Oops, it looks like I'm getting used to come here ;)


Does this photo really deserve to be "user gallery only" ?

15th Jan 2018 20:14 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Antoine, if we are discussing the same image it is listed as public, though it’s very small, below the recommended size; a nice specimen though.

15th Jan 2018 20:23 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Which one?

15th Jan 2018 22:33 UTCAntoine Barthélemy Expert

Oops again, my bad, it was this one that I meant : https://www.mindat.org/photo-865360.html

16th Jan 2018 09:09 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Site-wide now.

20th Jan 2018 22:54 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

Antoine


That was probably me that made it user only (although it may not have been) - I consider that the Adamite (865360) photo is not in focus and is very poorly lit in that that there are literally hundreds of hot spots. There also are many other adamite photos of better quality. I would still consider this a user only photo.


Cheers

26th Jun 2018 18:22 UTCKlaus Ludwig

Hallo,


I posted some photos about Hühnersedel quarry, Baden Würtemberg, Germany. I can see them in my personal photo list, but not in the location Hühnersedel quarry. The post was on the 16th of June.

Greetings from Germany

Klaus Ludwig

27th Jun 2018 03:11 UTCMartin Rich Expert

I cleared the cache and the photos are visible now. There is an automatic feature for clearing the cache, but this need some time.


Martin

2nd Aug 2018 23:51 UTCNiels Brouwer

https://www.mindat.org/photo-900827.html


I noticed my last photo was marked as User gallery only, so I was wondering why it wasn't approved. :)

3rd Aug 2018 09:39 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Don't know what happened Niels but rectified it.

It's site wide now.

3rd Aug 2018 10:21 UTCAntonio Borrelli Expert

Niels, thanks for that informative description. I learned something new today.

3rd Aug 2018 18:11 UTCNiels Brouwer

I'm glad you enjoyed it Antonio. And Paul, thanks for the correction.

5th Aug 2018 06:43 UTCDon Windeler

Never quite sure how long to wait on a pic to be reviewed before I bump it, as I recognize everything is done by volunteers with other things to do in their lives. However, I have a Boldut gypsum (https://www.mindat.org/photo-898031.html) that has been in the queue for a month at this point and I'm wondering if it slipped into no man's land. (No rush if someone's on holiday, just checking.)


As long as I'm writing I'll also mention a homely little SF Bay area gypsum as well (https://www.mindat.org/photo-901797.html), but that's only been waiting for a few days.


Thanks to all the managers for the work you do!


D.

9th Aug 2018 13:54 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Niels: Baryte https://www.mindat.org/photo-839503.html moved

from

Wolkenstein, Marienberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany

to

Gideon adit, Krummenhennersdorf, Reinsberg, Freiberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany

(newly added locality page; a Krummenhennersdorf page was already there).

9th Aug 2018 19:46 UTCNiels Brouwer

Thanks Uwe! There was some uncertainty about the locality of this specimen once I had uploaded it, but I never got around to investigate it further. So thanks a lot for fixing it.

10th Aug 2018 05:52 UTCDon Windeler

All outstanding pics now approved, thank you very much!


Cheers,

D.

31st Aug 2018 15:34 UTCGreg Simmons

New addition to my catalogue min-id M30-E8R is approved for public gallery but is not showing up in New Photos Today section. Was it not approved (error, quality, or other issue) or did I do something wrong in the upload or settings? I've done 4 previous catalogue entries that all appeared.


Thanks!

31st Aug 2018 16:06 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

It depends on how they were approved. If they were approved via out "quick" approval form, the approval date is not added to the photo record (a bug).

31st Aug 2018 18:40 UTCGreg Simmons

ah. Is it a fixable bug or just "the way it is"? and if it isn't fixable, is there a way to direct which approval method is used? Just being honest, I really enjoy seeing my new pieces in the queue after I load them. So if there is a different method, even if it takes a little longer to appear, I'd opt for that.


Thanks!

31st Aug 2018 20:20 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

No, it is up to the person that is approving them. fixable bug.

31st Aug 2018 20:29 UTCGreg Simmons

ah. hope they fix it then. I also have another question. I have my catalogue set to NOT display the repairs, damage, treatment, etc. information but it is showing anyway. Also, there is a "mass" field appearing when you view in search results that I don't see on other specimens but I can't find a way to shut it off. it just takes up space.

13th Sep 2018 22:00 UTCMichael Sommers

Hi, my photo has been sitting at pending approval since April. Would someone mind taking a look at it?

Quartz - Mexico


Thank you!

13th Sep 2018 23:10 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

As far as I can tell it is currently in your user gallery

A question had been raised (not by me) about its location but I don't think you responded

14th Sep 2018 18:30 UTCMichael Sommers

Thanks Keith. Sorry, I had not noticed the small button at the bottom about "photo questioned." But since I did, and read the message, it looks like an email was sent to me, that never reached me (not in my inbox, or spam folder). I'm guessing my ISP blocked it completely for some reason. Since it doesn't show the sender address, how do I respond?


Thanks again.

14th Sep 2018 20:13 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

"Since it doesn't show the sender address, how do I respond?"


The person who sent it to you has their name listed on the top of the message.

https://www.mindat.org/listusers.php - search on their last name.

From their home page, you can "contact me" to him and there will be a PM that you can contact him with.

17th Sep 2018 14:39 UTCMichael Sommers

00992110016017368175869.jpg
Thank you also, David.


If anyone would care to entertain a suggestion, I had only glanced at the summary page of my photos (where it displays the status) for the past 4 months and there is nothing there to suggest anyone had questioned the picture. I don't regularly click open my own full pictures to examine (why would I? I'm holding the specimen, lol!) and that is where the "photo questioned" button was. I think that should be indicated on the user's "My Photo" photo gallery (illustrated), as well.


Cheers,

Mike

2nd Jan 2019 21:30 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Good idea
 
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