Wikipedia:I look ugly in this!

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: If the subject of an article doesn't like the page image, change it to a different suitable one if possible. Don't keep it citing "old one's fine".

You wouldn't want to be caught with your pants down either.

Here at Wikipedia, we have pretty strict guidelines regarding articles about living people. Among them is the general idea that people generally shouldn't be involved in editing their own articles. This helps us to achieve a neutral point of view, which is one of our five pillars—in other words, it's very important.

But here's the thing. Wikipedia is often the first place people go to look up information about a person. Thousands of people, sometimes more, may be looking at someone's article on any given day. And if that picture happens to be something the subject doesn't like, regardless of why they may not like it, that's bound to feel pretty bad.

In the event that a subject doesn't like their article image, and request it be replaced, that request should be justification enough to replace it with an image of equal or better quality.

Image quality

The image should not be simply removed (with no replacement) at the subject's request, nor replaced with a worse quality image. It should be replaced with a new one if and only if:

The new image is freely licensed for use in the article;
The new image has a clear resolution (or, if the old image is unclear, at least as clear as the old image);
The new image is generally representative of the subject; and
The new image is at least as suitable for the article as the old one.

If a particular image is suggested by the subject, it should be used with priority as long as it meets the above criteria. Note that an image that unduly promotes a business, misrepresents a subject, or anything of that sort does not.

So... what? Of course we're allowed to replace an image with a better one. A subject's request has nothing to do with that.

The point of this essay is simply that we should do well to consider that our subjects are human beings and there's value in being kind. If an image is replaced for this reason, don't revert it and say "the old one was fine". You may, of course, revert it if it is a worse fit for the article than the old one.

Consensus

As always, consensus is king. If there is a discussion about the article's image being changed, obey the consensus. "The subject doesn't like the image" is a valid argument to be made against an image during the discussion (as long as it's true, of course). A subject's request to replace an image should be preferred if no consensus can be reached.