User blog comment:Rappy 4187/Technical Update: March 10, 2015/@comment-11387016-20150311151618/@comment-11387016-20150311184333

Okay, I quickly gave the mentioned alternative options a try:
 * The best option in my opinion was the option over the local navigation bar (4 tabs right of wiki activity). It basically sends me back to the special:newfiles URL I was aiming for when I was changing the URL, and it gives me back the trusty menu I had with the sidebar. So this is certainly a good alternative for how I work, thanks for suggesting it. I honestly never got there before in this way.
 * The "contribute" way seems to have about the same options, but everything is a bit stretched out. It would be a viable alternative, but the other upload screen is preferred by me, probably just because I'm more used to it.
 * Adding pictures over the editor isn't handy in my opinion, as it doesn't add a copyright status, so you'll have to add it after by knowing the templatecode.

So in short, now I know the local nav option, my problem has been fixed as this is basically the workflow I had in the past when I was uploading images en masse. Thanks everyone for pointing that out :) I'm still in favor of the sidebar file module, as I think it motivates more new users to upload when they see the files, and it's handy to see the new files on the wiki, but my main issue has been solved by your advice :)