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Also, the bot should have a built-in waiting period (Bracketbot waits five minutes) to allow editors to fix errors themselves if they notice them. Please contact me if you need help writing the error notification text for each category. – [[User:Jonesey95|Jonesey95]] ([[User talk:Jonesey95|talk]]) 16:23, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
Also, the bot should have a built-in waiting period (Bracketbot waits five minutes) to allow editors to fix errors themselves if they notice them. Please contact me if you need help writing the error notification text for each category. – [[User:Jonesey95|Jonesey95]] ([[User talk:Jonesey95|talk]]) 16:23, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

:{{replyto|Jonesey95|Frze|TheJJJunk}} Started on the three categories and have come up with this so far.
:<nowiki>"Category:Pages with broken reference names" --> "a [[:Category:Pages_with_broken_reference_names|broken reference name]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_references_no_text|help)</small>"</nowiki>
:<nowiki>"Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting" --> "a [[:Category:Pages_with_incorrect_ref_formatting|cite error]] <small>([[Help:Cite errors|help]])</small>"</nowiki><br />
:<nowiki>"Category:Pages with missing references list" --> "a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>"</nowiki>
:{{collapsetop|1=Examples of what the bot would generate from that}}
On [[User:Tesfazgi Teklezgi]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:2|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:2|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Paulos Tzadua]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580499949 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Paulos Tzadua|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Paulos Tzadua| |%20}} Ask for help])
*On the [[Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580499117 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:2|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:14.139.160.4]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Vedala Hemachandra]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580488009 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Vedala Hemachandra|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Vedala Hemachandra| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:98.230.108.226]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[NY SAFE Act]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580512661 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:NY SAFE Act|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|NY SAFE Act| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:Soetermans]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Battlefield 4]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580501990 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages_with_incorrect_ref_formatting|cite error]] <small>([[Help:Cite errors|help]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Battlefield 4|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Battlefield 4| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:Chrisd915]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Albert H. Wiggin]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580512538 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Albert H. Wiggin|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Albert H. Wiggin| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:71.173.129.226]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Hideaway's Erin Go Bragh]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580514223 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Hideaway's Erin Go Bragh|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Hideaway's Erin Go Bragh| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

On [[User:128.8.228.120]]:<br />
[[File:Information.svg|25px|alt=|link=]] Hello, I'm [[User:ReferenceBot|ReferenceBot]]. I have '''automatically detected''' that {{#ifeq:1|1|an edit|some edits}} performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. {{#ifeq:1|1|It is|They are}} as follows:
*On the [[Beat reporting]] page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=580522714 your edit] caused a [[:Category:Pages_with_incorrect_ref_formatting|cite error]] <small>([[Help:Cite errors|help]])</small> and a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>. ([{{fullurl:Beat reporting|action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AReferenceBot%7CReferenceBot%5D%5D}} Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20{{Replace|Beat reporting| |%20}} Ask for help])
Please check {{#ifeq:1|1|this page|these pages}} and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a [[false positive]], you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20{{subst</noinclude>:REVISIONUSER}}&section=new report it to my operator].
Thanks, <!-- User:ReferenceBot/inform -->[[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)
{{collapsebottom}}

:These would be daily reports (BracketBot now does ten minutes delay, though the page hasn't been updated) more like DPL bot (signed with ReferenceBot, not my sig and put on the talk page, not the userpage {{P|:P}}).
:The current templates used are {{tlc|User:ReferenceBot/inform/top}}, {{tlc|User:ReferenceBot/inform/middle}} and {{tlc|User:ReferenceBot/inform/bottom}}. See also [[User:ReferenceBot]].
:I'll apply for approval soon. [[User:A930913|930913]]([[User_talk:A930913|Congratulate]]) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


== Redirects in templates after page moves ==
== Redirects in templates after page moves ==

Revision as of 16:26, 7 November 2013

This is a page for requesting tasks to be done by bots per the bot policy. This is an appropriate place to put ideas for uncontroversial bot tasks, to get early feedback on ideas for bot tasks (controversial or not), and to seek bot operators for bot tasks. Consensus-building discussions requiring large community input (such as request for comments) should normally be held at WP:VPPROP or other relevant pages (such as a WikiProject's talk page).

You can check the "Commonly Requested Bots" box above to see if a suitable bot already exists for the task you have in mind. If you have a question about a particular bot, contact the bot operator directly via their talk page or the bot's talk page. If a bot is acting improperly, follow the guidance outlined in WP:BOTISSUE. For broader issues and general discussion about bots, see the bot noticeboard.

Before making a request, please see the list of frequently denied bots, either because they are too complicated to program, or do not have consensus from the Wikipedia community. If you are requesting that a template (such as a WikiProject banner) is added to all pages in a particular category, please be careful to check the category tree for any unwanted subcategories. It is best to give a complete list of categories that should be worked through individually, rather than one category to be analyzed recursively (see example difference).

Alternatives to bot requests

Note to bot operators: The {{BOTREQ}} template can be used to give common responses, and make it easier to keep track of the task's current status. If you complete a request, note that you did with {{BOTREQ|done}}, and archive the request after a few days (WP:1CA is useful here).


Please add your bot requests to the bottom of this page.
Make a new request
# Bot request Status 💬 👥 🙋 Last editor 🕒 (UTC) 🤖 Last botop editor 🕒 (UTC)
1 Bot to remove template from articles it doesn't belong on? 4 4 Wikiwerner 2024-09-28 17:28 Primefac 2024-07-24 20:15
2 Removing redundant FURs on file pages 5 3 Wikiwerner 2024-09-28 17:28 Anomie 2024-08-09 14:15
3 de-AMP bot BRFA filed 13 7 Usernamekiran 2024-09-24 16:04 Usernamekiran 2024-09-24 16:04
4 QIDs in Infobox person/Wikidata BRFA filed 11 4 Tom.Reding 2024-10-06 14:23 Tom.Reding 2024-10-06 14:23
5 Remove outdated "Image requested" templates 3 2 7804j 2024-09-21 11:26 DreamRimmer 2024-09-19 18:53
6 "Was" in TV articles 6 4 Pigsonthewing 2024-11-11 12:30 Primefac 2024-09-29 19:34
7 Films by director  done 9 4 Usernamekiran 2024-10-03 13:30 Usernamekiran 2024-10-03 13:30
8 altering certain tags on protected pages? 10 5 Primefac 2024-10-20 14:47 Primefac 2024-10-20 14:47
9 Request for Bot to Remove ARWU_NU Parameter from Articles Using Infobox US University Ranking Template 4 2 Primefac 2024-10-13 12:50 Primefac 2024-10-13 12:50
10 Removal of two external link templates per TfD result 6 4 Primefac 2024-10-14 13:48 Primefac 2024-10-14 13:48
11 Replace merged WikiProject template with parent project + parameter  Done 7 3 Primefac 2024-10-21 10:04 Primefac 2024-10-21 10:04
12 Bot Request to Add Vezina Trophy Winners Navbox to Relevant Player Pages 3 3 Primefac 2024-10-19 12:23 Primefac 2024-10-19 12:23
13 Replace standalone BLP templates  Done 7 3 MSGJ 2024-10-30 19:37 Tom.Reding 2024-10-29 16:04
14 Assess set index and WikiProject Lists based on category as lists 19 5 Mrfoogles 2024-11-06 16:17 Tom.Reding 2024-11-02 15:53
15 Request for WP:SCRIPTREQ 1 1 StefanSurrealsSummon 2024-11-08 18:27
16 LLM summary for laypersons to talk pages of overly technical articles? 10 7 Legoktm 2024-11-12 17:50 Legoktm 2024-11-12 17:50
17 Redirects with curly apostrophes 6 5 Pppery 2024-11-11 17:30 Primefac 2024-11-11 16:52
18 Bot for replacing/archiving 13,000 dead citations for New Zealand charts 3 2 Muhandes 2024-11-14 22:49 Muhandes 2024-11-14 22:49
Legend
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  • In the last week
  • In the last month
  • More than one month
Manual settings
When exceptions occur,
please check the setting first.


Bot to tag "PROD Survivors" and "Recreated Articles"

In this first paragraph, I will summarize my request: It would be good if someone could please create a bot which tags articles which were PRODded but survived (I shall call these "Survivors"). And/or which tags articles which were PROD-deleted then recreated (I shall call these "Recreated Articles"). You may tag them with {{old prod full}}. You may leave all the template's parameters blank, or you may fill some in.

Rationale: Such tags warn us not to re-add another PROD tag. They also make it more obvious to us that perhaps we should consider nominating the page for WP:AfD.

Here are some things you could do, but which I don't recommend: You could download a database dump with history, parse it, and look for Survivors. But such a dump is over ten terabytes of XML once uncompressed.[1] You could download the dump of all logs, download the dump of all page titles, parse the two, and look for Recreated Articles. User:Tim1357 tried parsing a dump,[2], but he didn't succeed: the matter is still on the latest revision of his to-do list. I suspect it may not be worth attempting either of these difficult tasks.

Here is what I do recommend: It would be worthwhile to create a bot to watch Category:Proposed deletion and tag future Survivors. And to watch for new pages and tag Recreated Articles. User:Abductive suggests some optional refinements.[3]

It would be good if someone could please start writing a bot to do either or both of these tasks. It would be even better if they could provide us with a link to their code-in-progress. User:Kingpin13 and User:ThaddeusB have expressed interest,[4] but nobody seems to have actually written any code to do these tasks on the live Wikipedia.

User:Rockfang started tagging Survivors in 2008 using AWB (the wrong tool for the job) but later stopped. S/he wrote that s/he "got distracted".

AnomieBOT already does one related task. If an article is AfDed, then recreated, AnomieBOT's NewArticleAFDTagger task puts {{old AfD multi}} on that article's talk page. The task's open-source[5] code is here. Maybe you could build on it, and maybe you could even ask Anomie to run it for you. Dear User:Anomie: Do you know if you or any bot ever tagged the pages which were recreated in the years before you wrote your bot?

Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 04:32, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For the record, I'm a "he". :) Rockfang (talk) 05:17, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I do not know of anyone who went back and tagged all articles that had ever been deleted through AfD.
I considered the recreated-after-prod tagging at one point. But the task would require keeping a list of every article that was ever prodded and then deleted without the prod tag being removed, which I didn't think was worthwhile. The AfD tagging is easier, since the bot can just look for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/{{PAGENAME}}. Anomie 11:45, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have investigated and found that probably somewhere between 95% and 100% of PROD-deleted articles have the all-caps string "PROD" somewhere in their deletion logs. So, detecting Recreated Articles would be easier than you think. :) Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 19:22, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
"somewhere between 95% and 100%"? Which is it? Anomie 21:04, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Out of the couple dozen PROD-deleted articles I checked, each and every one had the string somewhere in their deletion logs. But my sample size was so small that I cannot claim with certainty that 100% of PROD-deleted articles have it in their logs. —Unforgettableid (talk) 00:40, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Whether the number is 95%, 100%, or somewhere in between, searching for the string is quite easy and quite effective. ISTM it's the best way to identify Recreated Articles. Dear all: what do you think? —Unforgettableid (talk) 06:43, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I think the best way to handle it is get the All articles proposed for deletion category periodically. If an article was in one iteration and not the next, it was either deleted or the tag was removed. --ThaddeusB (talk) 17:55, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have long intended to make a bot to tag PROD survivors... is anyone else planning on programming this? If not, I can try to get started on it next week. --ThaddeusB (talk) 19:25, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Dear ThaddeusB: If you do end up writing such a bot, please do let us know. :) Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 06:33, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If so, please name it CattlePROD Bot! Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 17:34, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Since no one else seems interested, I will try to get to this by the end of the week. --ThaddeusB (talk) 17:55, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

New REFBot

copied from WP:VPT --Frze > talk 07:17, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - Vielen Dank!

DPL bot and BracketBot are the best inventions of Wikipedia. It's time for a new Bot. We need the

If a user contributes a broken reference name, an incorrect ref formating (or a missing reflist), please inform the user who caused this error. It is so outrageously hard work to correct all these errors afterwards, from someone who is not holding the factual knowledge. For example: it took me a week to work up the backlog of Category:Pages with broken reference names - more than 1500 items, some disregarded more than two years. Search with WikiBlame for first entry of ref, making the changes, inform the users... annoying. Thank you very much. --Frze > talk 12:25, 17 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I ask for little consideration please. It takes several minutes of work - only because of a lack of character. Ten times and more per day. For example see Cite error: The named reference Media2 was invoked but never defined What' wrong? > Compare selected versions > Fix broken reference name. Why doesn't a Bot send a message to the polluter of the error? Why must other users rid of the mess? With BrackBot and DPLBot it is so easy --Frze > talk 06:44, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Example:

== A reference problem ==

Hi [[User:SpidErxD|SpidErxD]]! Some users have been working hard on [[:Category:Pages with broken reference names]].

[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nuclear_program_of_Iran&diff=577623223&oldid=577620891 Here] you added new references '''ref name=OPBW''' and '''ref name="status"''' but didn't define it. This has been showing as an error at the bottom of the article. <small>'''''Cite error: The named reference was invoked but never defined.'''''</small> Can you take a look and work out what you were trying to do? Thanks --User:REFBot

Let's try... See User talk:SpidErxD#A reference problem Thanks --Frze > talk 08:00, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
A bot-issued message would have to be much vaguer than that. If revision X has no error, and revision X+1 has an error "The named reference Foo was invoked but never defined", then many different things could have gone wrong. The edit could have added the named reference, or deleted the last call to it, or accidentally disabled the last call to it by damaging the syntax of some earlier reference or some template. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:21, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I've been working on broken reference name problems for quite a while. A bot along the lines of BracketBot would be very helpful. Many of the "ref name" problems happen when experienced users are working on pages, copying material between articles, or doing cleanup rapidly. (AWB users like to change hyphens or spaces in reference names for example.) Experienced users often don't slow down to preview pages and look for errors at the bottom. These are the editors who would immediately fix problems if they were informed. AnomieBOT 's orphan reference fixer does a great job catching many things, but those put in accidentally by experienced users are often more subtle and harder to track down.
Unlike BracketBot it would be hard to give a message that pinpointed the problem, Also unlike bracket problems, reference errors are easy to see in the article. It would be enough just to put a copy of the generated error message on the user's talk page. StarryGrandma (talk) 18:19, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Regardless of the details of how it would work out, I see this proposal as a wonderful idea. If we want a vague thing, we could use something like "$EDIT1 you made to $PAGE2 resulted in a reference coding error. Please return to the page to fix the problem. If you would like assistance with fixing this problem, please visit the Help Desk, where other editors will be happy to assist you." It would be sufficient for the experienced editors, and inexperienced editors would either understand what to do or they'd know where to go to get help. Nyttend (talk) 01:52, 19 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I like the idea a lot!
As for the wording, pooling from Nyttend, 64.40.54.174 and User:BracketBot/inform; how about something like: " Hello, I'm REFBot. I have automatically detected that [your edit] to [page] may have caused a reference coding error. Please take a look at the page and edit it to fix the problem if you can. If you would like assistance with fixing this problem, please visit the Help Desk, where other editors will be happy to assist you. If I misunderstood what happened, or if you have any questions, you can leave a message on [my operator's talk page]. Thanks ~" benzband (talk) 10:37, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Agree a bot like this would be a good idea. It might be hard to eliminate false positves though. I would suggest the bot leave a message saying something like "an error was found, please take a look" rather than "you caused an error". Best. 64.40.54.174 (talk) 05:06, 19 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • That`s my opinion too. Just send a remembrance / reminder to the editor, who caused the problem a few minutes ago. So he could fix the error in one minute, instead of us, who needs sometimes 10 minutes, or more (in at least these steps: see categories pages with citation errors > open page > read > edit page in another window > view history in another window > compare selected versions > < pondering what's wrong > fixing > preview > saving > closing all pages...). Just now there are 250 pages in all three categories > that means: ten hours work when you need just 2 1/2 minutes per page. Message could be just:

"Take a look at the page XYZ. There is a citation error. It could be in the text:

  1. A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref>.

- or take a look at the bottom of the page:

  1. There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template.
  2. A named reference was invoked but never defined.
  3. A reference was defined but isn't used in the text.

Thanks, RefBot talk 10:05, 21 October 2013 (UTC)"[reply]

There is an article traffic on pages with citation errors of about 25 views per day. (See [6][7][8]). That could mean that about 10 or so users have been working hard on this pages with citation errors. If there would be a REFBot, this work could be minimized to 25%...35%. --Frze > talk 10:05, 21 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • This is a great idea. Categories such as Pages with missing references list and other error cats tend to fill up rather quickly, even with our attempts to maintain it. Other bots try to fix referencing errors, but there are so many different types of errors, all of which can be caused by multiple syntactical errors (here's a small list). It would be hard to program a bot to fix all of them. With this bot, all that is needed is for it to check if the error is present, and which edit it first appeared (to notify the correct editor). It does not need to check the specific syntax that caused the error. The editor will be able to see what he did and fix it easily. It's a much simpler solution than programming a bot to fix them itself.
    • "It might be hard to eliminate false positves though." There might be a small problem with valid checking if templates are present in the article. I've seen a fair share of error messages in articles that resulted from an edit to a template and not an edit to the article itself. The error message still shows up in the article. i.e. if a user adds a citation to the template and there isn't a {{Reflist}} template in the article. The bot would have to check for that I assume. — JJJ (say hello) 15:15, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • I support this request for creation of a RefBot. Pointing editors towards problems in their edits not only reduces the need for other editors to fix these problems later but provides an opportunity for the original editors to become aware of problems they are creating and how to avoid/fix them. - - MrBill3 (talk) 15:40, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hey all, sorry it took me so long to comment on this idea. It seems a great idea, and there looks to be enough support on the issue. I will try and have a look into making this, though the main issue is that I don't have much time with all my university work. (Though stay tuned, because my year project is for Wikipedia.) If anyone could help me, by finding out how to detect the errors in real time, I'll look into modifying BracketBot's code to make ReferenceBot. (Or whatever name you want to vote for ) 930913(Congratulate) 18:31, 27 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Frze: Why do you distract me? D: Anyway, I have made a script to collect the previous day's mistakes.
Yesterday's mistakes
Category:Pages with DOI errors
Category:Pages with OL errors
Category:Pages with URL errors
Category:Pages with ISBN errors
Category:Pages with citations having redundant parameters
Category:Pages with citations using unnamed parameters
Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters
Category:Pages with citations having wikilinks embedded in URL titles
Category:Pages with citations using translated terms without the original
Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al.
Category:Pages using citations with format and no URL
Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Category:Pages with archiveurl citation errors
Category:Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications
Category:Pages with empty citations


Maile66 edited Audie Murphy honors and awards causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
98.245.184.111 edited Funny Car causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
181.46.59.89 edited Days Go By (The Offspring album) causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
Plot Spoiler edited United Against Nuclear Iran causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
99.251.211.163 edited Aaron Maybin causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
Benutzer41 edited Adolescent medicine causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
71.125.215.241 edited Dissent (magazine) causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
Pedrocarv edited McFly discography causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
30 SW edited Treasure Island, San Francisco causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
106.51.42.20 edited Gajendra Narayan Singh causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
MrBill3 edited Chandpur District causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
78.157.68.60 edited 2014 in heavy metal music causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
ClueBot NG edited Dualism (philosophy of mind) causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
Mackinalan edited Alan Mackin causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Whodidwhat edited Iserbrook (ship) causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
67.175.118.150 edited The Woman in Black (2012 film) causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jisteele edited Azusa, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jisteele edited Artesia, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jisteele edited Arcadia, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jisteele edited Alhambra, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jisteele edited Agoura Hills, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Haynes.cliff edited Playbill causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Bgwhite edited Savita Bhabhi causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Bgwhite edited Mickey Virus causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Bgwhite edited Bollywood Hundred Crore Club causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
87.153.23.57 edited List of baritones in non-classical music causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Mistergoleta edited Goleta, California causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
DHR edited Connected Standby causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
No qwach macken edited Lightning (connector) causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jswartz2 edited FAES causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Pedrocarv edited McFly discography causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Oingram2 edited Vincent Price causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Lmyronuk edited Quorum sensing causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
92.107.84.42 edited VVEJGA causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Evolution and evolvability edited Catalytic triad causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
106.51.42.20 edited Gajendra Narayan Singh causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Khubner edited NorthEast Paintball Series causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Jianhui67 edited Persib Bandung causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
2.27.0.207 edited More than Alot causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Kareena0927 edited Sasha Agha causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Fundamental metric tensor edited Shikhar Dhawan causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
24.16.204.243 edited Jaime Herrera Beutler causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
67.175.118.150 edited Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
Southsudanesenationalist edited Gordon Muortat Mayen causing Category:Pages with cit
Mackinalan edited Alan Mackin causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Whodidwhat edited Iserbrook (ship) causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
67.175.118.150 edited The Woman in Black (2012 film) causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jisteele edited Azusa, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jisteele edited Artesia, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jisteele edited Arcadia, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jisteele edited Alhambra, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jisteele edited Agoura Hills, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Haynes.cliff edited Playbill causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Bgwhite edited Savita Bhabhi causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Bgwhite edited Mickey Virus causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Bgwhite edited Bollywood Hundred Crore Club causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
87.153.23.57 edited List of baritones in non-classical music causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Mistergoleta edited Goleta, California causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
TonyTheTiger edited Manny Harris causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
DHR edited Connected Standby causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
No qwach macken edited Lightning (connector) causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jswartz2 edited FAES causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Oingram2 edited Vincent Price causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
92.107.84.42 edited VVEJGA causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Khubner edited NorthEast Paintball Series causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Jianhui67 edited Persib Bandung causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
2.27.0.207 edited More than Alot causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Kareena0927 edited Sasha Agha causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Fundamental metric tensor edited Shikhar Dhawan causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
24.16.204.243 edited Jaime Herrera Beutler causing Category:Pages with citations having bare UR
67.175.118.150 edited Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Southsudanesenationalist edited Gordon Muortat Mayen causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Peaceray edited Alfred Preis causing Category:Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications
184.145.33.81 edited Honoré Jackson causing Category:Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications
Cazza3012 edited Tim Sills causing Category:Pages with empty citations
Ishdarian edited Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creation/feedback causing Category:Pages with empty citations
I need these (a random sample?) checked to ensure that a notice is appropriate, and for each of the categories I'll need a template, or a single template with an insertion for relative phrases. 930913(Congratulate) 01:13, 28 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • 930913, I've got code that checks ISBN problems. It finds these problems. Yell if you want it.
  • The main problem with Bracketbot that needs to be fixed ASAP is people goto 930913's talk page for questions. Huon answers most of the questions with GoingBatty helping out. Questions for Bracketbot and Refbot need to be directed to where more people can help out. Bgwhite (talk) 04:46, 28 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
930913: Thanks for your efforts. Here are the categories we are interested in: Category:Pages with citation errors
Category:Pages with broken reference names
Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting
Category:Pages with missing references list --Frze > talk 04:00, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Frze: plus Added
Yesterday's Mistakes
:Arjayay edited Transcendental Meditation technique causing Category:Pages with ISBN errors, Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters, Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al., Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
ASM Journals edited Clinical and Vaccine Immunology causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
75.129.56.60 edited James Blunt causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Ssieczk1 edited Mercadona causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL, Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
129.21.75.52 edited Worker cooperative causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Lfstevens edited Peycho Kanev causing Category:Pages with missing references list
Derek R Bullamore edited Compulsory sterilization causing Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters
67.199.176.119 edited Beaver Meadows Visitor Center causing Category:Pages with missing references list
EgglestonKyle edited Hope International (Christian microfinance) causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
92.25.100.97 edited Birkenhead Sixth Form College causing Category:Pages with missing references list
Struway2 edited 2007–08 Birmingham City F.C. season causing Category:Pages with archiveurl citation errors
Edgar181 edited Pluviatilol causing Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al.
Epeefleche edited Geoff Schwartz causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Veronica Shane edited Mark E. Petersen causing Category:Pages with ISBN errors
JMK edited Sand River (Free State) causing Category:Pages with broken reference names
Oddbodz edited Rove beetle causing Category:Pages with citations having redundant parameters
Duffit5 edited Norwich School (independent school) causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
90.204.209.191 edited The Hum causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
JRPaterson edited Sentence word causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
117.193.107.176 edited Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles
96.244.18.24 edited Genealogy (philosophy) causing Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters
JoeFromStPaul edited Spaceballs causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Dahmid edited Soulfly causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Rdhara edited International Medical Commission on Bhopal causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Tentinator edited Nicaragua causing Category:Pages using web citations with no URL
94.69.187.35 edited Panagiotis Triadis causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Bgwhite edited The 1975 (album) causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Mahiya.Maheroo edited Kusumba Mosque causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Discospinster edited North Carolina causing Category:Pages with citations having redundant parameters
Zoupan edited Vilotijević causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
HouseOfArtaxiad edited Mehmed Reshid causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
RA0808 edited William Howard Taft causing Category:Pages with ISBN errors
Thomas.W edited Bitcoin causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Favre1fan93 edited Guardians of the Galaxy (film) causing Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters
Sarastro1 edited Maurice Leyland causing Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters
N2e edited Propellant depot causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Miniapolis edited Keith Moon causing Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
188.189.89.188 edited Sevada Abelian causing Category:Pages with citations lacking titles, Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs
Mighty Antar edited Powerdrive causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Rjwilmsi edited Five prime untranslated region causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Rjwilmsi edited Endometriosis causing Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Wrdv12 edited Marina Kats causing Category:Pages with missing references list
190.213.145.246 edited Stationary front causing Category:Pages with missing references list
Again, please check for reasons why any of the above shouldn't be included, and come up with wording for each category. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 17:52, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I am the editor heading the "Yesterdays mistakes" list with
Arjayay edited Transcendental Meditation technique causing Category:Pages with ISBN errors, Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters, Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al., Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
You clearly need to look at these edits more closely, before rushing in with a bot. My "edit" was to reinstate a page which had been blanked, and replaced by an inappropriate redirect. All of the mistakes I am accused of "creating" were, therefore, already there. If editors are going to be chased by a bot every time they reinstate a blanked page, or a blanked section, you are going to be inundated with complaints, and editors will either ignore your notifications, or turn the bot off.
You need to be able to identify when an editor has actually introduced the problem, and when they have merely reverted some vandalism, which includes problem(s) potentially made by numerous editors over a long period of time. Wikipedia has an unfortunate history of launching half tested software, e.g. bracket bot which doesn't understand basic things such as the use of greater or less than symbols, and points editors to the wrong place, so I fear the worst - Arjayay (talk) 18:25, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Arjayay: More closely? At all. I don't have much time, so I'm relying on people like you raise these issues, so I can properly code the bot. Obviously flagging reverts is undesirable, and will need to be removed for the approved implementation. Thank you for your participation, 930913(Congratulate) 22:32, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
930913: Thanks for your efforts again. We are only interested in: Category:Pages with citation errors, nothing else!
Category:Pages with broken reference names
Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting
Category:Pages with missing references list
because if there are more than 50 items in each categorie - then it shows as a backlog.
The categories you mentioned are impossible to work on, please try it later: There is a backlog today of about 60,000 pages:
Category:Pages with ISBN errors - 7,598 pages
Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters - 10,216 pages
Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al. - 4,408 pages
Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL - 42,060 pages
We have to clean up at first the Category:Pages with citation errors so not to leave any big red error on the pages. Thank you for your attention --Frze > talk 21:26, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Frze: Irrelevant, the script would work by notifying anyone who puts a page in those categories (i.e. not those already there.) This bot will not clear the backlog, it will slow the backlog's growth, such to aid your attempts to clear. 930913(Congratulate) 22:32, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
A930913: I know that the Bot do not clear the backlog. I am not meschugge. But first of all we will not grow the backlog in the Category:Pages with citation errors again to more than 1,500 pages! It took us more than a week hard work to clean up. Do what you want with the other categories, the main thing is to start the bot for Category:Pages with citation errors. In most exquisite gratitude --Frze > talk 23:09, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Frze: The point is, for very little work, we cover a whole load more categories. 930913(Congratulate) 23:21, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
A930913: The other point is the message to the user, as simple as posssible. See benzbands contrib 10:37, 22 October 2013. Please program the two different bots. --Frze > talk 23:44, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
"Please program the two different bots." The whole point of this bot is to notify editors. There will only be one bot. — JJJ (say hello) 00:38, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Frze: You're missing the point, each category can have its own message. 930913(Congratulate) 00:37, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
930 and JJJ, methinks what Frze was talking about is that there is a prioritized-need for the various use-cases of the bot, with citation-errors being the most critical (since they are very difficult to correct without help from the editor who originally created the trouble). The least critical is the 42k pages that have "cite-w/-accessDate-but-no-URL" which basically means, somebody cited a page-number from a printed book, and then went ahead and specified that their info was 'retrieved on' November 1st of 2013. Which is pointless, since as long as they specify edition/format/isbn of the book, the date they looked up the fact in that book does not matter, the retrieved-on param is only for URL-based cites, since the contents of the URL often suffer from bitrot, whereas deadtree books do not so suffer.
   Anyways, while I understand that there need only be a single bot (or filter, see my suggestion below), I strongly suggest that RefBot should not be turned loose on all the possible error categories, simultaneously. We do not want to put template-spam on the talkpage of a user, which says "you made a reference-coding error" when all they did was harmlessly put the retrieved-on param into a cite from a deadtree book. Why waste their time? But we especially don't want to *rollback* such changes, of course. Point being, although there will only be one bot, I agree with Arjayay about the importance of doing serious careful testing, so that we are dead-sure RefBot handles all the odd corner-cases properly, before we unleash it on millions of unsuspecting editors. We do not want to *discourage* people from adding references! That's hard enough to get them to do in the first place.
   Therefore, at the end of the day I agree with Frze, but for a different reason: strongly suggest that RefBot be implemented so that it can be up-front configured to ignore all categories which are not explicitly specified. That way, we can do a staged rollout, testing RefBot against a small subset of all possible cite-errors, before we expand the category-count. Eventually, of course, RefBot may be so bullet-proof-user-friendly that we can permit it to ignore nothing, and at that point the category-inclusion-exclusion-code can be taken out. But in the first months of RefBot testing, methinks it will prove very valuable to just focus on one sort of cite-error at a time, beginning with Category:Pages with citation errors where we know there are some beta-testers full of wikithusiasm for the wondrous powers of RefBot.  :-)   Appreciate your time; thanks for improving wikipedia. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 11:33, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A930913 TheJJJunk I'm looking forward with happy anticipation to the implementation of my idea. Thanks to you all. --Frze > talk 04:28, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

 Question: Is the bot going to have an opt-out option like BracketBot does? Because with the brackets, the edit could have been very minor, not causing large-scale damage to the article. But with this, big red error messages occur because of the mistakes. This is something to think about: Do users get to decide if they get notified about their error, or do they have to be. — JJJ (say hello) 17:13, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. There are other possibilities... with xLinkBot, if the editor submits an external link to facebook (or some other greylisted website), xLinkBot will perform a rollback, then notify the editor on their talkpage. This is often problematic, because even if the edit was ten kilobytes, xLinkBot will remove everything -- parsing out just the greylisted hyperlink is too server-intensive and error-prone. Another problem, is that rollback can wipe out a long series of edits, only the last of which added the greylisted link. Given these existing possibilities, and the BracketBot behavior JJJ mentions:
  1. Forcible-Prevention-Filter. RefBot should be implemented as an edit-filter, and immediately warn the user when they preview or save a busted ref, refusing to let them save it in a broken state (they must fix it first)
  2. Loud-Warning-Filter. RefBot should be implemented as an edit-filter, and immediately warn the user when they preview or save a busted ref, but permit the user to override and save anyways (in the broken state)... then nothing
  3. Silent-Warning-Filter. Same as #2. Additionally, RefBot allows the editor to opt-out of receiving RefBot filter-warnings.
  4. Loud-Fix-It-Later-Filter. RefBot should be implemented as an edit-filter, and immediately warn the user when they preview or save a busted ref, but permit the user to override and save anyways (in the broken state)... however, after their edit is saved, RefBot should rollback that one edit (not rollback the last N edits by the editor in question), and then RefBot should automagically post to the article-talkpage with a diff-link to the attempted-ref-edit that it just reverted
  5. Silent-Fix-It-Later-Filter. Same as #4. Additionally, RefBot allows the editor to opt-out of receiving RefBot filter-warnings.
  6. Loud-Warning-Bot. RefBot should be implemented as a bot, and eventually warn the editor on their talkpage, but should leave the article alone (no opt-out capability)
  7. Silent-Warning-Bot. Same at #6. Additionally, RefBot allows the editor to opt-out of receiving RefBot talkpage-messages.
  8. Loud-Fix-It-Later-Bot. RefBot should be implemented as a bot, and eventually warn the editor on their talkpage, plus RefBot should rollback that one edit (not rollback the last N edits by the editor in question), and then RefBot should automagically post to the article-talkpage with a diff-link to the attempted-ref-edit that it just reverted. Plus, ideally, RefBot's user-talkpage-message should have a one-click-to-put-my-broken-edit-back hyperlink, which also redirects the editor to the article (this prevents them from needing to manually visit the article, enter the edit-history, manually undo RefBot, and then go back to editing the article). Since the editor might not utilize the one-click-magic 'soon' by standards of how quickly the article in question is changing, prolly the one-click-magic should only work if the sub-section of the article in question has *not* been changed by any editors, since RefBot reverted this editor's work; otherwise, the one-click-magic might do more harm than good.
  9. Silent-Fix-It-Later-Bot. Same at #8. Additionally, RefBot allows the editor to opt-out of receiving RefBot talkpage-messages.
Obviously, there are additional variations that are possible, such as #7-less-the-article-talkpage-feature, or whatever. But I think these options cover the main *types* of behaviors that we might want. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 11:04, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I support the idea of this bot existing with functionality similar to that of BracketBot. I have specific ideas for a different bot that would actually fix CS1 citation errors, but I will describe that functionality in a separate request.

As stated above by others, I do not think it would be productive to apply this new bot's activity to all of the subcategories of Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. That would generate a LOT of error messages on people's Talk pages, and some error messages are not even displayed on the article pages by default, so it will be hard for people to figure out where they made an error or if they have fixed it. I recommend starting with the following categories, each of which has been emptied through diligent work by wikignomes:

  • Pages with citations having wikilinks embedded in URL titles
  • Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications
  • Pages with citations using unnamed parameters
  • Pages with DOI errors‎
  • Pages with empty citations
  • Pages with OL errors
  • Pages with URL errors

Also as requested above, the bot should operate on articles in:

  • Pages with broken reference names
  • Pages with incorrect ref formatting
  • Pages with missing references list

I estimate that a total of 20 to 50 articles are added to all of the categories above (combined) each day; someone here might be able to scrub the logs and get a better count.

The bot should post a message similar to Bracketbot's message on the Talk page of the editor who makes the change. Since these categories are already empty, the situation described above in which a revert reintroduces an error should be a rare case.

Also, the bot should have a built-in waiting period (Bracketbot waits five minutes) to allow editors to fix errors themselves if they notice them. Please contact me if you need help writing the error notification text for each category. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:23, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@Jonesey95, Frze, and TheJJJunk: Started on the three categories and have come up with this so far.
"Category:Pages with broken reference names" --> "a [[:Category:Pages_with_broken_reference_names|broken reference name]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_references_no_text|help)</small>"
"Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting" --> "a [[:Category:Pages_with_incorrect_ref_formatting|cite error]] <small>([[Help:Cite errors|help]])</small>"
"Category:Pages with missing references list" --> "a [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|missing references list]] <small>([[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_refs_without_references|help]] {{!}} [[Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_group_refs_without_references|help with group references]])</small>"
Examples of what the bot would generate from that

On User:Tesfazgi Teklezgi:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that some edits performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. They are as follows:

Please check these pages and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:14.139.160.4:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:98.230.108.226:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:Soetermans:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:Chrisd915:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:71.173.129.226:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

On User:128.8.228.120:
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

These would be daily reports (BracketBot now does ten minutes delay, though the page hasn't been updated) more like DPL bot (signed with ReferenceBot, not my sig and put on the talk page, not the userpage ).
The current templates used are {{User:ReferenceBot/inform/top}}, {{User:ReferenceBot/inform/middle}} and {{User:ReferenceBot/inform/bottom}}. See also User:ReferenceBot.
I'll apply for approval soon. 930913(Congratulate) 16:26, 7 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Redirects in templates after page moves

Per WP:BRINT, redirects are undesirable in templates. Currently after a page move, bots (bless their hearts) sweep up all of the broken or double redirects etc., but the links in templates are left untouched. For instance, a page was moved from here to here in January but the accompanying template was not updated until today. Is is possible for a bot to fix redirects on templates that are on a page that is moved? Rgrds. --64.85.216.235 (talk) 05:51, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Possible order of priority here. It may not be needed to move the redirect if the template is not actually on the page being moved. For example, if the Professional Fraternity Association changed its name to something else, it would cause a redirect on Template:Kappa Kappa Psi since that has a link to the PFA, but wouldn't need to be fixed as badly since the PFA page doesn't include the Kappa Kappa Psi template. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naraht (talkcontribs) 17:47, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, to reiterate, a bot that can fix redirects on the templates that are currently on the page that is moved is the priority. Templates that link to the article but are not on the moved page are not priority. Rgrds. (Dynamic IP, will change whem I log off.) --64.85.216.79 (talk) 20:55, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Shutdown of blogs.amd.com

It seems that the articles have been moved to http://community.amd.com and http://developer.amd.com. I think all links to http://blogs.amd.com should be marked with {{dead link}} at least. Please fix them semi-automatically if you can. --4th-otaku (talk) 12:35, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's fine, I'll do them all quickly enough tomorrow. Rcsprinter (orate) @ 00:09, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Help needed tracking recent changes to medical content

User:Femto Bot used to populate Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Recent changes which in turn updated Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Recent changes. I think that's how it worked. It reported all changes to pages with {{WPMED}} on their talk page. Anyway, it was an awesome tool for patrolling some of Wikipedia's most sensitive content. But since Rich Farmborough was banned from bot work it's stopped working - it only reports recent changes to pages beginning with "A".

This tool aims to do the same thing but it's slow and often times out, and when it works it's running a couple of days behind.

There was also Tim1357's tool, but his account has expired from the Toolserver.

I was wondering if somebody here would be able to provide WP:MED with something to replace these? With something like this a handful of experienced medical editors can effectively patrol all of Wikipedia's medical content. Without it, there's no telling what's happening. --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 17:58, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that the source code for the bot is not available. I see you have attempted to contact him; I will take it over if you are successful getting the code, I can run it if needed. However, he will not be able to run it by himself I fear, due to ArbCom. --Mdann52talk to me! 13:23, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Should be fairly trivial to write something like this up. Werieth (talk) 13:40, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
1. See VPT for current development.
2. I have asked for a module solution in Lua (negative for the full automation)
3. I am putting a fresh page up manually right now.
4. I moved the RELC page to Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles for future automation and expansion (and because the old page name was incorrect).
Will be back later on. -DePiep (talk) 14:29, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. (just curious: my page is 795k (28391 articles), yours is without *bullets is 871k - uses another source category? I started AWB for this, checking four cats deep.)
Now, the MED people are served and I have little time today & tomorrow. So I'll pick it up later. In short, this is my concept around the bot action:
  • A project editor can put a notice (template) on the Project page. The template is called like "{{RELC list: please bot make some RELC lists for this project}}". Parameters are set for: |RELC list1 namespace1=Article [space] + Talk [space], |RELC list2 namespace2=Template + template talk, |other parameters like 1x/month=. The template is invisible. Just like what User:MiszaBot/config does on talkpages to archive.
  • The bot sees the request and writes the list on a dedicated "RELC list" page (in its own section: say ==Pages==. The bot is not the only one that writes on that page).
  • Systematic page names are build like:
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages our top page
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles + Talks 0-9 A-M
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles + Talks N-Z
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles + Talks
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Templates
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Templates + Template talks
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Non-articles
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Non-articles + non-articles talks
The naming suggestion is: first use namespace names into plural; readers see this on top of the RELC special page, so a natural page name is valuable. We also need codes for those "all non-articles" and "A-M" requests.
  • A template for project page, now {{RELC list}}, will use these page definitions too (so we must agree on the names and other protocols), and produces the special links on a project page (as {{RELC list}} does for WP:MED now).
  • There are also other templates like {{RELC list/Listpage header}}
  • FYI, I build such a set, list pages maintained manually, for WP:ELEMENTS at{{WikiProject Elements page lists}}.
  • Trick: the page should contain its own name, so the RELC reader sees: "page was updated on ...".
  • Trick: necessary off-topic pages, like the header template, would appear in the RELC view after edits (disturbing the view because itself not on topic). I created and used a Redirect, which does not change and so does not appear in the special view.
  • Will go writing on the WT:MED page now.
See you Thursday. -DePiep (talk) 16:50, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Im pretty sure that I can generate a list based on any criteria you need. User:Werieth/sandbox didnt use a category, but rather it used a list of all pages that had {{WikiProject Medicine}}. Defining how you want the lists generated should be doable, we would just need to define a template setup similar to User:MiszaBot/config. The important factors for getting this going is to clearly and simply define things. Break it down to the very basics of what you are looking for, dont factor in how something is done, just what you want done, leave the how for me. Werieth (talk) 17:52, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you're asking what functionality WP:MED needs, I was very happy with Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Recent changes in terms of speed and features. --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 18:44, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
re Anthonyhcole@. The page you mention had its last update in 2012. That could be solved of course by updating it today. But there is also this: it was 35k in size, which means it listed only a small part of all the WP:MED pages. See this old version of that page. How small? Today the 'updated' page (named Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/List of pages/Articles; big page) has 28.391 MED articles listed, and is 700k. That means your page only listed 35/700=5% or 1400 pages. It did not serve its purpose, one never saw that B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (first B page) was edited. Different check: today I checked the RELC workings with only the MED articles starting with "A" (2500 pages, 70k page). So the old page not even had the "A" complete. It was missing 95% of its target. How was that a good feature?
About speed: opening the Special page to show the edits (WP:MED Articles - Related changes), the special page we want, has acceptable speed, is not slow (for me). Anyway we should not "improve" it by leaving MED articles out at random, do we. It is opening the big list page itself that is slow (700k). That is why I advise readers to leave that page alone, and only the Special page RELC reads it (fast) to produce the desired overview.
If I am missing something, or mistaking your point, please tell me. User experiences (good and bad) are best reported at WT:MED. -DePiep (talk) 19:23, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Star Wars Bot needed?

Bot for Star Wars articles needed, maybe? Might help monitor changes.20-13-rila (talk) 11:19, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This is not a proper bot task request that can be implemented, especially without detail. What changes is it supposed to monitor? —  HELLKNOWZ  ▎TALK 11:17, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking that it might help with the Star Wars WikiProject, which I am a member of. I am not sure if it is needed, which is why I would like to discuss it. 20-13-rila (talk) 11:35, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
May I suggest you discuss this with the project first and come up with a concrete proposal of what task(s) can be done and how. Without further detail, I doubt you will find many interested parties on this page (which is for requesting specific tasks). —  HELLKNOWZ  ▎TALK 11:37, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Rila 20-13-rila (talk) 09:32, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We have WP:FANMP (a list of FAs yet to appear on the main page) and WP:WBFAN (a list of FAs and former FAs by nominator). Can someone think of a way to produce a hybrid for me, i.e. a list of FAs yet to appear on the main page by nominator? BencherliteTalk 20:30, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The "OLAC" (Open Language Archives Community) website has consistently helpful pages about resources for the languages of the world, especially the endangered and lesser-taught languages. The OLAC pages use a URL which ends with a three-letter code from the ISO 639-3 language code list, which is found in our language articles infobox. Each OLAC page has a nice descriptive title at the top, such as OLAC resources in and about the Aguaruna language.

Rather than adding several thousand OLAC page links to the External links sections of language articles by hand, couldn't we just write a bot to do this?

I know some languages have multiple language codes in their Wikipedia infobox, due to multiple dialects or language variants. Even if the bot didn't add links for languages with multiple codes, it would still be a big time-saver!

What do you think? Djembayz (talk)