Wikipedia talk:Bot Approvals Group

Requests for BAG membership

See also: Previous nominations

Requests to join the Bot Approvals Group are currently made here, although other methods have been proposed. Users wishing to join BAG, or to nominate another user to become a member, should start a new nomination page via the form below (replacing "UserName" with the nominee's) and transclude the discussion in a section below. Please note that notification to WP:AN, WP:VPM, WT:BOT, and WP:BON is required. After a suitable length of time (usually one week unless the nomination has not received a reasonable level of support), the discussion will be closed by a bureaucrat.

Other discussion

Minimum edits

I just approved a BRFA where there were ~139 pages being edited. It seems to me that any one-time edit run that needs less than 150-200 edits could/should be done manually and save the hassle of a BRFA. In fairness, I have no issue with other editors spending their time how they want (or being concerned with which of their accounts makes which edits), but honestly when I saw that BRFA my immediate thought was "they could have just done that already and been done with it"; at that point it's a little bit of a waste of my time approving a relatively uncontroversial edit that could have already been finished by the time I saw it.

My question/reason for posting is to see if I'm alone in this thought; is it worth codifying this into some sort of "caution" or note to consider for potential bot runs? Primefac (talk) 15:36, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

@Primefac: perhaps some guidance would help. Such edits shouldn't be done from a "bot account" though - the operator/editor could just do them editorially. If it is something that requires a bot flag for some reason (such a nominornewtalk) it should still be a BRFA. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:49, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

As guidance somewhere for "what doesn't make a good bot task", it wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't clutter WP:BOTPOL with such recommendations though. Anomie⚔ 16:04, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

I suppose a note at the top of Wikipedia:Bot requests/Frequently denied bots or WP:BOTREQ itself could do the trick? In looking at some of the requests there recently, there are quite a few where a page watcher has just done the run themselves via AWB. Primefac (talk) 16:07, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

@Primefac, Xaosflux, and Anomie: I added a note to Wikipedia:Bot requests/Header. Feel free to tweak or move elsewhere. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 16:32, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Bot to run once

I want to create over 3000 redir pages. Details are on my user page. Should I request a bot account? Or exceptionaly run it from my user account? Or can somebody create them for me? Gyimhu (talk) 08:17, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

@Gyimhu: Per WP:MASSCREATION, you need to file a BRFA. If you'd like, I can do this for you with DannyS712 bot - let me know, and I'll file a BRFA. However, you should note that there generally should be consensus before creating thousands of redirects like this. They all look fine to me, but just to be on the safe side you may want to open a discussion. Also, what (if any) redirect tags would you want applied? DannyS712 (talk) 08:46, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for answer. I opened a discussion about it but it is more time as I thought and I should wait to decision I think... I read over the list of tags and think I need no tags. Gyimhu (talk) 18:16, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

User:Legobot Question

I have tried to contact User:Legoktm regarding a request for User:Legobot found here on July 24. Talk page message to them on July 30 which was archived without a response here. Another ping today and note on their talk page here. Although I understand and appreciate that their is no compulsory requirement to edit, per WP:BOTCOMM I expect bot questions to be addressed promptly. This is especially true for a bot like Legobot that manages so many important processes. So, my question to this group is how to best manage this issue? « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 15:27, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

@Gonzo fan2007: if this is a situation where bad edits are being made, please post at WP:BOTN. It looks like you just today asked at User_talk:Legoktm#User:Legobot_Request - so give it a little time. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:30, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Xaosflux, not sure if you read my whole message, but as I said, I pinged him on July 24, talk page message on July 30, and then message/ping today. So we are talking 3 weeks with no response. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 15:57, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

@Gonzo fan2007: ok - and please follow up at BOTN - but as far as BAG goes we really can only "do" a few things: help facilitate communications, de-authorize a task, or block the bot. In general, we are unlikely to stop a bot that is only making good edits. — xaosflux ^Talk 17:01, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks Xaosflux. I have posted my question there. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 20:01, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Inactivity: Chris G

Per the Activity policy, I'm starting the one-week notice for Chris G. They have not edited bot-related topics in the last 2 years. SQL^{Query me!} 20:17, 12 December 2019 (UTC)

Notified. SQL^{Query me!} 20:18, 12 December 2019 (UTC)

Removing. --TheSandDoctor ^Talk 10:00, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

 Done Special:Diff/932643775 --TheSandDoctor ^Talk 10:06, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

BHGbot 4

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but I want to ask BAG to withdraw the approval which was kindly granted on 1 November 2019 for WP:BRFA/BHGbot 4 by User:Headbomb I want to end all further involvement with portals, to which this task relates.

Also pinging @Xeno and TheSandDoctor, who were the other reviewers of the request. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:15, 24 January 2020 (UTC)