Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard

Bots noticeboard

Here we coordinate and discuss Wikipedia issues related to bots and other programs interacting with the MediaWiki software. Bot operators are the main users of this noticeboard, but even if you are not one, your comments will be welcome. Just make sure you are aware about our bot policy and know where to post your issue. Do not post here if you came to discuss non-urgent bot issues, bugs and suggestions for improvement. Do that at the bot operator's talk page discuss urgent/major bot issues. Do that according to instructions at WP:BOTISSUE discuss general questions about the MediaWiki software and syntax. We have the village pump's technical section for that request approval for your new bot. Here is where you should do it request new functionality for bots. Share your ideas at the dedicated page

{{botlinks3}}

Just FYI, I made a template that might be useful to you.

{{botlinks3|Polbot}}

produces: Polbot (task list · contribs)

The "task list" link is a list of all pages starting with "Bots/Requests for approval/Polbot".

{{botlinks3|Polbot|11}}

produces: Polbot (task · contribs)

The "task" link points directly to task 11.

{{botlinks3|Polbot|-}}

produces: Polbot (task · contribs)

The "task" link points to the RfBA without a numerical suffix. (Polbot never had one, which is why it's a redlink.) – Quadell ^(talk) 00:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I like this. One problem I notice with {{Botlinks}} and {{Botlinks2}} is that you can only specify one task, even if the bot in question has twenty. I've added it to {{User information templates}}, so it will appear along with any of those signature-like templates that we use for links about users. The Earwig ^{(Talk | Contributions)} 02:34, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Bot Approvals Group/nominations/Tinucherian

This is a 'mandatory' notification to all interested parties that I have accepted a nomination to join the Bot Approvals Group - the above link should take you to the discussion. Best wishes,-- Tinu Cherian - 10:48, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Bot edits showing up in watchlists, recent changes, etc.

Hi all,

Another user brought up to me that my bot's edits are showing up on his watchlist, even with the "hide bots" option enabled. I took a look at Special:RecentChanges, and noticed that they are showing up on there as well. The account has the bot flag, and I double-checked my code to verify that it is actually flagging the edits as bot edits. In looking at the RecentChanges, I noticed a couple other bots on the list (SPCUClerkBot, XLinkBot), so I'm guessing the problem isn't isolated to just my account. The bot is making all of its changes through the MediaWiki API. Any suggestions? Matt (talk) 23:31, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

If you're editing through the API, you have to set &bot when you use action=edit. Mr.Z-man 23:36, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

It is. Like I said, I checked that. Matt (talk) 23:46, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I just did some tests, apparently just "&bot" does not work (anymore?) when POSTing (it seems it would work when GETting, but action=edit requires a post). At minimum, "&bot=" is needed. Anomie⚔ 03:11, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Hum, so it does. Thanks Anomie! Matt (talk) 03:29, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

How to be worse than useless: a technical manual for bushy-tailed bot operators

This escalates a clearly erroneous page-move, as only an admin can scrape the crud away in order to revert this. — CharlotteWebb 13:32, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

I note that the bot didn't do anything there until almost a week after the move occurred (hopefully that was by design), which was ample opportunity for a human to undo the move. It's also not like {{db-move}} is that hard to use. Anomie⚔ 14:28, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

The design is still flawed as redirects "from other capitalisation" are among the most likely to need reversing. I've noticed other cases in the past where a user has created a redirect from a more correct or equally plausible title, and this (again, worse than useless) bot comes along to add road-block edits preventing the page from being moved to that title. One might as well write a bot to move-protect every bloody article as that would (from my perspective) have the same practical effect.

Let's step back and ask if/why this bot was approved and whether it serves any meaningful purpose. — CharlotteWebb 17:57, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Why not have another bot that responds to {{db-move}} uses with three or fewer revisions? ;-) --MZMcBride (talk) 18:00, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Why not change the software to make all revisions starting with "#redirect" disposable by any user during a page-move attempt, regardless of how many edits there are, or which page they redirect(ed) to, or whether they have silly little sorting templates attached to them. If there's some good stuff hidden under the heap of redirects, one could just move it somewhere else for safe-keeping. — CharlotteWebb 18:06, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Err, drastic escalation of privilege? Turn a random user's user page into a redirect and then move your vandalism over it. Or do it with a popular article.... I agree that the double revision thing is annoying, but I'm not sure there's any good way to deal with it. --MZMcBride (talk) 18:29, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

That's not the entirety of the problem. As it stands right now, one can move [[Foo]] → [[Foo (bar)]] but not move [[Foo (disambiguation)]] → [[Foo]] afterward because although the redirect has only one revision it does not point to the page you are trying to move. — CharlotteWebb 18:54, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Again, MZMcBride's example: move any non-move-protected page out of the way, then move the vandalism over the redirect. Anomie⚔ 01:43, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Regarding "if this bot was approved", a simple check of the bot's userpage turns up Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/BOTijo 6. Anomie⚔ 01:43, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I find the whole idea of categorizing redirects to be a waste of time. Mr.Z-man 01:46, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

I suggest that the approval for this bot be withdrawn. The Category:Redirects from other capitalisations has 262,000 entries. Seems no good reason to bother with this, and the action of the bot prevents quick move reversal, as noted above. EdJohnston (talk) 03:28, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

That's more a reason to take Category:Redirects from other capitalisations to WP:CFD than to stop the bot. Anomie⚔ 03:36, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Done. --MZMcBride (talk) 06:12, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Per the instructions on WP:CFD, I think you need to take this to WP:TFD for the template {{R from other capitalisation}} (and its various redirects): "If the category is only populated by a template and both the category and template are being proposed for deletion, go to Wikipedia:Templates for deletion. For a template with the same name use {{catfd}}." --R'n'B (call me Russ) 10:28, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Discussion now moved to Wikipedia:Templates for deletion#Template:R from other capitalisation. --R'n'B (call me Russ) 15:12, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

In case anyone still has this debate on their watchlist, a wider discussion is taking place at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Need wider community input. EdJohnston (talk) 03:27, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Pywikipediabot: cosmetic_changes.py

There is a discussion of recommended settings for this module at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Cosmetic changes (Wikitext cleanup options of pywikipediabot) -- User:Docu

Interwiki bots in template namespace

Following problems with some bots operating in template namespace, the bot policy now mentions that interwikis should appear on all articles using a template. (Wikipedia:Bot_policy#Restrictions_on_specific_tasks ) -- User:Docu

Where was it discussed that this should be added? Not all bots have issues running in the template space. -Djsasso (talk) 15:17, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

There was [1] and [2]. -- User:Docu

Agree with the change in spirit, your comment above I believe is missing a few words though: "operators must ensure interwikis [do] not appear..." (?) I've tweaked your addition for clarity. –xeno ^talk 15:33, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

I would disagree with the "should not run unsupervised in Template namespace" part. There's no reason a well-designed bot wouldn't be able to work as well on templates as it does on articles. The fact that the standard interwiki.py isn't this well designed is not reason to prohibit someone from using one that is. Mr.Z-man 15:57, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, let's just mention standard interwiki.py. There are others that work correctly [3]. -- User:Docu

Apparently at pywikipediabot, they are working on it. Thanks for adding all these clarifications to the wording. -- User:Docu

Bot to replace links to redirects?

Hi all,

I had an idea for a bot I could write, but I don't know if there's already a bot that does it, or if the idea would be very well received, so I'm asking for opinions.

Would it be a good idea to write a bot that replaces links to redirects with a link to the redirect's target (assuming that the target is not a disambiguation page)?

Thanks in advance, Matt (talk) 23:04, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

WP:REDIRECT#NOTBROKEN. Happy‑melon 23:07, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

I was just about to say that, then I ended up in an edit conflict. Don't fix redirects that aren't broken. See Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups/About fixing redirects for technical details. The Earwig ^{(Talk | Contributions)} 23:09, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, fair enough. Thanks. Matt (talk) 01:36, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

ListasBot 3

As another editor has expressed concern over ListasBot 3's approved functions (in short, whether or not talk pages of redirects should be replaced with a redirect to the new talk page), I've set up a discussion on how to proceed with this bot. Input would be appreciated. The discussion is at User:Mikaey/Request for Input/ListasBot 3.

Thanks, Matt (talk) 02:44, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

And spammed it only over a hundred talk pages, using a blatantly leading question.[4] That's just dreadful. Hesperian 02:52, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, well, no one bothered to give their input when I asked for it, so I stepped it up a bit. I'm sick of asking for consensus on something and having no one answer me. Matt (talk) 03:09, 12 May 2009 (UTC)