Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Ohms Law Bot

The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. The result of the discussion was

Approved.

Ohms Law Bot

Operator: Ohms law

Automatic or Manually assisted: Automatic

Programming language(s): C#

Source code available: Not yet. I'm currently using (a modified) DotNetWikiBot for the underlying comm functionality, though. The real tasks are still being developed though, so I haven't released any code.

Function overview: Updates 4 sub-pages in my userspace every 2 hours.

Edit period(s): ~~continuous, every 2 hours.~~ Periodic, as needed

Estimated number of pages affected: 4

Exclusion compliant (Y/N): No. It doesn't, and can't affect anyone other than me.

Already has a bot flag (Y/N): No

Function details: Updates lists of pages located on 4 different sub-pages that are located in my user space.

Discussion

This script gathers the pages which are linked to through 4 Category trees, and updates 4 separate sub-pages within my user space (User:Ohms law/NASA, User:Ohms law/Requested moves, User:Ohms law/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, User:Ohms law/Wikipedia noticeboards). This task is fully developed and has been in operation (using a separate "bot" account) since 16 August. I can and will answer any questions that anyone here may want to know, here or on my talk page, however.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 14:57, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't really get the point I'm afraid, basically it's just listing all the pages in certain categories right? So why not just use the categories, use the search box to find articles in categories, or use WP:CATSCAN? Cheers - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 01:53, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Because Special:RecentChanges doesn't work with categories. Take a look at my user page, and click on one of the four links currently there, and it should be more clear.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 02:30, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That still doesn't explain anything. From what I can tell all you're wanting to do is to list updates to pages in certain categories? Q ^{T C} 02:35, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what there's really left to explain, and it's probably easier for those who are actually interested in this/worried about it to, to visit my user page and click one of the links. The program crawls the category tree (for example, Category:NASA and all of the categories that are within it) and places all of the pages as links on a page that is located in my user space. I have a link set up on my main user page, which anyone is welcome to use themselves by the way, that when you click it takes you to a watchlist of all of the pages that are in that category tree. It's just a simple little utility which I use in order to maintain my own watchlists. This stuff isn't really the main intent of the bot, but I'm using it for such while I'm actually developing the main task(s). Incidentally, the only reason that I'm actually here right now is because of the bureaucracy that has been set up here. There's really no need at all for approval of this, but the current policy seems to demand it.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 02:53, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No? In addition, any bot or automated editing process that affects only the operators', or their own, user and talk pages (or subpages thereof), and which are not otherwise disruptive, may be run without prior approval.. My only qualm was that this was a relativly hackish way to go about doing it. Q ^{T C} 03:00, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I know, but I was told that I needed an approval regardless, and the opening of the current Wikipedia:Bot policy#Approval section actually says "All bots that make any logged actions (such as editing a page, uploading files or creating accounts) must be approved before they may operate.", which is what it seems some people are using to say I must receive approval now, regardless of anything else. Getting the initial approval now will make the larger approval later on slightly easier anyway. Is there a better method to do this task though? If there is, then i'm all ears.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 03:30, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you intend to later seek approval for a task outside of your user space? Is it easier to gain approval for a subsequent task? --68.127.233.138 (talk) 04:54, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and I would assume so.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 04:58, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

So what is the task outside your user space that you're trying eventually to get approval for? This bot doesn't look like it has much to do with wikipedia in general, although I don't see the harm in creating a bot to gather articles you're interested in. --68.127.233.138 (talk) 17:08, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is that really important now? I'm still working on it's basic functionality (and not nearly as often as I would like to be working on it), so I'm a bit hesitant to discuss it publicly...
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 01:56, 3 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah! I understand the reason for this now. Your function explanation on this page didn't really explain the reason for doing this, but I see now that it works with "Related changes". Do you want this particular task to be moved out of your userspace? And I presume you're planning to use this to keep track of a lot more topics, how do you plan to add topics? Will there be a request page or something similar? - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 19:35, 3 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I apologize for the rough explanation... to be honest, I wasn't really sure how to explain it properly. I had actually considered creating pages/links for WikiProjects, and the creation of custom lists for other users, eventually. I suppose that right now this is just "version 1", and it can be extended later. I'm working on backend items for the bot itself at the moment though (For example, turning it into an actual Windows service rather then having it running as a console program), so that's something for down the road. there's also a sub page that I'm currently testing for it's use, but mentioning it sort of worries me. I don't think that anyone could abuse it, but I'm not positive.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 05:10, 4 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Query, why every 2 hours? If it's for your own use why not tune it to your shedule? But I agree that bot policy says you can do this, however having approval is often good, and the process can help various people in various ways.. Rich Farmbrough, 10:52, 6 September 2009 (UTC).[reply]

Well... it was 4 hours for a while, and for a very short period at first of time I had it going constantly (it would just restart after finishing updating, which averaged every 10-20 minutes). But, I settled on 2 hours for a couple of reasons: I don't have to think about it (turning it on and off), its quick enough to keep up to date with fast moving changers (Requested moves can and often changes every 30 minutes), and it's fairly kind to bandwidth/server load at 2 hour intervals. (incidentally, I've had it off for the last couple of days because I'm almost ready to start running the updated version... once I get around to fixing a couple small things.)

I have to admit that at first I just wanted someone to say "you don't need to get approval" so that I could just point to that next time someone says anything (if ever). After starting the process though, this has turned into a bit of a learning process. Considering that I will need approval(s) later on anyway, I figure I should learn now before it really makes a difference. That and having this task approved should preempt further "you don't have approval!!!1!11!!!" incidences.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 12:10, 6 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Approved. No problems with this, and I can see how it could be pretty useful. The bot may edit user subpages (where the user wants that), and WikiProject subpages (where the project clearly wants that) - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 07:15, 11 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Emergency shutoff

By the way, I'm not really sure exactly how to use the emergency shutoff template. It just says to add it to the bot account user page, but... don't I need to support it or something? I don't see any documentation on it, anywhere.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 15:21, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The emergency shutoff button is just a shortcut for administrators to block the bot account in cases of malfunction. I don't think it needs any support implemented in the bot code. Jafeluv (talk) 17:34, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, I'll add it then, and actually publish this to the BAG noticeboard.
— V = I * R (talk to Ω) 23:11, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.