Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard

How would I get User:GreenC bot the new sboverride userright? c.f. T36928 recently closed resolved. -- GreenC 20:12, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Oh, that's a neat user right. User:AAlertBot could use it since it occasionally encounters urls users used that it cannot report and has to trim the report. I spent way too long fixing it when I first encountered this because I assumed bots would surely be exempt from this. I doubt there's any process yet for granting the right though. —  HELLKNOWZ ∣ TALK 21:06, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

You'd probably need to lobby for the permission to be added to an existing user group such as "bot", or for the creation of a new user group such as "sboverride". Any preference? –Novem Linguae (talk) 21:18, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Probably should just get added to bot user group. Izno (talk) 21:27, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

The bot user group is "trusted" enough to have sboverride added to it imho — this is proposed at T313107 — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 21:28, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

I guess the question is if there is a case when it would be desirable to block a bot's edit due to the blacklist? —  HELLKNOWZ ∣ TALK 21:30, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

IIRC (and I may not), if I try to fix a typo in a section that contains a blacklisted URL, I can't save the edit, even if I am not editing near the URL. If that workflow still exists, it is frustrating. If bots can add blacklisted URLs but regular editors are then unable to edit the sections that contain those URLs, that would be undesirable IMO. If I am misdescribing or misremembering the workflow, or if I am misunderstanding this conversation, let me know in a nice way and I will strike this comment. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:43, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

[...] the link filtering is based on what links existed before the edit vs. what links exist after (exist meaning interpreted as an external link by the software). Do you have any evidence that an edit that did not try to add a link was prevent by this extension? See the code - this part makes it so that if the page already existed, the links that are checked are only those that were added in the current end. --DannyS712 (talk) 00:18, 1 August 2022 (UTC)
— m:Requests for comment/Allow sysops to override the spam blacklist

So, it looks like you don't recall correctly. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 21:52, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for that; that's twice today that you have set me straight. Maybe I'm thinking of trying to revert vandalism, section blanking, or other undesirable edits and being stopped because I would be restoring a blacklisted link. I can't think of a situation where a bot would put a human editor in such a situation, so we're probably OK. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:02, 29 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

I guess the question is if there is a case when it would be desirable to block a bot's edit due to the blacklist? AnomieBOT's rescuing of orphaned references. It would probably be better if the bot didn't reinsert blacklisted links, but continue to complain on its talk page for humans to do a proper removal. Anomie⚔ 01:27, 30 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

You could probably theoretical construct such a bot. But in general, I think whatever bots are doing, if it's an approved task, overrides those concerns.

I wouldn't let an AWB user overide the blacklist, but an AWB bot should be able to plow through. IMO. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:19, 11 September 2022 (UTC)Reply

Why don't we just create a dedicated sboverride group instead of speculating about whether there is some bot that might be harmed by having the right? * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 15:24, 11 September 2022 (UTC)Reply

I could theoretically create a bot that has already existed for 14 years? Anomie⚔ 17:19, 11 September 2022 (UTC)Reply

I was thinking that we need a bot to protect the featured article from new editors due to the vandalism that happens almost everyday. Much of the time we end up having to protect it anyways so I was thinking a bot would be a good idea for protection the article it would either semi or extended protect the article (bot owner can decide what protection is best) it would not fully protect the article or remove/change existing protections and a admin could opt a article out of auto protection if there is a reason it should not be auto protected Qwv (talk) 10:36, 13 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

See Wikipedia:Perennial proposals#Protect Today's Featured Article on the Main Page. Anomie⚔ 11:57, 13 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

@Qwv, as you can see in that link, there was a trial for pending changes protection bot for FAs but a second trial has not occurred. You will have to hunt down why. Izno (talk) 20:49, 13 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

Hello. I've been meaning to ask this since quite a few weeks. There are two bots set up to archive WP:BOTREQ, and currently the settings for these bots have different archive page number. Why are there two bots? WT:BOTREQ redirects here. —usernamekiran (talk) 18:27, 13 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

While I'm not sure on any specific reason for 2 archiving bots, they don't actually have different archive page numbers set up - ClueBot III will figure out via some other means which index it should be archiving at, which is advised by numberstart, but it still functions fine. The bots appear to take turns archiving the page recently (LSB3 1 2, CB 1 2). In terms of history, it appears the order goes a little like this: +MiszaBot (2007), MiszaBot -> ClueBot (2008), +OCA (2015), OCA -> LSB3 (2016). I'd imagine its safe to remove either. Aidan9382 _(talk) 18:50, 13 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

A training tool within the framework of Wikipedia:Education creates discussions on Talk pages on behalf of student editors, and publishes a comment on the TP with a sig that is not the userid of the editor running the tool. I'm trying to determine if this is compliant with all relevant P&G, in particular WP:SIG, and perhaps, WP:Bot policy. This tool is an edit-assist tool that operates at human speed, so I'm not clear whether it is covered under bot policy, but my reading of the first sentence, especially the last part of it, implies that it may be. The most relevant section I can find there, is § Bots directed to edit by other users, and these tool-assisted edits are disclosure-compliant, because the user's id is inluded in the edit summary. The problem is that the talk-page sig clashes with the userid in the summary, and contains a different sig. I don't actually see anything in bot policy that prohibits this, so maybe this situation is bot-compliant. However, this is the first time I've run into such an issue, and I am not used to reading or interpreting bot policy, or even whether this situation is covered by it, as the training tool lacks many of the features of a bot. If it is relevant, your feedback would be appreciated at this discussion. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 23:49, 18 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

Some bots do imitate other users' signatures for the purposes of leaving messages, like the DYK (example) and GAN notifications. As long as it's done with consent I don't really see an issue. Legoktm (talk) 16:37, 19 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

"Sent on behalf of <User>" is always an option. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 05:14, 20 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

AnomieBOT, for example, does it both ways in different tasks. When TemplateSubster is substing something like {{Welcomesmall}} it will inject a generic signature for the user it thinks added the template so it doesn't seem like the bot is welcoming people. When CHUUClerk is auto-closing requests handled by opted-in renamers, it will use the user's the signature from the opt-in page with an "(autosigned by AnomieBOT)" note appended. Anomie⚔ 12:34, 20 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

@Mathglot Simply stated, the example in that other discussion isn't really a "bot issue", as it isn't being done by bots at all. There are certainly legitimate cases where a bot may place some sort of signature of another user, but it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone reviewing it and they wouldn't look like those ones. — xaosflux ^Talk 14:15, 20 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

Yapperbot (talk · contribs) is still running, but seems to have dropped some of its tasks. For instance, it hasn't sent out a WP:FRS message since the run of 00:30, 6 March 2023 (UTC) - it normally does this hourly. The botop, Naypta (talk · contribs), hasn't eedited in almost a year. Does anybody know what's happening? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 07:21, 2 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

No (although this is not the first time Yapperbot has broken without explanation), but I've sent Naypta an email alerting them of this thread. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 14:13, 2 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

I think Naypta responds to email even if they are not active here, like Tizio. —usernamekiran (talk) 16:56, 2 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

And only the botop can do anything about that - we're not going to block the bot for not doing a task, and would only block it if there was an issue that needed the op and they were unresponsive. — xaosflux ^Talk 17:14, 2 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

I'm not asking for a block. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:30, 2 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

HBC AIV helperbot5 (talk · contribs) Appears to have stopped after Toolforge was under scheduled downtime, however it doesn't appear to have resumed maintaining AIV and UAA. Its last edit prior to the downtime was here. Bot's creator doesn't seem to be around anymore as they haven't edited in 7 months and haven't responded to their most recent non-automated talk page post. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 19:51, 3 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

The bot seems to have started up again. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 23:00, 3 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Apologies for the downtime, I have restarted the process. While I am not currently editing, I am still watching the bots and available by email if required. — JamesR (talk) 23:12, 3 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Ah alright. Thanks for letting me know James! ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 23:28, 3 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

It appears that Mathbot is not updating the AfD open discussion list since 3 April. I've left a note for the bot maintainer, Oleg Alexandrov, but it seems he's been inactive since 14 November last year. Would anyone know if responsibility for the bot was passed on to or shared with anyone who's currently active? Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 01:55, 7 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

I went ahead and sent them an email, to help increase the chances of a response from the bot operator. Also I think Toolforge has been down for maintenance twice this week. I wonder if that is related. –Novem Linguae (talk) 02:00, 7 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Some new setting on the toolserver had broken it. I made it work again. Thanks for letting me know. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 02:20, 7 April 2023 (UTC)Reply