Wikinews:Bots

This is an official policy on English Wikinews. It has wide acceptance and is considered a standard for all users to follow. Changes to this page must reflect consensus. If in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WN:BOT WN:BOTS

Bot request archives 2006-2007 2008-2009 2010-2011 2012-2020 2021-present

Requests and votes Accreditation ARBCOM AWB Bots Functionaries Reviewer

Please read the policy before making a request for bot permission. See also Wikinews:Global bots.

I	Create a user account (while logged in to your normal account) and a user page for the bot On the bot userpage, add the {{TestBot}} template, which automatically adds the page to Category:Test bots. Then add the following mandatory information to the bot userpage: Operator: Who the creator/operator is and how they can best be contacted Tasks: Details of the bot's task or tasks Operation: Whether the bot is manually assisted or runs automatically When: When it operates (continuously, intermittently, or at specified intervals) Maximum edit rate: The bot's maximum edit rate (e.g. edits per minute) Language: The language and/or program that it is running
II	Create your bot request: Add your bot username in the box below and click the button. Complete the questions on the resulting page and save it. Remember that your bot will be allowed to operate only for those tasks that you have specified in your request. Add your bot request at the foot of the list here: Edit the following request list, adding the following text to the foot of the section (replacing "YourBotName" with your bot's username): {{Wikinews:Bots/Requests/YourBotName}}
III	Test run You could be asked to make a short test run with your bot account (10–20 edits usually) to allow other users to review your bot's tasks. Unauthorized test runs are not allowed.
IV	Waiting for approval. You now need to wait for community approval. The request must remain open for at least two weeks. A bureaucrat will close the request and will also grant a bot flag, where necessary. You can then change the {{TestBot}} template to a {{Bot}} on the bot userpage. Closed requests are moved to Wikinews:Bots/Archive.

Requests

The following discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

MGA73bot (talk · contribs)

• Closed as Successful - apologies for the delay. The test edits are just what is needed for these files. Please also add the Image_info if missing. As for which categories to skip, please use your best judgement. Meta user-page is fine. [₂₄Cr][talk] 22:52, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

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Operator: User:MGA73

Bot tasks for which permission is being sought: See Wikinews:Water_cooler/assistance#Licenses_on_files_etc. for background information.

I plan to change {{printedition}} to {{Image info}} like this: Special:Diff/4734706

Personally I would perhaps skip Category:February 2006 because Category:February 1, 2006 is a category in Category:February 2006. But File:31January2007.pdf is caegorized in both the day category and the month category.

I can do other stuff too related to cleaning up in files. For example add {{Image info}} if no such template is added or remove Category:Files needing attention if the problem have been resolved.

Automatic or manually assisted: Manually Assisted

Edit type: One time run. Perhaps over several days if I do not have time to change everything in one long run.

Maximum edit rate (e.g. edits per minute): 12 edits per minute.

Bot flag requested: (Y/N): Y

Programming language(s): Pywikipedia MGA73 (talk) 15:10, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

Comments

I have bot flag on several wikis. For example Commons and Japanese wikipedia. I have done millions of edits. --MGA73 (talk) 15:10, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

@Bddpaux, Cromium, Gryllida: Hi! Could one of you have a look at this request? Is there anything I should do? --MGA73 (talk) 15:07, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

MGA73: The bot has only made eight edits here. To satisfy the letter of WN:Bots/Policy's requirement of 10-20 [bot] edits for demonstration purposes (I presume all of those must be local), can you have it make a few more? And what's the minimum edit rate like? The policy requires a maximum of Heavy Water (talk) 17:42, 18 August 2023 (UTC) 12 per minute, which you say is the your bot's maximum. I assume, as a global bot operator, you're aware of the practices in the "Best practices" section of the policy. But I don't understand your reasoning for why you would skip Category:February 2006. Could you explain that more, please? BTW, the edit you linked to above as an example of what the bot would do appears to have been to a now-deleted image. Heavy Water (talk) 15:50, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Heavy Water Thank you for your answer. I did a few more edits.

As for the minimum edits it is not easy to say because I monitor the edits as they happen. So it depends on if I'm distracted by something or not. The rule is that there should be a minimum of 5 seconds between each edit. That will result in a maximum of 12 edits per minute. But I'm open for other edit speeds if that is prefered.

As for skipping Category:February 2006. Yes the file I mentioned was deleted. But it is the same on all the other edits. On Special:Diff/4734707 for example it would be to skip Category:January 2006 because the file is also in Category:January 2006. On Commons there is a rule not put something in both a category and a subcategory of the same category (c:Commons:Categories#Over-categorization). I do not know if a similar rule/practice exist here. I just thought I wanted to ask before I put hundreds of files in categories.

Since I made this request I nominated 825 files for deletion (Wikinews:Deletion_requests#825_sxw-files). Depeding on that I can/will either skip edits on sxw-files, add a deletion template on those files or make the same edits as on the pdf-files. --MGA73 (talk) 16:53, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

I meant to say the policy sets a maximum of twelve per minute, and was only curious what your bot's minimum was, but omitted some words. We place an article in all relevant categories, even if it's already in parent categories (so it's easier for readers to find the latest news about a topic, instead of having to sift through subcategories), but I wasn't aware of any local convention for files. Looking at other month categories, like Category:February 2008, I see a lot of Print Edition files placed in those as well as in date categories. Heavy Water (talk) 17:42, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Thank you. In that case I will of course add the categories :-) --MGA73 (talk) 16:22, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Original discussion is now in Wikinews:Water_cooler/assistance/archives/2023/August. --MGA73 (talk) 14:24, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

• Comment Bureaucrats are not active at the moment so I have asked on m:Steward_requests/Bot_status#Bot_status_requests if a steward can close this request. --MGA73 (talk) 14:59, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

Gryllida has been fairly responsive in the past, and Cromium returns from time to time. (I note, though, step I of WN:BOTS implies a bot awaiting approval should have a local user page with {{TestBot}}.) Heavy Water (talk) 17:33, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

I can add if that is needed. But I hope my bot page on meta is acceptable instead. --MGA73 (talk) 13:32, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Votes

• Support: This needs done, and the operator is trusted and responsive (and patient, after a long wait with no progress on this request). Heavy Water (talk) 17:42, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page, such as the current discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Leaderbot (talk · contribs)

Operator: Leaderboard

Bot tasks for which permission is being sought: meta:Global reminder bot

Automatic or manually assisted: Automatic

Edit type: Daily in theory. However, I think the bot will almost never run on this wiki; however, I'm told that it is still good practice to request approval.

Maximum edit rate (e.g. edits per minute): Maybe once per month at most?

Bot flag requested: (Y/N): N

Programming language(s): Python

Leaderboard (talk) 08:19, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

Comments

• @Gryllida: is this something you could take a look at? Leaderboard (talk) 14:15, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

  On a small wiki I am worried this could be unnecessary as users would make token edits just to keep the access. Is there some evidence that notification, for example if done manually somewhere, improved things and re-engaged the contributor in editing regularly? Gryllida (talk) 13:00, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

  Hi @Gryllida Firstly, this only applies to temporary rights (i.e when you assign a right for a certain period) - it's not going to remind anyone whose rights are technically indefinite (i.e, it does not affect WN:PEP). This bot was launched only in August, so hard evidence is difficult to find; however, this bot was inspired by a case where a user with global rights was unable to help their community because they did not realise that their rights had expired. For a wiki like this (like most small wikis), it is expected to almost never post anything - so it will simply run silently. Does this answer your question? Leaderboard (talk) 13:05, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

  Yes thanks. Then maybe it is not needed here as no privileges expire automatically. I welcome someone pointing out a different point of view, I am rather neutral on this. Gryllida (talk) 13:12, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

• As I see this a bot flag is not needed. The bot will make very few edits. But I think it will be a good idea for Gryllida or someone else to close this request with a comment like "This bot is approved to do the task. No bot flag is needed." --MGA73 (talk) 15:56, 8 December 2024 (UTC)