Wikinews:Bots

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Green check.png This page is an official policy on the English Wikinews. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Wikinews Policies and Guidelines

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Administrators
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Accreditation policy
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Avoid weasel words
User blocking policy
Bots
Cite sources
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Dispute resolution
Criteria for deletion
Criteria for speedy deletion
Don't disrupt Wikinews
  to illustrate a point
Fair use
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Original reporting
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Page protection policy
Reviewing articles
Three revert rule
Username policy

Etiquette

All bots must be approved here to run regardless of if they need a bot flag. Non-approved bots may be blocked at an administrator's discretion. This may be for reasons such as flooding recent changes. The bot flag will not be granted to any bot that does not have the {{botblock}} template on its userpage. A bot's userpage should clearly state the bot's intended purpose, and other relevant details. See also Wikinews:Global Bots.

Contents

Bots on Wikinews[edit]

Active bots[edit]

These are bots that have made any page edit or logged action within 30 days:

Inactive bots[edit]

These are bots that have not made any page edits nor logged actions within 30 days:

Discussion about current bots[edit]

General question regarding the 'inactive bots' list above
  • Block, remove bot flag or, ...? --Brian McNeil / talk 08:51, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
  • I'd think, in general when a bot goes inactive for, say, a year, remove the flag. Eventually block; just to name a figure, maybe that's two years? --Pi zero (talk) 14:11, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
  • Would suppose the idea that if inactive for a year, remove the flag. --LauraHale (talk) 06:43, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

Discussion about new bots[edit]

AKBot (talk · contribs)[edit]

  • Operator: Artem Korzhimanov (talk)
  • Bot name: AKBot
  • Programming language: Python, interwiki.py
  • Already used on: full list
  • Task: manage interwiki links: adding new interwiki lins, remove dead links, the bot is running in manual regime and is supposed to work only in main and category namespaces. Artem Korzhimanov (talk) 14:29, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Comments[edit]

  • Comment I am very, very leery of bots writing to the main namespace here. A bot right on enWN, which has flagged revisions in use, could link completely unrelated news stories between several languages.
Categories, templates, and project namespace stuff I can fully understand use of a bot. However, the vast majority of work such a bot would need to do is one-off stuff.
What I'll assume was a test run looked okay. But, before making my mind up I would want to know more about plans for main namespace use. It seems to me that deciding if two independently written articles, in different languages, should be interlinked is a human-only decision which will take orders of magnitude more time than doing the 5 to 10 seconds editing to manually insert the interwiki link. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:44, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
I understand your concerns. That is why in main space this bot will be run only in manual regime under my control of its edits. The thing is that it is more convenient to add all interwiki links at once in all languages by running an interwiki script rather than do it by hands like I did before. Artem Korzhimanov (talk) 22:16, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Votes[edit]

Support The bot sounds useful, but I would not condone giving it Reviewer privileges per Brian McNeil's concerns. Cocoaguytalkcontribs‽ 04:28, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

  • Comment Autoreviewer is bundled with bot; it's just hit a mainspace article that was published. --Brian McNeil / talk 11:25, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment Just a quick note but when Wikidata rolls out to all projects interwiki bots of this type will no longer be needed. Addshore (talk) 23:01, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

NewsieBot (talk · contribs)[edit]

  • Operator: Brian McNeil
  • Bot name: NewsieBot
  • Programming language: PHP and "voodoo" ;-)
  • Task: Assist Accredited Reporters in any ways possible.
Notes
This bot is still pending receipt of AutoConfirmed, at which point some more rigorous testing can get underway.
The first, basic, function of the bot will be to upload files from an accredited reporter shared Dropbox folder to this wiki. This has been tested on the Journalists' Workspace over on wikinewsie.org, and found to do exactly what's wanted/needed there.
Initially, I'm looking to recruit a couple of accredited reporters to test this, before we move on to voting. You would need to have access to the Wikinews Dropbox share, you place files of an uploadable type within an appropriate sub-folder, and once they're synched to the wikinewsie.org Dropbox, they would automatically be uploaded here.
A key issue, related to the Paralympics at least, is restrictions on photography which will only allow CC-BY-NC licensing. Can't go on Commons, but can go here. Similarly, scans of reporters' notes could be uploaded here. For what the bot will do, we need to demonstrate function here, then we'll have a good case to get it accepted on Commons itself for stuff that falls under one of their licenses. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:27, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Comments[edit]

  • I'm recruiting testers, and they need to be Accredited Reporters.
If requested by the community, I am happy to bring each individual function of this bot back here for a vote and as-wide testing as can be achived within the Accredited Reporter community. Should that involve removing the bot flag whilst new functionality is tested, I'm perfectly happy with such. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:27, 18 July 2012 (UTC)
  • I've done an initial test, which can be seen from the bot's contributions. This was a single file run, just to prove the concept - the file was successfully uploaded to both jws.wikinewsie.org and to here. It didn't come out of the Dropbox, but that's next on the to-do list for checking this out. I want to see people move away from Dropbox, and onto ownCloud which is opensource. It has clients for Android, iPhone and iPad (as well as, obviously, PCs).
The upload from Iceland (yes, we've our own, geothermally-powered, rival to the toolserver now) was incredibly fast. I need a list of file extensions which are not supported here, and will need converted prior to upload. Not a problem to script that, but you need to specify the whole lot for audio/video.
Excuse the testing, which may be a 'tad' messy to start with Once all scripts are in-place, people will be invited to accept a share of the relevant Dropbox and try it out for themselves. --Brian McNeil / talk 12:33, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Bot is now running on auto, but requires those with access to the shared Dropbox placing files for upload. Is handling all filetypes enWN permits, plus convering some audio formats then uploading the converted files. Will be testing/developing the video converting segment today. --Brian McNeil / talk 08:48, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Additional functionality
  • NewsieBot now has another small duty: Raking the Wikinews:Sandbox clear. It checks half-hourly: if the Sandbox is not 'pristine' and it is over six hours since it was last edited, Newsiebot will reset the contents to '{{sandbox}}'. We may want to add a comment about this to that template, advising anyone who is looking for stuff they've done to check the history.
Code for this function is available here. --Brian McNeil / talk 08:45, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
It might be an idea to not log anything unless something is actually done. It rather clutters up Special:RecentChanges. —Tom Morris (talk) 23:57, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Votes[edit]

Please do not vote until after July 25, 2012! This bot will not be able to carry out its basic functions until July 22nd, and it needs some "kicking of the tyres".
At that time, it should be running for testing, feedback, and discussion on other useful functions. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:27, 18 July 2012 (UTC)
  • Bot is now in late alpha/early beta. Not running automatically, but doing so is expected to happen within the next 48-72 hours. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:33, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Support Has had first article published through use of the bot. Uploaded images, audio, and converted-then-uploaded video. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:13, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Support Sure, I'll help. (Is dropping stuff in the Journos' workspace folder "helping"?) --Bddpaux (talk) 18:29, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
A few tests is helpful, but not just to there. One or two to here would be good too. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:56, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Synchbot via Pathoschild (talk · contribs)[edit]

  • Operator: Pathoschild
  • Bot name: Synchbot
  • Programming language: Python
  • Task: Update user pages across all content wikis at the explicit request of the user (including CSS and JavaScript subpages). Synchbot is triggered manually based on requests from users. Each request is for one edit on one page (per wiki) in that user's namespace. The bot never edits outside their namespace, and doesn't edit if the user is not registered on this wiki.
Notes
  • The edit rate on each wiki is very low — usually less than five per day (on a busy day).
  • The bot runs though the Pathoschild account; it uses steward permissions to edit users' CSS and JavaScript subpages, and rarely to delete those subpages (e.g., to migrate from MonoBook to Vector).
  • Synchbot ran on the English Wikinews until September 2010, when it was briefly blocked under the bot policy. It was suggested that I apply for permission to run the bot here. I'd like permission to run the Synchbot service, but I don't necessarily need a bot flag.
  • The bot is fairly well-tested; it's been running across all wikis since 2008, handling about 347 requests by 170 unique users (≈185,000 edits).

—Pathoschild 03:32, 06 August 2012 (UTC)

Comments[edit]

  • Impressive testing history, so to speak ;)
Would be happy to see a limited test run here - as long as it's got the usual BIG RED SWITCH. --Brian McNeil / talk 12:35, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
Let me know when you'd like me to start. :) —Pathoschild 00:57, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
Thanks; I've enabled the bot per your message. —Pathoschild 23:25, 02 June 2013 (UTC)

Votes[edit]

  • Support a test run over a defined period. -Brian McNeil / talk 13:53, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Support Per brian. --LauraHale (talk) 11:56, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
  • Support Seems reasonable. --Pi zero (talk) 14:13, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
  • Support Yes.. Addshore (talk) 23:01, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

GhalyBot (talk · contribs)[edit]

  • Operator: Ghaly (talk)
  • Bot name: GhalyBot
  • Programming language: Python, interwiki.py
  • Already used on: full list
  • Task: manage interwiki links: adding new interwiki. GhalyBot has a global bot flag. --Ghaly (talk) 09:33, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Comments[edit]

  • Comment Interwiki in what namespace(s)? What testing history does the bot have? And, is the bot operating on any wikis using Flagged Revisions? Assuming so, what handling of Flagged Revisions does the bot do? --Brian McNeil / talk 18:46, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
  • This is the link to Bot edits on all projects . it mainly does interwiki links. The only wikipedia that has a different type of edits on is arz wikipedia where tasks different to interwiki is done .I am a sysop on arzwiki. If there is a problem with my request , I am happy to withdraw it.Hoping that this answere your question. If not , please let me know. --Ghaly (talk) 16:22, 6 January 2013 (UTC)
  • What interwiki links are necessary? Can specific examples be provided of it operating on other Wikinews projects and where manual interwiki linking has been done on Wikinews? --LauraHale (talk) 16:33, 6 January 2013 (UTC)
  • Comment There isn't anything wrong with the request, other than a lack of details. Wikinews has a few 'quirks' that might either interfere with a bot's actions (intent of policy), or have a bot's actions provoke unintended consequences.
That's why the project has opted-out of global bots; it's simply a matter of bot operators either checking the policies here, or giving as-much detail as possible about the details of a bot's set usage and allowing the Wikinews community to reassure themselves it isn't likely to screw up. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:12, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Votes[edit]

WCCbot (talk · contribs)[edit]

  • Operator: W.CC (talk)
  • Bot name: WCCBot
  • Programming language: Python / Pywikipediabot
  • Already used on: 4 wikis
  • Task: interwiki

I'm not a native English speaker. Thanks.--W.CC (talk) 13:43, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

Comments[edit]

  • Comment Project policy requires a shut-off button on the bot's user page. This policy is stated at the top of this page. --Pi zero (talk) 12:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
    • I had missed. I added the template.[1]--W.CC (talk) 14:53, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

Votes[edit]

  • Support based on global contributions. Manually done so shut off not as problematic. --LauraHale (talk) 08:39, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
  • Temporary oppose until such time as the bot complies with the policy mentioned above. --Pi zero (talk) 12:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
Fixed. --Pi zero (talk) 15:18, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

Archive[edit]

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