User talk:Momijiro

Greetings!

The BAG Newsletter is now the Bots Newsletter, per discussion. As such, we've subscribed all bot operators to the newsletter. You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

;Arbcom

Magioladitis ARBCOM case has closed. The remedies of the case include:

• Community encouraged to review common fixes
• Community encouraged to review policy on cosmetic edits
• Developers encouraged to improve AWB interface
• Bot approvals group encouraged to carefully review BRFA scope
• Reminders/Restrictions specific to Magioladitis

;BRFAs

We currently have 27 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

;Discussions

There are multiple ongoing discussions surrounding bot-related matters. In particular:

• RFC on COSMETICBOT
• Efforts at WP:CHECKWIKI to identify cosmetic fixes
• Requested move for the Bot Owners' Noticeboard
• A phabricator ticket {{phab|T162685}} has been made to have a "bots" tag, so issues related to bot frameworks can be tracked

;New things

Several new things are around:

• A BAG Guide has been created (WP:BAGG, discussion).
• Users now have the option to hide AWB from their watchlists via a script (WP:HIDEAWB, discussion)
• The guidance on how to deal with bot issues has been overhauled (WP:BOTISSUE, discussion)
• The bot policy has been updated to clarify that bot operators are required to register accounts. (WP:BOTACCOUNT, discussion)

;Wikimania

[https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania Wikimania 2017] is happening in Montreal, during 9–13 August. If you plan to attend, or give a talk, let us know!

Thank you! edited by:Headbomb 11:35, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

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Greetings!

Here is the 4th issue of the Bots Newsletter (formerly the BAG Newletter). You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

;BAG

BU Rob13 and Cyberpower678 are now members of the BAG (see RfBAG/BU Rob13 and RfBAG/Cyberpower678 3). BU Rob13 and Cyberpower678 are both administrators; the former operates BU RoBOT which does a plethora of tasks, while the latter operates Cyberbot I (which replaces old bots), Cyberbot II (which does many different things), and InternetArchiveBot which combats link rot. Welcome to the BAG!

;BRFAs

We currently have 12 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

;Discussions

• Efforts at WP:CHECKWIKI to identify cosmetic fixes are still ongoing.
• The RFC on COSMETICBOT has concluded with "a clear consensus exists to adopt the proposed language". The [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABot_policy&type=revision&diff=781071749&oldid=776564969 new wording] is now live.
• The venue for bot appeals and reexaminations has been [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bot_policy&diff=785900489&oldid=785809177 changed] from WP:BRFA to WP:BOTN (see discussion)
• The Wikipedia:Bot owner's noticeboard is now the Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard (see discussion).

;New things

• A [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABot_policy&type=revision&diff=782685110&oldid=781071956 historical correction] was made to WP:BOTPOL (see discussion).
• WP:HIDEBOTS now mentions [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABots&type=revision&diff=786445484&oldid=781329442 how to hide all bots from your watchlist], not only specific bots.
• The phabricator ticket {{phab|T162685}} is now closed, and we now have "[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/bot-frameworks/ #Bots-Framework]" tag, so issues related to bot frameworks can be tracked.
• Wikibits.js has been removed (see [https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-ambassadors/2017-April/001574.html discussion]).
• 21 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion).
• WP:BOTISSUE has been [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bot_policy&diff=785809177&oldid=785323626 updated] to mention that BAG members can act as neutral mediators in bot-related disputes.
• WP:INTERWIKIBOT has been [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bot_policy&diff=789678056&oldid=787355603 updated] to reflect the post-February 2013 practice of putting interwiki links on Wikidata, rather than on Wikipedia (see discussion).

;Upcoming

• HTML Tidy will be [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy phased out] in [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/28 June 2018, or possibly earlier]. This may affect some bots (see [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy/FAQ#What_will_editors_need_to_do.3F FAQ]).

;Wikimania

[https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania Wikimania 2017] is happening in Montreal, during 9–13 August. If you plan to attend, or give a talk, let us know!

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 17:12, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

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Greetings!

Here is the 5th issue of the Bots Newsletter (formerly the BAG Newletter). You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

;ARBCOM

• Magioladitis 2 happened, leading to further restrictions on {{noping|Magioladitis}} (decision, summary).
• Betacommand 3 was proposed to be amended to lift the indefinite ban on {{noping|Δ}}, but was unsuccessful (decision).
• A motion concerning Crosswiki issues (mostly concerning Wikidata) was passed (see discussion).

;BAG

• {{noping|Hersfold}} was [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABot_Approvals_Group%2FFormer&type=revision&diff=807534876&oldid=757247341 removed from the BAG] due to long term inactivity.

;BRFAs

We currently have 6 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

;Discussions

While there were no large-scale bot-related discussion in the past few months, you can check WP:BOTN and WT:BOTPOL (and their corresponding archives) for smaller issues that came up.

;New things

• WP:BOTDICT, a dictionary of common bot-related terms (see discussion).
• 6 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion).
• The 2017 Community Wishlist Survey happened. Two bot-related proposal passed, #6 deploy Article Alerts to other languages and #10 Commons deletion notification bot, although other entries may affect bots as well.
• :Category:Wikipedia bots and its subcategories has had some cleanup. Bot-related pages that were historically important but are no longer of interests can be found in :Category:Wikipedia bots (historical)
• The edit summary limit has been increased to 1000 characters (see {{phab|T6715}}). If a bot you operate relied on the old truncation limit (255 characters), please review/update your code, as overly long summaries can be disruptive/annoying. If you want to use extra characters to have more information in your edit summary, please do so intelligently.
• You will soon be able to ping users from the edit summary (see {{phab|T188469}}). If you wish to use this feature in your bot, please do so intelligently.

;Upcoming

• HTML Tidy will be [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy phased out] in [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/28 June 2018, or possibly earlier]. This may affect some bots (see [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy/FAQ#What_will_editors_need_to_do.3F FAQ]).

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 03:11, 3 March 2018 (UTC)

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Greetings!

Here is the 6th issue of the Bots Newsletter. You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

;ARBCOM

• Nothing particular important happened. Those who care already know, those who don't know wouldn't care. The curious can dig ARBCOM archives themselves.

;BAG

• There were no changes in BAG membership since the last Bots Newsletter. Headbomb went from semi-active to active.
• In the last 3 months, only 3 BAG members have closed requests - help is needed with the backlog.

;BOTREQs and BRFAs

As of writing, we have...

• 24 active BOTREQs, please help if you can!
• 5 open BRFAs and 3 BRFAs in need of BAG attention (see live status).
• [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/Approved&oldid=853482126 54 approved bot tasks] since the start of 2018. Of note, Community Tech bot 5 (the #10 Wish on the 2017 Community Survey) was approved to notify users concerning problematic images and files from Wikimedia Commons.

Also

• If you're a bot operator that can [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy/FAQ#What_will_editors_need_to_do.3F help] with Tidy/Linter error cleanup (see discussion, discussion), please file a BRFA!
• 8 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion, discussion, discussion).

;Discussions

These are some of the discussions that happened / are still happening since the last Bots Newsletter. Many are stale, but some are still active.

• Use of tags by bots – Exploring the use of a new 'bot' tag.
• Mass page moves – Bot policy question/clarification about mass moves.
• Creation of redirects – Bot policy question/clarification about the creation of redirects.
• Guidance on disruptive use of semi–automated tools? – Related to meatbots (see also MOS discussion, which resulted in small addition to MOS:VAR).
• Discussion concerning WP:BOTFLAG/WP:RC – A reminder that bots should use the bot flag when it makes sense to use it (see also VPT discussion and [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ACreating_a_bot&type=revision&diff=853715828&oldid=852064145 CREATEBOT update]).
• Out of curiosity... (to all bot operators) – BotPasswords vs OAuth usage amongst bot operators.
• Introducing Toolhub – [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolhub Toolhub] is looking for feedback.

;New things

• {{tl|Automated tools}}, a new template linking to user-activated tools and scripts has been created. It can be used in articles previews, and can be placed on any non-mainspace page/template (e.g. {{tl|Draft article}}) to provide convenient links to editors.
• [https://sourceforge.net/p/autowikibrowser/code/12218/ AWB 5.10.0.0] is out, after nearly 20 months without updates. If you run an old version, you will be prompted to install the new version automatically. See the changelog for what's new. Note that the next version will require .NET Framework 4.5. Many thanks to Reedy and the AWB team.
• [https://tools.wmflabs.org/botwatch/ BotWatch], "a listing of editors that have made >2 edits per minute [without] a bot flag", is being developed by SQL (see discussion).
• Massive updates and improvements have been made to Citation bot in the past few months (see discussions, discussions, discussions). You can activate the bot [https://tools.wmflabs.org/citations/doibot.html here], amongst other methods.
• HTML Tidy has been [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy phased out] (see [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2018/28 Tech News #28]).
• {{tl|Newbot}} has been reorganized a bit ([https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Newbot&diff=843103357&oldid=827251051 diff]). In particular, it links to previously approved BRFAs (see discussion).
• Wikipedia:Bots#See also has been reorganized a bit ([https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bots&diff=843957541&oldid=843956859 diff]).
• The bot dictionary has two new entries, context bot and context-sensitive edit.
• The bot request header has been updated to include better guidance (see discussion).
• The subcategories of :Category:Wikipedia bot requests for approval have been sorted in a consistent manner to make past BRFAs easier to find.

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 15:04, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

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Greetings!

Here is the 7th issue of the Bots Newsletter, a lot happened since last year's newsletter! You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

;ARBCOM

• Nothing of note happened. Just like we like it.

;BAG

• Several (1 + 12 = 13) users have been retired/resigned from the BAG due to inactivity, per our new activity requirements (discussion).

BAG members are expected to be active on Wikipedia to have their finger on the pulse of the community. After two years without any bot-related activity (such as posting on bot-related pages, posting on a bot's talk page, or operating a bot), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice. Retired members can re-apply for BAG membership as normal if they wish to rejoin the BAG.

• Two BAG members retired
• {{User|Madman}} [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=891278258 retired].
• {{User|BU Rob13}} vanished and [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABot_Approvals_Group&type=revision&diff=905528110&oldid=891388521 retired].
• Three new BAG members have been voted in, welcome to the BAG!
• {{User|Primefac}} joined on 2018-12-12 (RfBAG). Primefac operates {{User|PrimeBOT}} which does a plethora of tasks.
• {{User|TheSandDoctor}} joined on 2019-01-21 (RfBAG). TheSandDoctor operates several bots including {{User|DeprecatedFixerBot}}.
• {{User|Enterprisey}} joined on 2019-08-07 (RfBAG). Enterprisey operates {{User|EnterpriseyBot}}, which does a plethora of tasks, {{User|RemindMeBot}} which posts reminders, and codes several scripts.

We thank former members for their service and wish Madman a happy retirement. We note that Madman and BU Rob13 were not inactive and could resume their BAG positions if they so wished, should their retirements happens to be temporary.

;BOTDICT

Two new entries feature in the bots dictionary

• Editor-hostile wikitext – describes wikitext structuring that is editor hostile, even if it renders correctly
• Spectrum of usefulness – describes how tasks are deemed useful or not

;BOTPOL

• Activity requirements: BAG members now have an activity requirement. The requirements are very light, one only needs to be involved in a bot-related area at some point within the last two years. For purpose of meeting these requirements, discussing a bot-related matter anywhere on Wikipedia counts, as does operating a bot (RFC).
• Copyvio flag: Bot accounts may be additionally marked by a bureaucrat upon BAG request as being in the "copyviobot" user group on Wikipedia. This flag allows using the API to add metadata to edits for use in the New pages feed (discussion). There is currently 1 bot using this functionality.
• Mass creation: The restriction on mass-creation (semi-automated or automated) was extended from articles, to all content-pages. There are subtleties, but content here broadly means whatever a reader could land on when browsing the mainspace in normal circumstances (e.g. Mainspace, Books, most Categories, Portals, ...). There is also a warning that WP:MEATBOT still applies in other areas (e.g. Redirects, Wikipedia namespace, Help, maintenance categories, ...) not explicitely covered by WP:MASSCREATION.

;BOTREQs and BRFAs

As of writing, we have...

• 20 active BOTREQs, please help if you can!
• 14 open BRFAs and 1 BRFA in need of BAG attention (see live status).
• In 2018, 96 bot task were approved. An AWB search shows approximately 29 were withdrawn/expired, and 6 were denied.
• Since the start of 2019, 97 bot task were approved. Logs show 15 were withdrawn/expired, and 15 were denied.
• 10 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion). 5 other bots have been deflagged per operator requests or similar (see discussion).

;New things

• All bot-related discussion pages now have a centralized and searchable archive box (see discussion). Discussions are searchable per noticeboard, or globally.
• {{tl|Bot}} now supports {{para|status|expired}} (see discussion). This led to the deletion of :Category:Indefinitely blocked Wikipedia bots as useless (see discussion).
• WP:BOTREQ now mentions WP:SCRIPTREQ and WP:AWBTASKS as alternatives to bot requests.
• The bot creation guide now mentions bot flags, and two new languages Awk and MATLAB. Other minor tweaks have been made.
• AAlertBot has received major code updates. In particular, WP:AALERTS will now report splits, mergers, and AFC submissions.
• Citation bot has received several updates (User talk:Citation bot/Archive 10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17). In particular, the bot stopped the automated removal of {{para|publisher}} from {{tl|cite journal}}, and stopped the automated addition of CiteSeerX links, and now uses OAuth to authenticate those who make requests of the bot.

;Other discussions

These are some of the discussions that happened / are still happening since the last Bots Newsletter. Many are stale, but some are still active.

• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 12#Adminbots requests page
• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 12#Double-redirect tagging (2019)
• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 12#Long and Winding Road to Parsoid
• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 13#Bot-like user scripts
• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 13#WP:URLREQ
• Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard/Archive 13#Wikipedia:Bots/Status
• Wikipedia talk:Bot Approvals Group#Minimum edits
• Wikipedia talk:Bot policy#Minor update to WP:BOTISSUE
• Wikipedia talk:Bot policy#Semi-automated Portal creation
• Wikipedia talk:Bot policy#Clarification on "Bots operated by multiple users"
• Wikipedia talk:Bot policy#Bots triggered by multiple users
• Wikipedia talk:Bots#How to use Special:ApiFeatureUsage

See also the latest discussions at the bot noticeboard.

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 17:24, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

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{{Image frame

| caption = BRFA activity by month

| content =

{{Graph:Chart

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| width = 200

| height = 100

| xAxisAngle = -70

| colors =

#98fb98,

#fb9898,

#9898fb,

#a0a6b0

| x = Sep 19,Oct 19,Nov 19,Dec 19

| y1 = 5,10,3,7

| y2 = 2,0,0,1

| y3 = 2,0,1,0

| y4 = 0,0,0,2

}}

}}

Welcome to the eighth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Maintainers disappeared to parts unknown... bots awakening from the slumber of æons... hundreds of thousands of short descriptions... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots.

Our last issue was in August 2019, so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. Due to the vast quantity of things that have happened, the next few issues will only cover a few months at a time. This month, we'll go from September 2019 through the end of the year. I won't bore you with further introductions — instead, I'll bore you with a newsletter about bots.

Overall

• Between September and December 2019, there were 33 BRFAs. Of these, {{yeac}} 25 were approved, and 8 were unsuccessful ({{nayd}} 3 denied, {{idkc}} 3 withdrawn, and File:Image-Symbol wait old.svg 2 expired).

September 2019

File:Frankenstein1931CliveKarloff (cropped).jpg

• {{yeac}} Monkbot 16, DannyS712 bot 60, Ahechtbot 6, PearBOT 3, Qbugbot 3 · {{nayd}} DannyS712 bot 5, PkbwcgsBot 24 · {{idkc}} DannyS712 bot 61, TheSandBot 4
• TParis goes away, UTRSBot goes kaput: Beeblebrox noted that the bot for maintaining on-wiki records of UTRS appeals stopped working a while ago. TParis, the semi-retired user who had previously run it, said they were "unlikely to return to actively editing Wikipedia", and the bot had been vanquished by trolls submitting bogus UTRS requests on behalf of real blocked users. While OAuth was a potential fix, neither maintainer had time to implement it. TParis offered to access to the UTRS WMFLabs account to any admin identified with the WMF: "I miss you guys a whole lot [...] but I've also moved on with my life. Good luck, let me know how I can help". Ultimately, SQL ended up in charge. Some progress was made, and the bot continued to work another couple months — but as of press time, UTRSBot has not edited since November 2019.
• Article-measuring contest resumed: The list of Wikipedians by article count, which had lain dead for several years, was triumphantly resurrected by GreenC following a bot request.

October 2019

• {{yeac}} OAbot 3, DannyS712 bot 47, Pathbot 2, PearBOT 2, DannyS712 bot 59, DannyS712 bot 62, HasteurBot 14, PearBOT 4, WOSlinkerBot 4, MilHistBot 5
• Curb Safe Charmer adopts reFill: TAnthony pointed out that reFill 2's bug reports were going unanswered; creator Zhaofeng Li had retired from Wikipedia, and a maintainer was needed. As of June 2021, Curb Safe Charmer had taken up the mantle, saying: "Not that I have all the skills needed but better me than nobody! 'Maintainer' might be too strong a term though. Volunteers welcome!"
  

November 2019

File:Wormhole travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA.jpg

• {{yeac}} BHGbot 4, YiFeiBot 2, DannyS712 bot III 64 · {{idkc}} PearBOT
• Old bots do new tricks: DannyS712 bot III 64 prowled redirects, YiFeiBot 2 archived GoCE requests, and BHGbot 4 removed links to portals deleted at MfD (until its authorization was revoked in January at operator BrownHairedGirl's request).

December 2019

• {{yeac}} DemonDays64 Bot, DannyS712 bot III 66, Bot1058 6, Monkbot 15, MilHistBot 6, PearBOT 5, DannyS712 bot IV 65 · {{nayd}} SportsStatsBot ·File:Image-Symbol wait old.svg Xinbenlv bot, SteveBot 8
• Redirects to be autopatrolled: A RfC took place at WP:NPP, closing with unanimous consensus that new redirects should be automatically marked as patrolled by bot. DannyS712 wasted no time, and submitted DannyS712 bot III 66 the next day; it passed two days after that.
• 200,000 bios get short descs: Along a similar vein, Bot1058 6 was approved to remove disambiguation pages from :Category:Monitored short pages and a new bot (DemonDays64 Bot) changed lots of http links to https using JavaScript Wiki Browser. One particularly neat task, PearBOT 5, automatically generated short descriptions for more than 200,000 biographies.

In the next issue of Bots Newsletter:

What's next for our intrepid band of coders, maintainers and approvers?

• What happens when two bots want to clerk the same page?
• What happens when an adminbot goes hog wild?
• Will reFill ever get fixed?
• What's up with ListeriaBot, anyway?
• Python 3.4 deprecation? In my PyWikiBot? (It's more likely than you think!)

These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the January 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out!

Signing off... jp×g 04:29, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

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{{Image frame

| caption = BRFA activity by month

| content =

{{Graph:Chart

| type = stackedarea

| width = 200

| height = 100

| xAxisAngle = -70

| colors =

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#fb9898,

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| x = Jan 20,Feb 20,Mar 20,Apr 20,May 20,Jun 20

| y1 = 3,6,12,13,14,11

| y2 = 2,1,0,1,3,1

| y3 = 0,0,0,0,1,1

| y4 = 0,0,1,1,0,0

}}

}}

Welcome to the ninth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Vicious bot-on-bot edit warring... superseded tasks... policy proposals... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots.

After a long hiatus between August 2019 and December 2021, there's quite a bit of ground to cover. Due to the vastness, I decided in December to split the coverage up into a few installments that covered six months each. Some people thought this was a good idea, since covering an entire year in a single issue would make it unmanageably large. Others thought this was stupid, since they were getting talk page messages about crap from almost three years ago. Ultimately, the question of whether each issue covers six months or a year is only relevant for a couple more of them, and then the problem will be behind us forever.

Of course, you can also look on the bright side – we are making progress, and this issue will only be about crap from almost two years ago. Today we will pick up where we left off in December, and go through the first half of 2020.

Overall

In the first half of 2020, there were 71 BRFAs. Of these, {{yeac}} 59 were approved, and 12 were unsuccessful (with {{nayd}} 8 denied, {{idkc}} 2 withdrawn, and File:Image-Symbol wait old.svg 2 expired).

January 2020

{{multiple image

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| image1=Albino Olive Python (Liasis olivaceus).jpg | alt1=A python

| image2=Albino Olive Python (Liasis olivaceus).jpg | alt2=A python

| image3=Albino Olive Python (Liasis olivaceus).jpg | alt3=A python

| image4=Albino Olive Python (Liasis olivaceus) (cropped to 40%).jpg | alt4=0.4 pythons

| footer = Yeah, you're not gonna be able to get away with this anymore.

}}

• {{yeac}} ST47Bot, Seppi333Bot, Qbugbot 4 · {{nayd}} PkbwcgsBot 25, PkbwcgsBot 26
• A new Pywikibot release dropped support for Python 3.4, and it was expected that support for Python 2.7 would be removed in coming updates. Toolforge itself planned to drop Python 2 support in 2022.
• Two new bots dropped in January 2020: ST47Bot, the successor to STBot, and Seppi333Bot, whose task was to perform a weekly update of four "massive" wikitables for WikiProject Molecular Biology.
• Cydebot, an adminbot operated by Cyde since 2006, was blocked after going berserk on categories that hadn't yet been CfD'd.

February 2020

File:Listeria monocytogenes 01.jpg

• {{yeac}} AnomieBOT 78, Cewbot 2, DannyS712 bot 67, DannyS712 bot III 63, PearBOT 6, DemonDays64 Bot 2 · {{nayd}} PearBOT
• On February 1, some concerns were raised about ListeriaBot performing "nonsense" edits. Semi-active operator Magnus Manske (who originally coded the Wikipedia:Magnus_Manske_Day of MediaWiki) was pinged. Meanwhile, the bot was temporarily [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3AListeriaBot blocked] for several hours until the issue was diagnosed and resolved.
• On February 18, ST47Bot got into a [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Cases/Overview&offset=20200219&limit=250&action=history tussle] with Amalthea (bot), and had to be partially-blocked from Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Cases/Overview.

March 2020

• {{yeac}} MajavahBot, SDZeroBot, TheSandBot 6, TheSandBot 7, Bitbotje, FACBot 6, TheSandBot 8, Qbugbot 5, Cewbot 3, SDZeroBot 2, PrimeBOT 31, WikiCleanerBot 12 ·File:Image-Symbol wait old.svg AntiCompositeBot
• In March, a long discussion was started at Wikipedia talk:Bot policy by Skdb about the troubling trend of bots "expiring" without explanation after their owners became inactive. This can happen for a variety of reasons -- API changes break code, hosting providers' software updates break code, hosting accounts lapse, software changes make bots' edits unnecessary, and policy changes make bots' edits unwanted. The most promising solution seemed to be Toolforge hosting (although it has some problems of its own, like the occasional necessity of refactoring code).
• Some of the twelve bot tasks approved this month were TheSandBot 6 (removing blocked users from :Category:Wikipedia usernames with possible policy issues), and TheSandBot 7 (removing unblocked users from :Category:Wikipedians who are indefinitely blocked for promotional user names). SDZeroBot 2 was approved to refine geographic stub tags. New bots approved this month were MajavahBot (to patrol WP:EFFPR), SDZeroBot (to merge stub tags), and Bitbotje (fixing DISPLAYTITLE modifications, DEFAULTSORT errors and broken behavior switches in draftspace).

April 2020

File:Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) shown in her laboratory in 1947.jpg

• {{yeac}} TheSandBot 9, BHGbot 5, DannyS712 bot 69, SDZeroBot 3, ST47ProxyBot, WugBot 4, SDZeroBot 4, DatBot 10, WikiCleanerBot 11, WikiCleanerBot 13, WikiCleanerBot 14, AntiCompositeBot 2, Cewbot 4 · {{nayd}} DaedanBot 1 ·File:Image-Symbol wait old.svg Creffbot
• A discussion on the bot noticeboard, "Re-examination of ListeriaBot", was started by Barkeep49, who pointed out repeated operation outside the scope of its BRFA (i.e. editing pages in mainspace, and adding non-free images to others). Some said it was doing good work, and others said it was operating beyond its remit. It was [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3AListeriaBot blocked] on April 10; the next day it was unblocked, reblocked from article space, reblocked "for specified non-editing actions", unblocked, and indeffed. The next week, several safeguards were implemented in its code by Magnus; the bot was allowed to roam free once more on April 18.
• ST47ProxyBot joined the stable in April, after a BRFA started in December was finally completed. As an adminbot, it was authorized to block IP addresses belonging to open proxies, public VPN services, and web hosts. New tasks approved for existing bots included BHGbot 5 (diffusing categories), TheSandBot 9 (taking over some tasks from the inactive RonBot), and WugBot 4 (updating data at {{tl|Interactive COVID-19 maps}}). Also, DatBot 10 was approved to scale down non-free SVGs — I didn't even know that was a thing.
• A discussion at Wikipedia talk:Bot policy was started by Thryduulf about whether WP:BOTCOMM should explicitly specify that bot operators must be responsive to concerns raised on English Wikipedia specifically (as opposed to Phabricator, SourceForge, Toolforge, et cetera). Eventually, the policy was amended to its current form:

:

Issues and enquiries are typically expected to be handled on the English Wikipedia. Pages reachable via unified login, like a talk page at Commons or at Italian Wikipedia could also be acceptable [...] External sites like Phabricator or GitHub (which require separate registration or do not allow for IP comments) and email (which can compromise anonymity) can supplement on-wiki communication, but do not replace it.

May 2020

File:Serpiente alquimica.jpg

• {{yeac}} MajavahBot 3, DannyS712 bot 70, CitationCleanerBot 5, Dreamy Jazz Bot 4, QEDKbot, William Avery Bot 2, DannyS712 bot 68, PrimeBOT 32, TheSandBot 10, Bot1058 7, BHGbot 6, EaglesBot 2, Cewbot 5, WikiCleanerBot 17 · {{nayd}} MDanielsBot, PhuzBot 3, Gedimon · {{idkc}} PearBOT 7
• MajavahBot 3, an impressively meta bot task, was approved this month for maintaining a list of bots running on the English Wikipedia. The page, located at User:MajavahBot/Bot status report, is updated every 24 hours; it contains a list of all accounts with the bot flag, as well as their operator, edit count, last activity date, last edit date, last logged action date, user groups and block status.
• Other approvals for this month were William Avery Bot 2 (processing redirects in {{tl|R from scientific name}}), DannyS712 bot 68 (allowing users to schedule bot reminders for themselves), TheSandBot 10 (removing blocked/locked users from :Category:User talk pages with conflict of interest notices), Bot1058 7 (updating Wikipedia:Requested moves/Technical requests/Permalink), Dreamy Jazz Bot 4 (adding {{WikiProject Biography|living=no}} to talk pages where their associated article is in a year of death category), and QEDKbot (deleting and nominating empty categories).
• General syntax fixing tasks were approved for DannyS712 bot 70, CitationCleanerBot 5, PrimeBOT 32, BHGbot 6, Cewbot 5, and EaglesBot 2, as well as WikiCleanerBot 15, 16, and 17.
• Seven bots who fell below activity requirements (with neither the bots nor their operators having any edits or logged actions in two years) had their bot flags removed. They were NekoBot, Robert SkyBot, DASHBotAV, VoxelBot, JackieBot, ReferenceBot, and CensusBot.
• On May 12, EmausBot was blocked.

June 2020

File:Arburg Lego.png

• {{yeac}} QEDKbot 2, AnomieBOT 79, WOSlinkerBot 6, Yapperbot 2, Yapperbot, AnomieBOT 80, Dreamy Jazz Bot 5, WikiCleanerBot 18, HasteurBot 15, MusikBot II 4, NoSandboxesHere · {{nayd}} RedWarn · {{idkc}} Seppi333Bot 2
• In July 2017, Headbomb made a proposal that a section of the Wikipedia:Dashboard be devoted to bots and technical issues. In November 2019, Lua code was written superseding Legobot's tasks on that page, and operator Legoktm was asked to stop them so that the new code could be deployed. After no response to pings, a partial-block of Legobot for the dashboard was proposed. Some months later, on June 16, Headbomb said: "A full block serves nothing. A partial block solves all current issues [...] Just fucking do it. It's been 3 years now." The next day, however, Legoktm disabled the task, and the dashboard was successfully refactored.
• On June 7, RexxS blocked Citation bot for disruptive editing, saying it was "still removing links after request to stop". A couple weeks later, a discussion on the bots noticeboard was opened, saying "it is a widely-used and useful bot, but it has one of the longest block logs for any recently-operating bot on Wikipedia". While its last BRFA approval was in 2011, its code and functionality had changed dramatically since then, and AntiCompositeNumber requested that BAG require a new BRFA. Maintainer AManWithNoPlan responded that most blocks were from years ago (when it lacked a proper test suite), and problems since then had mostly been one-off errors (like a June 2019 incident in which a LTA had "weaponized" the bot to harass editors).
• David Tornheim opened a discussion about whether bots based on closed-source code should be permitted, and proposed that they not. He cited a recent case in which a maintainer had said "I can only suppose that the code that is available on GitHub is not the actual code that was running on [the bot]". Some disagreed: Naypta said that "I like free software as much as the next person, and I strongly believe that bot operators should make their bot code public, but I don't think it should be that they must do so".
• Two new bots had their first BRFAs approved: Yapperbot, to replace Legobot for handling the Feedback Request Service, and NoSandboxesHere, to remove {{tl|user sandbox}} from articles in draftspace using :Category:Non-userspace pages using User sandbox.

Conclusion

• What's next for our intrepid band of coders, maintainers and approvers?

:*Will Citation bot ever be set free to roam the project?

:*What's the deal with all those book links that InternetArchiveBot is adding to articles?

:*Should we keep using Gerrit for MediaWiki?

:*What if we had a day for bots to make cosmetic edits?

These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the February 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out!

Signing off... jp×g 23:22, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

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