Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Polbot 9

{{Newbot|Polbot|9}}

Operator: – Quadell ^(talk)

Automatic or Manually Assisted: Automatic, then manually checked retroactively

Programming Language: Perl, with perlwikipedia

Function Summary: Changes to category sorting for time periods

Edit period: one-time run

Already has a bot flag: Yup.

Function Details: For articles and subcategories under time-period categories, this bot would change the piped sort order for clarity and accuracy. Details are spelled out pretty thoroughly at Wikipedia:Bot requests#Automatic time period category sorting (update). Examples of changes this bot would make:

1. If the category page for :Category:1st century deaths contains "Category:1st century", this bot would change it to "Deaths".
2. If the 1880s article contains "Category:1880s", this bot would change it to " " (with a space as the sort key).
3. If :Category:1925 in aviation contains "Category:1925", this bot would change it to "Aviation".

It will not change any categorization that is provided by templates such as {{tl|DeathsInCentury}} or {{tl|milhistyearcat}}.

• This is based on a bot request by User:Arthur Rubin, who asked for feedback at Wikipedia:WikiProject Years and got no objections. This requests does seem to be in line with the guidelines at Wikipedia:Categorization. – Quadell ^(talk) 12:55, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

{{tl|BAGAssistanceNeeded}} Hey there, fellow BAGgers. It's been a week now. What say thee? – Quadell ^(talk) 10:56, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

{{BotTrial|edits=3}} -- Tawker (talk) 20:01, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

:You're evil, Tawker. – Quadell ^(talk) 20:18, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

{{BotTrial|edits=0.1}} now thats evil -- Tawker (talk) 00:17, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I made three edits.

1. Change to a year-related category: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:1970_archaeological_discoveries&diff=prev&oldid=230530837]
2. Change to a decade article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=10s&diff=prev&oldid=230530977]
3. Change to a century-related category: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:4th_century_Christian_church_councils&diff=prev&oldid=230530666]

The 0.1 trial was concurrent. It covered a tenth of the decade-article change. 30px – Quadell ^(talk) 02:32, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

{{BotTrial|edits=.080808}} - I think its looking sound but one more trial might be good -- Tawker (talk) 18:11, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Rounding up, here's another edit: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/polbot]. This one has a subtle difference, in that it changes the sortkey to a "[time period] in [subject]" category, rather than to a "[time period]" category. – Quadell ^(talk) 19:16, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

:(You mean, [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1971_in_film&diff=prev&oldid=230668780 here] for that last one?) Looks fine, so far. I was hoping it would keep a separate log file (doubling the number of edits :( ), but it seems very likely that "undo" would work on each edit if a family of edits turns out wrong. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 21:09, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

::I'll change the code to include a logfile. By the way, the sourcecode is at User:Polbot/source/Time sorting.pl. – Quadell ^(talk) 21:57, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

:::Okay, it produces a logfile now at User:Polbot/time_sorting_log. The source code has been updated to show this. – Quadell ^(talk) 23:09, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

::::I didn't intend a requirement that the year be past, or that the year be "AD". Otherwise, it's fine, as far as I can tell. I haven't learned Perl yet.... — Arthur Rubin (talk) 23:16, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

{{BotApproved}} - all seems well. Tagged and done. -- Tawker (talk) 16:11, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

: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.