Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Theo's Little Bot 2

{{Newbot|Theo's Little Bot|2}}

Operator: {{botop|Theopolisme}}

Time filed: 00:00, Tuesday April 2, 2013 (UTC)

Automatic, Supervised, or Manual: Automatic

Programming language(s): Python + mwclient

Source code available: [https://github.com/theopolisme/theobot/blob/master/MissingDescriptionNotifier/desc_notifier.py github]

Function overview: Substitutes {{tl|Add-desc-I}} onto talk pages of file uploaders whose file(s) have been tagged with {{tl|Missing description}} or one of the redirects to it.

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate): Requested at Wikipedia:Bot_requests#A_Bot_to_notify_uploaders_about_missing_descriptions

Edit period(s): Continuous/daily-ish, depending on Toolserver delays and such

Estimated number of pages affected: Unknown...large batch with initial run, probably significantly fewer in subsequent ones

Exclusion compliant (Yes/No): Yes

Already has a bot flag (Yes/No): Yes

Function details: The bot goes through every file in :Category:Wikipedia files lacking a description: first it gets the initial uploader for the file, and then if the template has not already been delivered to the user, substitutes {{tl|Add-desc-I}} to their talk page adds that file to a list of files uploaded by that user that lack a description. Once it has a complete list of uploads for a certain user, it substitutes {{tl|Add-desc-I}} (with each of the files in question as an additional parameter) onto their talk page (provided that the user hasn't already been notified in the past 3 days AND that the template isn't currently present on the page).

• Oppose He stole my task. :p It's still April Fools over here.—cyberpower ^Chat_Online 00:56, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:*WP:NOTAVOTE, buster. ;) —Theopolisme (talk) 01:00, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

• Seriously though, how often will it notify the initial uploader, and how frequently?—cyberpower ^Chat_Online 00:57, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:*I've set it to leave a message on the uploader's talk whenever the is not present on their page, although I could also add in some sort of timed delay, if you think that makes sense. I didn't really think it was necessary, initially.. —Theopolisme (talk) 01:00, 2 April 2013 (UTC

:*:I think a timed delay is necessary. What if the bot adds a notification and the user removes it. The bot would re-add it immediately. I think it should count three days from posting before considering posting there again.—cyberpower ^Chat_Online 01:16, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:*::What happens if a user has uploaded multiple files without descriptions? Is the user notified about all of them or only about the first one? --Stefan2 (talk) 01:17, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:*:::It notifies the user about only the first one...but, per Cyber's recommendation, I'm going to add a 3 day time delay function as well. —Theopolisme (talk) 01:23, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:*::::Stefan2 brought up another concern that shoved toward the back of my head temporarily. It would be advisable to generate a notification for each user individual and compile a list of Files in one message so they are alerted about all of them in a single message.—cyberpower ^Chat_Online 01:26, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

:It would be great if it could compile a list of files, but if that's too complex, a bunch of messages, one for each, would be ok. MBisanz ^talk 22:03, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

::Compiling a list of files is a small pain, but it's definitely doable. Give me a day or two to finalize the code (I'll just need to make a dictionary, basically...all it requires is time). Thanks for bearing with me here. —Theopolisme (talk) 01:24, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

:::{{done}} coding...that was quick and painless. :) Can I get the okay for a trial? —Theopolisme (talk) 22:43, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

{{BotTrial|edits=50}} MBisanz ^talk 22:53, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

:{{BotTrialComplete}} See edits listed [http://toolserver.org/~snottywong/cgi-bin/commentsearch.cgi?name=Theo%27s+Little+Bot&search=Notifying+user+about+missing+file+description%28s%29&max=46&server=enwiki&ns=none here]. Note that one or two users were notified about the same files more than once because the bot had to be restarted midway through. Thanks! —Theopolisme (talk) 02:37, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

• When the bot made its first few edits, it removed everything from the user talk page and added this comment in its place ({{diff|User talk:Alex756|548752001|526246070|example}}). The later edits look good, so I assume that the bug was fixed. Before actually editing a page, you might wish to make a test run during which the bot only prints the wikicode or the difference to the screen instead of actually changing a page. That may help avoiding bugs like this. --Stefan2 (talk) 15:07, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

:* Yep, the bug was quickly corrected and the said offending edits were reverted by me. —Theopolisme² (talk) 20:26, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

:*:Why aren't you using section = new in the edit function? That would avoid such problems.—cyberpower ^Chat_Online 01:53, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

:::: Done [https://github.com/theopolisme/theobot/commit/edc1c75594f7d523a1a6d5402fc2ad65837cd5f0 here]. —Theopolisme (talk) 00:37, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

:{{BotApproved}} MBisanz ^talk 01:44, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

:The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at WT:BRFA.