Wikipedia:Bots

A bot (a common nickname for software robot) is an automated tool that carries out repetitive and mundane tasks to maintain the 55,372,039 pages of the ... Wikipedia:Bots FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia Jumptonavigation Jumptosearch AutomatedprogramsonWikipedia "WP:B"redirectshere.Forotheruses,seeWikipedia:Bureaucrats,Wikipedia:Blockingpolicy,Wikipedia:Wikipediaisnotabureaucracy,Wikipedia:Bebold,Wikipedia:Backlog,andWikipedia:Contentassessment/B-Classcriteria. "WP:BOT"redirectshere.Forotheruses,seeWikipedia:Botpolicy,WikiProjectBritishOverseasTerritories,andWikipedia:WikimediaFoundation§ BoardofTrustees. Wikipediaprograms Bots Extensions Gadgets Userscripts List Ranking Requests Guide Otherscripts Tools Overview Dictionary Botpolicy BotApprovalsGroup Guide Noticeboard Newsletter BotRequests RequestsforApproval Adminbots {{BAGTools}} CreatingaBot Listofbots Botstatusreport Botactivitymonitor WikipediainformationpageThisisaninformationpage.ItisnotoneofWikipedia'spoliciesorguidelines,butratherintendstodescribesomeaspect(s)ofWikipedia'snorms,customs,technicalities,orpractices.Itmayreflectvaryinglevelsofconsensusandvetting.ShortcutsWP:BOTWP:BOTS Thispageinanutshell:OnWikipedia,botsarecomputer-controlleduseraccountsperformingvarioustasksinordertomaintaintheencyclopedia.Botsareusedformanypurposes,forinstanceremovingobviousvandalismandarchivingtalkpages.Allbotsmustbeapprovedbyaspecialgroupbeforetheyareputintouse. Aphysicalrobot(right) Abot(acommonnicknameforsoftwarerobot)isanautomatedtoolthatcarriesoutrepetitiveandmundanetaskstomaintainthe55,372,609pagesoftheEnglishWikipedia.Botsareabletomakeeditsveryrapidly,butcandisruptWikipediaiftheyareincorrectlydesignedoroperated.Forthesereasons,abotpolicyhasbeendeveloped. Therearecurrently2,574bottasksapprovedforuseontheEnglishWikipedia;however,notallapprovedtasksinvolveactivelycarryingoutedits.Botswillleavemessagesonusertalkpagesiftheactionthatthebothascarriedoutisofinteresttothateditor.Somebotscanbeexcludedfromleavingthesemessagesbyusingthe{{bots}}tags.Thereare201exclusion-compliantbots,whicharelistedinthiscategory.Thereare312botsflaggedwiththe"bot"flagrightnow(andover400formerbots).Thereisalsoarangeoftoolsthatallowsemi-automatededitingoflargenumbersofarticles. Contents 1History 2Botpolicy 3BotApprovalsGroup 4Howtocreateabot 5Dealingwithbotissues 6Howtohideaspecificbotfromyourwatchlist 7HowtohideAWBeditsfromyourwatchlist 8Howtostopspecificbotsfromeditingthearticle 9Examples 10Seealso History Mainpage:Wikipedia:HistoryofWikipediabots BotshavebeenusedinthepasttocreatelargenumbersofarticlesthatwereuploadedtoWikipediawithinashorttimeframe.Sometechnicalproblemswereexperiencedandthisledtotheformulationofabotpolicy,aswellasarestrictionontheautomated,large-scale,creationofarticles. Botpolicy Mainpage:Wikipedia:Botpolicy Wikipediapolicyrequiresthatbotsbeharmlessanduseful,haveapproval,useseparateuseraccounts,andbeoperatedresponsibly. BotApprovalsGroup Mainpage:Wikipedia:BotApprovalsGroup TheBotApprovalsGroup(BAG)supervisesandapprovesallbot-relatedactivityfromatechnicalandquality-controlperspectiveonbehalfoftheEnglishWikipediacommunity.OntheEnglishWikipedia,therighttoflagabotislimitedtobureaucrats. Runninganautomatedbotonaseparateaccountrequiresapproval,whichmayberequestedatWikipedia:Bots/Requestsforapproval. Howtocreateabot Mainpage:Help:Creatingabot Someprogrammingexperiencegenerallyisneededtocreateabot,andknowledgeofregularexpressionsisusefulformanyeditingtasks.However,someofthemoreuser-friendlytools,suchasAutoWikiBrowserorJavaScriptWikiBrowser,canbeusedforsometasks. TheChickenScheme,CommonLisp,Haskell,Java,Microsoft.NET,Perl,PHP,Python,andRubyprogramminglanguagesallhavelibrariesavailableforcreatingbots.PywikibotisacommonlyusedPythonpackagedevelopedspecificallyforcreatingMediaWikibots. Dealingwithbotissues Mainpage:Wikipedia:Botpolicy§ Dealingwithissues Ifyouhavenoticedaproblemwithabot,haveacomplaint,orhaveasuggestiontomake,youshouldcontactthebotoperatordirectlyviatheirusertalkpage(orviathebotaccount'stalkpage).Botoperatorsareexpectedtoberesponsivetothecommunity'sconcernsandsuggestions,butpleaseassumegoodfaithanddon'tpanic.Bugsandmistakeshappen,andwe'reallheretobuildanencyclopedia. Ifthebotiscausingasignificantproblem,orthebotoperatorhasnotrespondedandthebotisstillcausingissues,severalmechanismsareavailabletopreventfurtherdisruption.Manybotsprovideastopbuttonormeanstodisabletheproblematictaskontheirbotuserpage.Thisshouldbetriedfirst,followedbyadiscussionoftheissuewiththebotoperator.Ifnosuchmechanismisavailable(orifurgentactionisneeded),leaveamessageattheadministrators'noticeboardrequestingablockforamalfunctioningbot.Perthenoticeboard'sguideline,youarerequiredtonotifythebotoperatorofthediscussiontakingplaceatthenoticeboard. Ifyouareconcernedthatabotisoperatingoutsidetheestablishedconsensusforitstask,discusstheissuewiththebotoperatorfirst,ortryotherformsofdisputeresolution(BAGmemberscanactasneutralmediatorsonsuchmatters).Ifyouareconcernedthatabotnolongerhasconsensusforitstask,youmayformallyappealoraskforre-examinationofabot'sapproval. Howtohideaspecificbotfromyourwatchlist ShortcutsWP:HIDEBOTWP:HIDEBOTS Whileitiseasytohideallbotsfromyourwatchlist,thereisnowayofhidingspecificbotsthroughuserpreferencesordefaultwatchlistsettings.However,itispossiblewithauserscriptbyfollowingthesesteps. Mainsteps GotoyourSpecial:MyPage/common.jspage(oryourSpecial:MyPage/skin.js),andaddthefollowingline(diff): importScript('User:UncleDouggie/smart_watchlist.js');//Backlink:[[User:UncleDouggie/smart_watchlist]] GotoSpecial:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rc,checkboththe'Groupchangesbypageinrecentchangesandwatchlist'and'Usenon-JavaScriptinterface'boxes,andclick'Save'. Remembertobypassyourbrowser'scache. Gotoyourwatchlist.Thereshouldbeaboxwithseveraloptions.Tickthe'Enablehideuserbuttons'box.Thiswillletyouhidespecificbots(andusers)fromyourwatchlist. Note:Youmightwanttountickthe'Enablehideuserbuttons'boxafteryouignoreabottoensurethatyoudon'taccidentallyclick'hideuser'whenbrowsingyourwatchlist. Optionalsteps Ifyoufindthe'Enablehideuserbuttons'boxannoying,gotoyourSpecial:MyPage/common.csspage(orSpecial:MyPage/skin.css)andaddthefollowingline(diff): #SmartWatchlistOptions{display:none!important;} Remembertobypassyourbrowser'scache. Ifyouwanttoshowtheboxagain,forexampletoresetyourignorelist,gotoyourSpecial:MyPage/common.csspageandremovethelineyouaddedinoptionalstep#1(rememberingtoagainbypassyourbrowser'scache).Redoingoptionalsteps#1and#2willhidetheboxagain. Whileyouarecompletelyfreetoignoreanybots(orusers)youwant,itisagoodideatoonlyignorebotswithwell-definedtasks,whichyoutrusttonotmakeanymistakes. HowtohideAWBeditsfromyourwatchlist ShortcutWP:HIDEAWB ThereisnowayofhidingAutoWikiBrowser(AWB)editsthroughuserpreferencesordefaultwatchlistsettings.However,itispossiblewithauserscriptbyfollowingthesesteps: Steps GotoyourSpecial:MyPage/common.jspage(oryourSpecial:MyPage/skin.js),andaddthefollowingtwolines(diff): importScript('User:Evad37/Watchlist-hideAWB.js');//Backlink:[[User:Evad37/Watchlist-hideAWB]] varawbHiddenByDefault=true; Bypassyourbrowser'scache. Anyeditwith"AWB"initseditsummarywillnowdefaulttohiddenforyou.Youmayrevealthembyclickingonthe"showAWB"tabatthetopofyourwatchlist(nextto"Specialpage"forMonobookskin,orinthe"More"dropdownforVectorskin). Notes: IfyouleaveoutvarawbHiddenByDefault=true;,AWBeditswillbeshownbydefault,butyouwillhavetheoptionofhidingAWBeditsbyclickingonthe"hideAWB"tabatthetopofyourwatchlist. WhileyouarecompletelyfreetoignoreAWBedits,rememberthatmanyofthemwillcontainsubstantialchangesfromhumaneditors,notjustminoreditsfrombotsormeatbots. Whenhidingeditswithascript,earliereditscanbeforcedtoappear.UsingtheExpandwatchlisttoshowallchanges,notjustthemostrecentpreferenceoptionisnecessarytoseeothernon-hiddenwatchlisthitsforapage. Howtostopspecificbotsfromeditingthearticle Mainpage:Template:Bots It'srarethatamainspacearticleneedstonotbeeditedbyaspecificbot.Noarticleneedstostopallbotsfromediting,sinceantivandalbotssuchasClueBotNGneedtobeabletoeditallmainspacearticles.Thetemplate{{bots}}canstopabotfromeditinganarticleundertherarecircumstanceit'sneeded. Examples Someexamplesofbotsare: User:AAlertBot–deliveringarticlealertstoWikiProjectsaboutongoingdiscussions. User:AnomieBOT–largevarietyoftasks,mostwellknownforaddingdatestoamboxes. User:ClueBotNG–revertspossiblevandalism. User:Citationbot–AddsPMIDs,ISBNs,etctopages. User:CommonsDelinker–removeslinkstofilesdeletedatWikimediaCommonsduetopolicyinfractions. User:DatBot–patrolstheeditfiltersandresizesnon-freeimages. User:DumbBOT–oftenremovesprotectiontemplatesfromrecentlyunprotectedpages. User:InternetArchiveBot–retrievesarchivedcopiesofdeadlinks. User:ListeriaBot–ExperimentalbotbyMagnusManske.ItgeneratesandupdateslistsonWikipedia. User:LowercasesigmabotIII–archivestalkpages. User:ST47ProxyBot–automaticallyblocksproxiesduetothelocalpolicyagainstopenproxies. User:SineBot–signscommentsleftontalkpages. User:WP1.0bot–workswiththeVersion1.0EditorialTeam. Seealso Articles Internetbot Wikipediabots Categories Wikipediabots Wikipediabotrequestsforapproval Meta meta:bot meta:Botpolicy meta:CountervandalismNetwork/Bots Barnstar {{TheBotCreatorBarnstar|putyourmessagehere.~~~~}}–Awardedtoaneditorforcreatingabot. {{Botoperator'sbarnstar|putyourmessagehere.~~~~}}–Botoperator'sbarnstar,Codersneedlovetoo. Userboxandtopicon {{Userbotowner}}–auserboxtemplatetoindicateyouownandrunabot. {{Bottopicon}}–atopicontemplatetoindicateyouhaveownandrunabot–addsacategorytopageautomatically. vteAutomatedandsemi-automatededitingtools AfChelperscript AutoWikiBrowser Bots Creating HotCat Huggle Navigationpopups RedWarn Twinkle Userscripts WPCleaner Inactive igloo STiki vteWikipediatechnicalhelpGetpersonaltechnicalhelpattheTeahouse,Helpdesk,Villagepump(technical),talkpagesorIRC.Generaltechnicalhelp Browsernotes Bypasscache Keyboardshortcuts Editing CharInsert Editconflict Edittoolbar Reverting Howtocreateapage IRC Tutorial Mobileaccess Multilingualsupport Pagehistory Pageinformation Pagename Help Printing Softwarenotices Editnotice SpecialCharacters Entering Useraccesslevels VisualEditor Userguide Specialpage-related Specialpagehelp Editfilter Emailingusers Loggingin Resetpasswords Logs Movingapage Fixingcut-and-pastemoves Non-adminandadmin-onlypagemoves Notifications/Echo FAQ PageCuration Pageimport Pendingchanges Randompages Recentchanges Relatedchanges Searching Linksearch Tags Usercontributions Watchlist Whatlinkshere Wikitext Wikitext Cheatsheet Columns Line-breakhandling Lists Magicwords Forbeginners Conditionalexpressions Switchparserfunction Timefunction Redirects SectionsandTOCs Tables Introduction Basics Advancedtableformatting Collapsing Conditionaltables Sorting Usingcolours Linksanddiffs Links Interlanguage Interwiki Permanent Diffs Simplestdiffguide Simplediffandlinkguide Completediffandlinkguide Colontrick Linkcolor Pipetrick URLs Mediafiles:images,videosandsounds Mediahelp Files Creationandusage MovingfilestoCommons Images Introductiontoimages Picturetutorial Preparingimagesforupload Uploadingimages Optionstohideanimage Extendedimagesyntax SVGhelp Gallerytag Graphicstutorials Basicbitmapimageediting Howtoimproveimagequality GraphicsLabresources Soundfilemarkup Visualfilemarkup Othergraphics Familytrees Graphsandcharts Howtocreate Barcharts Toscalecharts Mathformulas 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Browsertools Editingtools Navigationshortcuts Optimumtoolset WikimediaCloudServices BetaFeaturesatMediaWiki Automatedediting AfChelperscript AutoWikiBrowser Bots Creating HotCat Huggle Navigationpopups RedWarn Twinkle WPCleaner Inactive igloo STiki Seealso:Category:Wikipediahow-to Category:WikipediainformationpagesFurthernavigationat:Helppages Administrators Accessibility Accounts Bots Referencing Citationmetadata Templates Userscripts Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Bots&oldid=1072710774" Categories:WikipediainformationpagesWikipediabotsWikipediauseraccesslevelsHiddencategories:ProjectpageswithshortdescriptionWikipediasemi-protectedprojectpagesWikipediamove-protectedprojectpages Navigationmenu Personaltools NotloggedinTalkContributionsCreateaccountLogin Namespaces ProjectpageTalk English expanded collapsed Views ReadViewsourceViewhistory More expanded collapsed Search Navigation MainpageContentsCurrenteventsRandomarticleAboutWikipediaContactusDonate 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