Archives
2015
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
2016
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec

Bots Newsletter, December 2021

edit
Bots Newsletter, December 2021
 
BRFA activity by month

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 Of these,  Y 25 were approved, and 8 were unsuccessful ( N2 3 denied,  ? 3 withdrawn, and   2 expired).

September 2019

 
Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!
  •  Y Monkbot 16, DannyS712 bot 60, Ahechtbot 6, PearBOT 3, Qbugbot 3 ·  N2 DannyS712 bot 5, PkbwcgsBot 24 ·  ? 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

November 2019

 
Now you're thinking with portals.

December 2019

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)Reply


(You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.)

Bots Newsletter, January 2022

edit
Bots Newsletter, January 2022
 
BRFA activity by month

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,  Y 59 were approved, and 12 were unsuccessful (with  N2 8 denied,  ? 2 withdrawn, and   2 expired).

January 2020

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

February 2020

 
Speaking of WikiProject Molecular Biology, Listeria went wild in February

March 2020

April 2020

 
Listeria being examined

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

 
We heard you like bots, so we made a bot that reports the status of your bots, so now you can use bots while you use bots

June 2020

 
A partial block averted at the eleventh hour for the robot that makes Legos

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)Reply


(You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.)

The Dark Nebula

edit

Hi, I tried to place this entry on Wikipedia some years ago & was cited as plagiarising an entry on comixpedia. That listing was indeed by me so i was not copying that post but, instead, reposting on Wikipedia, unaware that was not appropriate. I am attempting to post this on Wikipedia again & would like to know what is required to be removed or altered so that it would indeed be complying with the rules. I'm 62 years of age & not as tech-savvy as i would otherwise like to be.

I should point out that comixpedia is no longer what it was. In fact, if you click on the link for Comixpedia or more specifically the entry regarding The Dark Nebula it is all an Indonesian Gaming/Gambling site, nothing to do with The Dark Nebula or Comics in any way, shape or form.

To be clear the substance of the proposed entry originated from me, including images. I hope a resolution can be reached.

I leave this in your hands.

Thank you The Dark Nebula (talk) 08:57, 22 February 2022 (UTC)Reply

Ten years later

edit

Hi Coren,

I resolved when I became an admin that I'd swing by here the first time I had a block overturned, even if you were inactive; and after 6 months and 1,421 blocks that's finally happened, sadly, so here I am. You probably don't remember me, but ten years and two usernames ago (Francophonie&Androphilie, kinda cringe name) you indeffed me and then reversed yourself after objections at AN/I. I expected I'd have something to say, when this day did come, about what I've learned from having a block overturned, but really all I can say is that it's unpleasant—both getting it wrong and being told you got it wrong—which is no great insight. But I guess I thought it might please (or at least amuse) you to know I stuck around and am an admin now; and also thought I'd take this as an opportunity to say hi and ask how you've been doing. Maybe you won't see this for a year or won't see it ever, but can't hurt to ask.

-- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 22:13, 7 November 2022 (UTC)Reply

Nomination for deletion of Template:WMFLabsIP

edit

 Template:WMFLabsIP has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:36, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Nomination for deletion of Template:Csb-day

edit

 Template:Csb-day has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:52, 10 July 2024 (UTC)Reply