UESPWiki:Bots

This is a proposed policy. Please vote for or against it on the talk page.

Note: This page is a preliminary proposal. Provide feedback, or vote for or against it on the talk page.

What is a bot?

Bots are programs run by editors to do basic, automated or repetitive tasks on the wiki through a Bot account. These bots do not have any extra tools or powers on the wiki. The only differences between bots and normal editors is that bot's edits are hidden by default on the Recent Changes page and are automatically patrolled.

How do I get a bot to do something?

Please post any new requests on the requests page.

What should a bot do and what shouldn't a bot do?

Before going into action on the wiki, a bot must be approved by the community, then be assigned to the appropriate User Group by Daveh. Before even being considered by the community, the bot must have been thoroughly tested beforehand, either offline, or on a private website. Once the bot has been tested and no errors found, the bot owner must make sure that the bot is able to do the most standard tasks. These tasks include:

• Creation of redirects
• Updating of links
• Addition or removal of certain text to or from an article

Each bot must have basic safety functions built in. These safety functions are as follows:

• The bot will not be run during periods with heavy server traffic (Defined as noon-9pm PDT weekends and 3pm-9pm PDT weekdays).
• The bot will make at most one edit every 10 seconds.
• The bot will stop if any errors retrieving pages indicate that the server is too busy.
• No edits will ever be made to user pages, user talk pages, or template pages.
• No edits will be made by the program unless it is logged in.
• If bot's talk page is edited by anybody, the bot will stop running. It may make at most one more edit, because it may not be told about the change to the talk page until after it has posted an edit.
• The bot checks each edit to make sure there was no edit conflict. If there was, it waits one minute, re-reads the page and then tries to make the edit to the updated page (if it is still necessary).
• The bot account must have "bot" in it's name somehow, or otherwise define itself as a bot, rather than another human editor. This is simply to prevent confusion.

How do I propose a bot?

Once the owner has tested the bot, added the safety functions, and met the standards listed above, the owner may then propose the bot in the section below; Bot Proposals.

When the bot is proposed by the owner, the owner should explain in detail how the bot works and what tasks it will perform. This is to ensure that no bots accidentally begin running wild across the wiki. For a bot to be proposed, the bot owner must already be a trusted member of the community. The minimal requirements for a bot owner are:

• Absolutely no history of vandalism on the site
• Displayed knowledge of the site's Policies and Guidelines
• A minimum of 200 constructive edits to the wiki, excluding edits in userspace or in a talk namespace

Bot Proposals

Please add any bot proposals below with a reason and detailed explanation of the bot.

Active Bots

These bots are currently active on the wiki.

• HotnBOThered - run by RobinHood70
• Wabbajak - run by Jak Atackka

Inactive Bots

• NepheleBot - run by Nephele
• RoBoT - run by rpeh