GuildWiki:Bots

A robot or bot is an automated editing tool that can make numerous repetitive edits to articles, and can be a very useful resource to the contributors of GuildWiki. Typically, a bot consists of a script (a file with all of the instructions for the bot to follow) and a framework (a utility that is used to interface between the script and the wiki).

To request that a bot be applied to a specific task, see Bot tasks.

When to use a bot
There are many tasks on a wiki that bots are very well suited for, but there are just as many tasks for which they are not well suited. Generally, any editing task that is in any way subjective should not be handled by a bot.

These are examples of tasks that bots do well:
 * Moving an article and updating all links to point to the new article
 * Adding a specific block of text to all articles in a category
 * Finding all uses of a template and subst:ituting them

These are examples of tasks that bots should not perform:
 * General spellchecking
 * Applying license information to unattributed images
 * {can't think of a third example, grrr... ><}

If you are not sure which category your idea for a bot task falls into, post it at Bot tasks to get other users' input.

Restrictions
When using any tool in a way that can submit edits without real-time human input, these should be followed (even if the tool is generally not labeled as a "bot"):
 * It should be run from its own registered account (separate from any account normally used directly by its operator). There must be a notice at the top of the bot's userpage informing users that it is a bot.
 * The operator must be a contributor in good standing.
 * Bots should only be used for non-controversial or consensus-approved editing tasks. Do not have a bot do edits that have not been approved by the community of GuildWiki.
 * Corollary: bots are not a tool to get an advantage over other editors in a conflict and if a bot is used in this way, the operator and bot should be blocked.
 * An operator should not make more than 20 edits per day with unflagged bot accounts, for this may flood recent changes. To bypass this limit, one can get a bot flag for the account (see the following section).

Bot flag
Bot accounts can be marked with a bot flag, which prevents their edits from showing up on (and possibly flooding) the default view of Special:Recentchanges. To get this flag, make a clear request on the admin noticeboard after having made at least 100 edits in unflagged mode, being sure to abide by the restrictions above. It is then up to the discretion of any bureaucrat to decide whether they will accept or reject the request (or ask for more edits to be made first, etc). Any bureaucrat can also opt to remove the flag from an account if judged appropriate.

Due to the Wikia move, bureaucrats must contact a Wikia staff member to perform the actual bot flagging/deflagging.

Bots
The currently flagged bot accounts on the English GuildWiki are:
 * User:Bot_ishmael (Contributions) owned by User:Dr_ishmael
 * User:Fyrenbot (Contributions) owned by User:Fyren
 * User:Galil.bot (Contributions) owned by User:Galil (last run September 2006)
 * User:JediBot (Contributions) owned by User:JediRogue
 * User:MayBot (Contributions) owned by User:Warwick
 * User:RT_bot (Contributions) owned by User:Randomtime

For a system generated list of flagged bot accounts see Special:Listusers/bot

Responsibility
If, despite precautions, a bot account is found to have made harmful edits, then it is the responsibility of the bot operator to repair the damage, even if it requires large amounts of manual editing to do so. There is, of course, no reason that help cannot be asked for or offered.

Shutdown
Bots can be programmed to automatically shut down after any user posts anything in the bot account's talk page. All operators must enable this safety trigger.

If a bot account is making bad edits or not following the restrictions, sysops or bureaucrats are free to temporarily block it in order to halt the activity. When doing so, the autoblock option should generally be turned off to avoid blocking the bot operator as well.

Operators must add the following code to a bot account's user page to create a quick link to block a bot account (this can help avoid autoblocking mistakes):