Dunderpedia:Bots

Members of the local bot user-group are able to make rapid, automated edits to a large group of pages without flooding RecentChanges & similar activity feeds.

What the bot user-group allows bots to do

• Be treated as an automated process.
• Edit semi-protected pages.
• Be exempt from welcome tool messages.
• Have their edits automatically marked as patrolled.
• Not be affected by rate limits.
• Not create redirects when moving pages.
• Not have minor edits to discussion pages trigger the new messages prompt.
• Use higher limits in API queries.
• Remove themselves from the bot user-group.

What are individual bots able to do?

This varies greatly depending on the purpose of the bot, the mechanism by which it operates, & the skill of the operator. Bots which run off of JavaScript extensions can accomplish several niche tasks & require mild skill to employ, but due to the limitations of each script, the bots may only be able to perform “blunt” actions, like removing categories, adding / removing content to the top or bottom of pages, or at higher levels, renaming pages.

Moderately advanced bot operators often make use of prebuilt Python or AWB software frameworks to perform more complex edits such as spellchecking or template alterations, & can be done more versatilely due to regex settings.

Extremely skilled bot operators may use programs written in other languages, such as C++, or they may use bot libraries (usually stored on GitHub) to accomplish long-term tasks such as programming a chat bot to function without fear of disruption over the course of years.

Why might bots be blocked?

A bot may need to be blocked in order to stop it from executing a given function, usually due to user error which causes the function to change pages in a manner that is unproductive. Such blocks are purely technical in nature & are usually rescinded once the issue is resolved.

How to get bot user rights?

Bots may be flagged & unflagged by Administrators. Requests to flag an account as a bot should be done by simply messaging an Administrator directly, who will then contact Staff to seek the authorization of the bot.

Users in this group

See: Special:ListBots

See also

• Bots