Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/AMABot

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The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

[edit] AMABot

tasks • contribs • count • sul • logs • page moves • block user • block log • flag log • flag bot

Operator: Martinp23

Automatic or Manually Assisted: Automatic

Programming Language(s): C#, using Query API and Dotnetwikibot framework

Function Summary: Edits a subpage of the WP:AMA alerts page to reflect the number of cases currently waiting in the alert. This is to avoid the frequently incorrect and outdated information often found there.

Edit period(s) (e.g. Continuous, daily, one time run): Continuous

Edit rate requested: Maximum of 1 edits per 5 minutes (though that won't happen in the forseeable future - more like 2 edits per 10 or so hours, all depending on AMA activity.

Already has a bot flag (Y/N):N

Function Details: The program uses the Query API to find a list of items in Category:AMA_Requests_for_Assistance, which is where all new AMA cases go, before being assigned to an advocate or (rarely) declined. Then, the program extracts the list into an array and sends the list to an IRC channel, and obtains a count of the number of items in the array, before posting that to a subpage of Wikipedia:AMA Alerts/content, called /num. This subpage is transcluded onto the content page and so updates the number of cases left dynamically, without any problems from outdatedness - a commonly found flaw in the current system. The bot checks the category every five minutes, and only edits the page if the count has changed from its current level. Up to now, the bot has been running only in my sandbox: User:Martinp23/sandbox, editting User:Martinp23/sandbox/num. Hopefully this will give you a further idea of what the bot does. It has a very low edit rate at the moment, though if the case volume at the AMA increases (and so the number of changes to the the number), the rate may increase, though not hugely. If I get approval, the bot will be changed to edit the wikipedia space, and the /num subpage will be created there. Thanks for reading

[edit] Discussion

This looks pretty simple, go ahead and set up the wikipedia pages, and run a short trial. Before full approvals and production, please include a link here to a discussion link on the AMA project page either announcing, or even better supporting, this request. — xaosflux ^Talk 00:45, 26 September 2006 (UTC) (Approved for TRIALS).

Martinp23 isn't on right now, but I can tell you that he asked the cordinator (The Thadman) on his talk page here. If you feel that the bot should have the full AMA approval, I'll ask Steve to set up a meeting for it. -Royalguard11(Talk·Desk) 01:45, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

It's running now - for about 15/16 hours - if this an appropriate time span, or should I repeat it again on other days (my server which would run it 24/7 got struck by lightning, so right now it's running on my dev. pc. Thanks M a rtinp23 06:24, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Because of the server problem, its unlikely that the bot will be running much until I can either get a new NIC or otherwise fix it. I'll try to have it online for most of tommorow (GMT) - but it depends on if my development PC can stay online for long enough. M a rtinp23 20:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

UPDATE - I've been running the bot for the since Monday (properly) - I say properly as it's previous testing was distrupted by lightning etc... For demonstration purposes, here are a couple of diffs ([1] and [2].) Would it be desirable for me to change the edit summary to something refering to the fact the user is a bot? Thanks M a rtinp23 17:57, 5 October 2006 (UTC)