Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/DeadBot 3

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

[edit] DeadBot

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

Operator: TheFearow

Automatic or Manually Assisted: Automatic, on demand

Programming Language(s): Java

Function Summary: Monitors Special:Log/newusers and reports identified problem names to WP:UAA

Edit period(s) (e.g. Continuous, daily, one time run): On demand from the irc control panel (see User:DeadBot/irc).

Edit rate requested: 5 edits per minute

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

Function Details: It scans Special:Log/newusers, and identifies problem names based on badwords. These will be made public in a user subpage of the bot. Low edit delays etc as there are not many problem names.

[edit] Discussion

• There is already a bot, User:HBC NameWatcherBot, that does this. I don't think we need an additional bot doing the same thing, but perhaps I'm missing something? -- JLaTondre 11:49, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that bot does a similair task, however i'm working on some more intelligent features for this bot that that bot is lacking. Also, we need a backup bot for when that bot is offline, as it is rather important. I also plan to generate a few statistics that could be used to improve the bot or username policy. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 12:35, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

To be more specific, I am eventually going to add checking for website addresses, similair usernames to admins/crats/etc, and some other things that aren't done already. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 12:37, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

The MediaWiki software already checks to make sure that user names are not too similar to the names of any existing users. If that feature needs to enhanced, it'll be enhanced; IMHO, there's no need for a bot to perform that function. — Madman bum and angel (talk – desk) 20:27, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

That was one of the features - I know that Java's string manipulation is a lot more powerful than MediaWiki's. Also, I know there are backup bots for many others - why not the UAA bots?

I am also going to be doing some stastics on names etc. Lastly, I am going to use it as a reporter for my IRC monitoring. There is always a need for more of these bots, as like anti vandalism bots, all will pickup slightly different things. Mine is also a lot more customizable. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 00:09, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

• What will be used to identify the "problem names" as problematic? — xaosflux ^Talk 03:06, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
• As a backup to an existing bot, what validation will be in place to prevent duplicate bot entries? — xaosflux ^Talk 03:06, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

For validation, it scans both the bot page and the user reported page for ANY reference to the users name, and if contained it skips. Also, the following criteria will be used:

1. Names containing words in User:DeadBot/UAABadwords
2. Names very similar to users recently blocked
3. Names very similar to newly created articles
4. Names over 30 characters (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa is 30 chars)
5. Names similar to any existing admin or crat, on here and some other wmf wikis (exact matches on other wikis will be ignored) (in future).

If anyone is wondering, the current version of the code is on my IRC command script, outputting to the IRC channel. See User:DeadBot/irc. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 05:30, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

• I'm supporting this one. Yes, H's bot is useful, but this Bot seems to cover more (such as user names similar to recently blocked names; I've seen this before). Like you've said, having a backup causes no harm; if one stop working, another is still running. ~ Wikihermit 03:35, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
  • On another note, shouldn't you make a new account for this bot function, as the different task are completely different, and in theory you won't be able to run one task while the bot checks user names. Also, shouldn't this bot run continuously, not on command from IRC? ~ Wikihermit 06:43, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
    • It will use the same account, as I can have multiple tasks running at once. Also, it will run continuously, jsut the start/stop will be on IRC. Also, for a demonstration, see #deadbot on freenode. Type "!alerton rcnamewatcher" without the quotes. It notifies registered users when it identifies one, instead of reporting it itself. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 07:25, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

      Approved for trial. Have it run for a few days and see what happens. --ST47Talk 14:27, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

It's been running for a while now, a couple mishaps at the start, but nothing big. It's working well now. Matt/TheFearow (Talk) (Contribs) (Bot) 09:24, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Approved. --ST47Talk 11:40, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.