User:Ricken/SandboxPG/Bot policy
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Bot policy covers the operation of all bots and automated scripts used to provide automation of Wikipedia edits, whether completely automated, higher speed, or simply assisting human editors in their own work.
Contents
Bot usage
The community expects high standards before a bot is approved for use on designated tasks, because bots:
- are potentially capable of editing far faster than humans can; and
- have a lower level of scrutiny on each edit than a human editor; and
- may cause severe disruption if they malfunction or are misused.
Operation of unapproved bots, or use of approved bots in unapproved ways outside their conditions of operation, is prohibited and may in some cases lead to blocking of the user account and possible sanctions for the operator. Administrators blocking a user account suspected of operating an unapproved bot or an approved bot in unapproved ways should block indefinitely.
Bot accounts
Contributors should create a separate account in order to operate a bot. The account's name should identify the operator or bot function. Additionally, it should be immediately clear that its edits are made by an automated account; this is usually accomplished by including the word "Bot" at the beginning or end of the username. Bots must only edit while logged into their account. Tools not considered to be bots do not require a separate account, but some users do choose to make separate accounts for non-bot but high-speed editing.
The contributions of a bot account remain the responsibility of its operator, who must be prominently identifiable on its user page. In particular, the bot operator is responsible for the repair of any damage caused by a bot which operates incorrectly. All policies apply to a bot account in the same way as to any other user account. Bot accounts are considered legitimate alternative accounts of their operator for the purposes of Sock puppetry.
Bot accounts should not be used for contributions that do not fall within the scope of the bot's designated tasks. In particular, bot operators should not use a bot account to respond to messages related to the bot. Bot operators may wish to redirect a bot account's discussion page to their own.
Bot accounts will be marked by a bureaucrat upon approval as being in the "bot" user-group on AmtWiki. This is a flag on their account that indicates that the account is used by a bot, and reduces some of the technical limits usually imposed by the MediaWiki software. Edits by such accounts are hidden by default within recent changes.
Bot requirements
In order for a bot to be approved, its operator should demonstrate that it:
- is harmless
- is useful
- does not consume resources unnecessarily
- performs only tasks for which there is consensus
- carefully adheres to relevant policies and guidelines
- uses informative messages, appropriately worded, in any edit summaries or messages left for users
The bot account's user page should identify the bot as such. The following information should be provided on, or linked from, both the bot account's userpage and the approval request:
- Details of the bot's task (or tasks)
- Whether the bot is manually assisted or runs automatically
- When it operates (continuously, intermittently, or at specified intervals), and at what rate
Bot operators should recognize that a bot making many requests or editing at a high speed has a much greater effect than the average contributor. Operators should be careful not to make unnecessary Web requests, and be conservative in their editing speed. The urgency of a task should always be considered; tasks that do not need to be completed quickly (for example, renaming categories) can and should be accomplished at a slower rate than those that do (for example, reverting vandalism).
Bots' editing speed should be regulated in some way; subject to approval, bots doing non-urgent tasks may edit approximately once every ten seconds, while bots doing more urgent tasks may edit approximately once every five seconds. Bots in trial periods, and approved bots performing all but the most trivial or urgent tasks, should be run at a rate that permits review of their edits when necessary.
Bots that download substantial portions of AmtWiki's content by requesting many individual pages are not permitted. When such content is required, download database dumps instead.
Bot operators should take care in the design of communications, and ensure that they will be able to meet any inquiries resulting from the bot's operation cordially, promptly, and appropriately. This is a condition of operation of bots in general. At a minimum, the operator should ensure that other users will be willing and able to address any messages left in this way if they cannot be sure to do so themselves.
Restrictions on specific tasks
Context-sensitive changes
Unsupervised bot processes should not make context-sensitive changes that would normally require human attention, as accounting for all possible false positives is generally unfeasible. Examples of context-sensitive changes include, but are not limited to:
- Correcting spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes.
- Converting words from one regional variation of English to another.
- Applying context-sensitive templates.
- Changing HTML entities to Unicode characters whenever the Unicode character might be difficult to identify visually in edit-mode, per the Manual of Style.
Categorization of people
Assignment of person categories should not be made using a fully-automated bot. Before adding sensitive categories to articles by bot, the input should be manually checked article by article, rather than uploaded from an existing list.
Bot approval
The use of any automated scripts by any user must be approved by an bureaucrat. Requests can be made on any bureaucrat's talk page. Such requests should include what the script is and what you plan to do with it.
If the account requesting approval is a legitimate alternative account, they may also request to be added to the bot user group, which give special permissions and marks all edits as made by a bot. Users may not use bot accounts in ways that are beyond their intended purpose (see AmtWiki:Sock puppetry). Users who violate this policy may have their bot account blocked.
Bots with administrative rights
Adminbots must be operated by a user who is already an admin.
Administrators running unapproved experimental administrative bots (for example during the development phase) should "babysit" the bots and terminate them at the first sign of incorrect behavior. Administrators will be responsible for the behavior of robots that are allowed to run wild.
Administrators are allowed to run semi-automated tools (assisted use of administrative tools) on their own accounts but will be held responsible if those tools go awry.
If an administrator responsible for one or more adminbots is desysopped, their bots should be immediately desysopped at the same time.
Dealing with issues
If you have noticed a problem with a bot, or have a complaint or suggestion to make, you should contact the bot operator. If the bot is causing a significant problem, and you feel that more urgent discussion is necessary, you may also wish to leave a message at AmtWiki:Admin noticeboard, indicating where you have notified the bot operator.
Administrators may block bot accounts that operate without approval, operate in a manner not specified in their approval request, or operate counter to the terms of their approval or bot usage policy. A block may also be issued if a bot process operates without being logged in to an account, or is logged in to an account other than its own. The blocking admin should alert the bot operator that the bot has been blocked.
