User:The Transhumanist/Sandbox210

As an AWB task
This is an intermediate-level AWB task, that requires making many regexes, and multiple passes. If you don't know what the preparser feature does, read up on it, because you are going to need it. You'll also be using the list compare feature, but how that works is intuitive if you are familiar with the make list feature.

The SearchSuite user script will also be helpful.

First, you'll need a list of all the portal base pages, minus the curated portals (portals with maintainers). To make a list of portals, Portal:Contents/Portals and its talk page comprise a good enough source for the links we want. With "Make list" in AWB, use "Links on page (only bluelinks)" and key in "Portal:Contents/Portals" into the "Links on" box and click on the "Make list" button. Then key in "Portal talk:Contents/Portals" into the "Links on" box and click "Make list" again. Then click on "Filter". Check the Portal namespace box, and "remove titles containing", and type in a forward slash (/). That's to remove any subpages from the list.

Still in AWB, pull the resulting list into the first list comparer box (it gives you that option when starting List comparer. Using a wiki editor, copy the specific maintainers list into a sandbox (in your user space), and then pull the links from it into the second list comparer box. Use the filter to keep just the portal base pages (as we did above). Click "Compare".

Clear out the list in "Make list". Then click "Use list" under "Unique in List 1" in the List comparer. This will copy that list to the "Make list" list box.

Copy and paste the list in Make list to a page in your user space (using a wiki editor), so you don't have to remake this list from scratch each time you wish to use it.

Save your AWB settings using a name you can remember for this task. Like "settings - convert portal intros". This isn't all that useful for saving lists, because it also saves search/replace settings which you'll be changing and saving as you process (and shrink) the list.

So, you'll definitely want the complete list saved outside of AWB.

Some of the portals have already had their introduction sections converted. So, we want to remove those from the "Make list" list in AWB. To do this, click the "Skip" tab, click "Contains", and type "" into its input box.

The wikicode used for the introductions of existing portals wasn't standardized. Over the years, editors stylized quite a bit.

The task entails making a regex to match the one you start with, and when AWB stops because it doesn't match, make one to match that, and so on. As you go, AWB will stop less, as the number or robustness of your regexes increases.

If you know faster or easier ways to do this task, please share on the tasks talk page.