Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/MadmanBot 15


 * The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at WT:BRFA. The result of the discussion was Symbol keep vote.svg Approved

MadmanBot
Operator:

Time filed: 21:16, Tuesday April 10, 2012 (UTC)

Automatic, Supervised, or Manual: Automatic.

Programming language(s): PHP.

Source code available: Not at the moment.

Function overview: E-mail activation codes to contributors who signed up for free 1-year HighBeam Research accounts.

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate): User talk:Madman

Edit period(s): One-time run.

Estimated number of pages affected: ~400.

Exclusion compliant (Yes/No): Not applicable.

Already has a bot flag (Yes/No): Yes.

Function details: Completely straightforward; will e-mail activation codes to contributors who signed up for free 1-year HighBeam Research accounts. The activation codes are unique, so they should not be posted to public talk pages. By signing up for these accounts, I believe all contributors have opted in, but I'd be happy to entertain arguments to the contrary.

Discussion
I'm inclined to speedy this, but there's no rush at this point.

How will you be harvesting the usernames in such a way as to assure yourself that they volunteered themselves (reiterating that emailing is considered... outside of normally accepted channels, and that botops take full responsibility for the actions of their bots)?

Do you have any plans for marrying up activation codes to usernames? If not, how will you prevent double use of activation codes in event of system failure mid-run? Josh Parris 22:12, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi, I'm overseeing the HighBeam account process, so I can try and answer the non-technical questions. My aim is for having accounts distributed by April 16th (Monday); that's my deadline, not yours, however, so I will defer to whatever process is typical here.  The usernames were gathered directly from the account application page (WP:HighBeam/Applications), where users opted- in to receive an account and were notified that their Wikipedia email had to be enabled in order to do so.  The approved list of editors is here: WP:HighBeam/Approved.  Thanks for considering this on short notice. Ocaasit &#124; c 23:56, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I've retrieved each username from the page Ocaasi mentioned and mapped each username to one of the 1005 activation codes available. Once the task gets an e-mail confirmation from the MediaWiki API, that user cannot be e-mailed again. I hope not to be affected by system failure on the Toolserver, but I do try to write my tasks to take advantage of the possibility of migration between nodes. &mdash; madman 02:43, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * As the op is experienced with the task of emailing users, and seems to have covered xis bases, let's trial. Five emails, including the BAG members who have signed up:
 * MBisanz
 * Josh_Parris
 * Josh Parris 07:28, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * . Sent to MBisanz, Madman, Josh Parris, Ocaasi (just for the purposes of testing), and first user on list, Hgrosser. Got copies of all messages and they were all correct; also tested restart functionality. &mdash; madman 15:19, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I properly received the email.  MBisanz  talk 15:46, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * As did I. BTW, are we going to recycle the codes that were sent out in the trial? Ocaasit &#124; c 19:01, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * No one who was e-mailed in the trial will be e-mailed again. I planned to recycle the code sent to you since I assume you don't need it, but I could be wrong. &mdash; madman 19:18, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * No, I don't need my code. Great work. Ocaasit &#124; c 23:07, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The cabal has colluded off-wiki and confirmed distinct activation codes are being sent out. The cabal complains that your URLs are borked because you're butting them up against punctuation.  Will fix? Josh Parris 23:00, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Madman, is there a way to see, know, or track which codes have been sent out? I'd like to update the code spreadsheet (manually is fine) so that we have a record for future applicants.  Otherwise, I think we're in great shape. Ocaasit &#124; c 23:09, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Josh Parris: Sure, will fix; I'll modify Ocaasi's template to accommodate mail clients breaking them in that way (the e-mail's just in plain text so it's up to the mail client what's parsed as a URL). Ocaasi: Yes; the code already tracks what user/code combinations have been sent out so they're not sent out again. I'll think of the best way to provide this to you for updating Google Docs. &mdash; madman 05:32, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Very well. Josh Parris 07:35, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at WT:BRFA.