Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Qwerfjkl (bot) 7


 * The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at Bots/Noticeboard. The result of the discussion was

Qwerfjkl (bot) 7
Operator:

Time filed: 10:49, Friday, February 11, 2022 (UTC)

Automatic, Supervised, or Manual: automatic

Programming language(s): JavaScript

Source code available: User:Qwerfjkl (bot)/code/7

Function overview: Replace useless list short descriptions (e.g. 'wikipedia list article ') with "None"

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate): Wikipedia talk:Short description

Edit period(s): One time run, with additional runs if necessary

Estimated number of pages affected: <100,000

Exclusion compliant (Yes/No): No

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

Function details: The bot will replace the short descriptions "list", "list article", "wikipedia list article", and "wikimedia list article" with "None" per WP:SDNONE. It will also perform minor clean-up described at Bots/Requests for approval/Qwerfjkl (bot) 6.

Discussion
So I get the point of this bot request, clearly "List of things that a subject has done in some context" does not need a short description. However, I am concerned that "Wikipedia list article" could be used to describe a list where the title is not as clearly spelled-out. On the other hand, it is likely that such lists are few and far between, and any "bad" changes can be sussed out afterward.

For example, World War II casualties has a shordesc of "Wikipedia list article", but I would argue that in this case it is not clear just from the article title what the article is actually about - having essentially "this is a list" in the shortdesc means the viewer knows it's not a full-on article describing casualties of WWII, but rather just listing them. Is there a vague idea and/or guess as to what percentage of pages-to-be-changed this will affect? Primefac (talk) 13:53, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * @Primefac: %. Compare (2904) with  (64629). The actual rate will probably be lower - some titles may have a descriptive enough title and not include 'list'. 'List', at least, would be a better short description than 'Wiki?edia list article', though I'm not very familiar with short descriptions. @Jonesey95. &#8213;  Qwerfjkl  talk  14:41, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * If it's reasonable, I'd then like to restrict the bot to only "List of..." articles, at least as a first pass (and assuming it gets approved), to avoid the possible CONTEXT issues. Primefac (talk) 14:59, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I think restricting the bot's operation to articles containing the string "list of" is probably wise for a first pass. Further discussion can then be had at the relevant talk page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:58, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I have no problem restricting it, at least initially &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  17:31, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Eventually the bot should be enabled to remove all instances of "[Wikipedia/Wikimedia] list article". When removing these manually, many editors will revert the change with the reasoning that it is the "standard" short description for lists. In my eyes, the goal of this bot is to do away with this idea that all list articles, no matter the subject, should have a single, standardized description. Thrakkx (talk) 20:44, 15 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Just for clarification, I assume you mean "replace" and not "remove", since replacement will a) keep the page off of lists, and b) provide the desired "no shortdesc". Primefac (talk) 12:31, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
 * That's right. Thrakkx (talk) 13:52, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

This is of course under the constraints mentioned above. Primefac (talk) 12:31, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
 * @Primefac: See . &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  13:20, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
 * BAG assistance needed &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  18:32, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Primefac (talk) 14:09, 27 February 2022 (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 Bots/Noticeboard.