Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/The Sky Bot


 * 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

The Sky Bot
Operator:

Time filed: 00:48, Sunday, November 12, 2023 (UTC)

Automatic, Supervised, or Manual: automatic

Programming language(s): AutoWikiBrowser

Source code available: AWB

Function overview: Replace ct with UCI team code

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate): Template_talk:UCI_team_code

Edit period(s): one time run

Estimated number of pages affected: 11,500

Exclusion compliant (Yes/No): Yes

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

Function details: Making use of regex to replace transclusions of ct with UCI team code in the article namespace, in preparation of usurpation of ct redirect for Contentious topics.

Going by the linkcount tool, there are currently 11,400+ articles to be worked on, and 200-300 non-article namespace pages to look at. This bot will primarily work on the article namespace as the usage of the ct template is pretty much direct there, whilst the non-article namespaces will be worked on either manually or semi-automated manner in case of surprises.

As for the result of the regex application to find and replace the template, I have worked on some of the pages which can be seen at Special:Contributions/RobertskySemi.

If this passes, I would like to request for AWB perms for the bot account as well. Can it be granted through here, or I will have to request at the AWB perms board? – robertsky (talk) 07:32, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

Discussion
Hmm. This will make old revisions very annoying to read on 11,500 articles for the benefit of creating a short redirect for Contentious topics, which is a disambiguation template and not even something we'd ever use directly? I admit I'm not a big fan of this. —&#8239; The Earwig (talk) 06:26, 17 November 2023 (UTC)


 * @The Earwig, I think this should be part of the post-closure discussion at Template_talk:UCI_team_code at the very least. Courtesy ping to @Awesome Aasim, who's the OP of the abovementioned move discussion that leads to this request. – robertsky (talk) 17:55, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

I would agree with Earwig. Template:Contentious topics is a placeholder template as well. I'd be suspicious that the benefits of having that at ct outweigh the negatives of breaking old page revisions. I know we'd generally give up support for old page revisions where this materially improves our ability to present or deliver content (eg appropriate TfDs), but there's definitely a weighing of pros/cons that needs to be done. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 09:33, 18 November 2023 (UTC)


 * I am willing to disagree. It might break old page revisions in the short term, which will be a little annoying for anyone viewing an old ID, but in the long term it will become less confusing. We could also have the Ct page read this:
 * Awesome Aasim 16:31, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

There seems to be a disparity where two different templates are using the same prefix, so that should be fixed. Primefac (talk) 08:36, 31 December 2023 (UTC)


 * @Primefac I have done 50 edits with User:The Sky Bot account via AWB, you can see the list of 50 edits at Special:Contributions/The Sky Bot (the account has only 50 edits). I have pulled out contributions at random for your quick checks: Special:Diff/1194306495, Special:Diff/1194306189, Special:Diff/1194306249, Special:Diff/1194306142, Special:Diff/1194306338, and Special:Diff/1194306172. – robertsky (talk) 08:58, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
 * @Robertsky You can simply use TemplateBotTrialComplete in your reply to switch its status from 'in trial' to 'trial complete.' – DreamRimmer (talk) 07:56, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
 * thanks for the tip! – robertsky (talk) 15:17, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Primefac (talk) 12:59, 25 January 2024 (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.