Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser

This is the discussion page for the AWB project. It is also the place to discuss using the AWB program itself (if you need help, or have a question about AWB, etc.). Where to make specific types of reports or requests is explained in the Before you post section below. Before asking questions, please read the Frequently asked questions below.

= Before you post =

= Frequently asked questions =

=Discussion=

Stop telling me I have talk page messages
Is there a way to stop AWB from alerting me to messages on my talk page, and opening that page in my browser?

I have looked at the user manual, but could find nothing about this. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:25, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * This is important in the case that you've made a mistake and someone is telling you to stop. Without the popup, you may never notice. ―Panamitsu (talk) 23:24, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't need to be nannied like that.
 * Even if what you say is true, I will be notified by other avenues
 * Do you have an answer to my question? Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 08:51, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The answer is, as far as I'm aware, no. Kiwipete (talk) 09:22, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * It's not being nannied, it's a fail safe. Primefac (talk) 17:44, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't need to be nannied like that.
 * Yes you do. Everyone of us need to be. Is it annoying? Sure. But it certainly beats the alternative of AWB operators not being notified of issues and plowing through as is. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:04, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * This type of response makes me consider whether the user should have AWB access... I don't think they fully understand the mistakes that can be made and the damage that can be done with the slightest bit of carelessness or a typo. If they do, that's even more concerning that they're so annoyed at the prospect of someone catching their mistake(s) before they go too far... I've made mistakes with AWB, I think everyone who uses it enough has. Hey man im josh (talk) 15:31, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * This type of response makes me aware that you have either not read, or have not understood, what I wrote. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:31, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Pigsonthewing: I perfectly understand what you wrote. You're just wrong for thinking you're infallible and will never make mistakes with AWB. Everyone does and that's okay, but let's not pretend it's actually a bad idea for people to catch a mistake mid way through an AWB run. However, if you still think I don't understand, I'd love to hear this explained further. Hey man im josh (talk) 23:10, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You assert that I believe that I am "infallible and will never make mistakes with AWB". You not only have not understood what I have said; you are fantasising. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 02:23, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Pigsonthewing: It's not fantasy, it's inference. Please go ahead and explain further why you don't need to be notified mid AWB run if you're making a mistake. Educate me please and thank you. Hey man im josh (talk) 02:51, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * And now you are fantasising that I have claimed not to need to be notified mid AWB run if I'm making a mistake. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 02:55, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Pigsonthewing: Do you have anything else you'd like to say? Something actually productive instead of replying just to reply? You've said I don't understand. I would like to. So please go ahead. Hey man im josh (talk) 03:08, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You have received 8 updates to your talk page in the past week, one of them from an archiving bot (I don't think those trigger the alert). So practically, I don't see how this alert can be especially annoying or disruptive. And it serves the purpose of ensuring the AWB user knows of a potential issue during their run. But am I annoyed a bit when this alert occurs? Sure I am. But I see it as a price for using this potentially disruptive/destructive tool. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 18:04, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * On at least three occasions in that period, when I have fired up AWB it has refused to work until it has opened up a new tab in my browser because I have talk page messages about which I have already been made aware by another tool. You not seeing how this is especially annoying or disruptive does not mean that it is not especially annoying and disruptive. It is most egregiously annoying and disruptive when those messages have been left by User:MediaWiki message delivery.  Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:05, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Well, I am not inclined to agree that this is the severe problem that you present it as, but if there was a way for it not to stop on particular messages that could not possibly be concerns about AWB use, that sounds like a good idea, if it's possible for the software to discern that. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 19:25, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * There is not currently a mechanism to disable the AWB talk page message notification. Once message(s) have been viewed/marked as viewed on wikipedia/wiki website then AWB stops the notification. I am not clear how to easily and reliably differentiate between messages that do and don't matter to the user's use of AWB, so I think the intended purpose still stands - require a user to view a message in case it relates to an issue with their current/recent edits. If there is community consensus that that's an unnecessary safeguard then maybe some sort of RFC could be raised, then if agreed the popup could be disabled in a new AWB release (or disabled for en-wp if scope of RFC were only that). Rjwilmsi  10:21, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * yes, it is a failsafe. For regular users, as well as for AWB bots. I think it is good to have this feature, and giving an option to turn it off would defeat its purpose. —usernamekiran (talk) 11:34, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * For those few of us that use an alternative account just for AWB, it is a mild nuisance to open an incognito tab and try to remember the alternate's password just to read the messages. I would love to be able to affirmatively clear the notifications from within AWB, but that is a low-priority request and frankly a "whine: it's too hard" one. David Brooks (talk) 14:27, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Refused to work? You can dismiss the pop up notification and keep going. Hey man im josh (talk) 02:53, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I can not. You are again failing to read or understand what I have written. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 03:08, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Citation needed. Hey man im josh (talk) 03:10, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Andy, can you clarify? Does "I can not" mean you have to make an extra click to dismiss the talk page, which is flow-disrupting? Or that after dismissing the AWB popup you still cannot keep going? (I could be making a false dichotomy, to which I am prone) The latter would be a symptom of your browser being logged in under a different one of your alternative accounts, or even not at all, but could be something else broken. David Brooks (talk) 18:31, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I mean that the statement "You can dismiss the pop up notification and keep going" is false. The only option (other than fully exiting AWB) is to click on the single button in the dialogue, which opens a new tab in my default web browser (which is logged in to the same Wikipedia account as AWB). Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:00, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Others can speak for themselves, but to me "dismiss the popup notification" and "click on the single button in the dialogue" are referring to the same thing. David Brooks (talk) 21:50, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * "The only option (other than fully exiting AWB) is to click on the single button in the dialogue, which opens a new tab in my default web browser (which is logged in to the same Wikipedia account as AWB)."
 * Exactly as intended. Do that and you will have "dismissed the pop up notification" and can "keep going". &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 22:20, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Is AWB being throttled?
Every now and then, and right now as I'm using it, AWB keeps timing out and I have to restart it one or more times to get to saving an edit. Does anyone know what's going on? These timeouts are very much disrupting my work. Stefen Towers among the rest!  Gab • Gruntwerk 21:27, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * AWB does not itself apply throttles, though the mediawiki API it uses to fetch and save pages does have a throttling mechanism (maxlag) that AWB is required to follow. Though timeout issues are more likely an intermittent network issue - whether at mediawiki or your end, or in the middle I can't say. Rjwilmsi  10:15, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * this happens with some times. But in my case, I am 100% sure that it is because of my ISP. —usernamekiran (talk) 11:31, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for responses. In my case, this seems to happen about one out of four times i use AWB, and it seems to be a mix of straight-up timeouts and error message windows that say the process was stopped at the server (I can't recall the exact words). From now on, when I encounter these problems, I will just take it as a sign to shutdown AWB and find something else to do. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 18:07, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Removing spaces in citations
Is the removal of spaces in citation templates something that's been added to AWB recently, deliberately or otherwise? There's a discussion at WP:ANI due to conflict about this being done using AWB to fix typos. NebY (talk) 14:15, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I've tested AWB on Alien Resurrection. The typo-fixer only wants to add commas after two dates. The general fixer only wants to add blank lines before some of the headings. Special:Diff/1230183818 added the commas but not the blank lines. Everything else in that diff is not part of the built-in functionality, as far as I can see, and I assume is from that editor's own configuration rules. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:49, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Oh good, it'seassuring that AWB's not doing it generally. I'll report back. Thank you for testing! NebY (talk) 15:20, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * As a longtime AWB user, I will also confirm that user-created find/replace rules are involved in this case. I added my two cents to the ANI discussion. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 19:00, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Invisible spacing characters
In tables, it is sometimes necessary to use a special unicode spacing character to create a specific center-alignment. See the first column of the big table on this page.

AWB really doesn't like these. If they somehow break someone's viewing, then I can look for a different solution. But if it's just a robot being picky then I will ask for someone to adjust its programming... or get the word out to the humans that these don't need to be removed. Wizmut (talk) 07:31, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Wizmut I think there is a template for that! I think it as space? -- Magioladitis (talk) 07:56, 22 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Sold! I went with Template:Figure space.
 * Cheers Wizmut (talk) 08:09, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Wizmut Perfect! I am glad we worked it out! -- Magioladitis (talk) 08:17, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Stop typo fixes changing edit summary
I'd like to stop the addition of the typo(s) fixed: text to edit summaries when using AWB's automatic typo fixes. Is there any way to do this? Using the "lock the default edit summary" option doesn't stop it from being added. Suntooooth, it/he (talk/contribs) 00:01, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

two factor authentication login issue
After I have enabled two factor authentication, I am unable to login in the autowikibrowser. While trying to login a pop up comes up telling aborted. What is the solution for this issue. ? Balaji  (Let's talk)  08:13, 4 July 2024 (UTC)


 * @Balajijagadesh see Using AWB with 2FA. — xaosflux  Talk 08:42, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the language code does not match during authorization? Игорь Темиров (talk) 04:00, 5 July 2024 (UTC)


 * @User:Xaosflux. thanks it worked. -- Balaji  (Let's talk)  08:53, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

New categories
Hello. Could you tell me, please, where can I see the (new, automatic, and hidden) categories of the result? If I made a mistake, I should know when the tracking category appears. Thank you. IKhitron (talk) 19:11, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

Replace maximum again
Hi. Continuing Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive 34, I'm here to tell that I've just finished the work. 1246 string replacements, about ten of them were added on the fly, about 2500 pages. @SchreiberBike, you asked me to call you. IKhitron (talk) 22:15, 11 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Have you tried using plugins or a custom module? Игорь Темиров (talk) 03:44, 12 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Not at all, just the regular stuff. IKhitron (talk) 09:17, 12 July 2024 (UTC)
 * When using plugins or modules, your research simply would not be needed. Игорь Темиров (talk) 10:20, 12 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Well, too late. IKhitron (talk) 10:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
 * , please don't criticise other people for doing things a different way. Primefac (talk) 13:00, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
 * I suggest another way. But you criticize. Игорь Темиров (talk) 13:55, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
 * We're getting off-topic, but the two are not the same. It's one thing to say "doing it this way will also work", it's another to say "you wasted your time by not doing it this way". The first is a suggestion for another way, the second is a criticism of the original way. Primefac (talk) 18:57, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
 * We're going off topic. But you have problems with logic. I think IKhitron and I understood each other exactly as needed. Игорь Темиров (talk) 19:10, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Bug: HTML comment wrongly moved during general fixes
In this diff, you can see how "General fixes" moved a comment from beside the issue to which it referred, to the wrong point in the article. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:26, 13 July 2024 (UTC)


 * In my experience, this is a longstanding bug where AWB disturbs html comments in this and other ways. It needs to be smart enough to leave them alone. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 17:56, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

Giving up using AWB to do periodic talk page cleanups
Due to a couple issues with AWB, talk page cleanups have become too impractical to do: I don't know how to make AWB skip doing these changes without removing part of the reason I'm using AWB: for talk page-related general fixes. Stefen Towers among the rest!  Gab • Gruntwerk 18:10, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
 * 1) It removes "blp=no" for bio articles of dead people. Even though might be considered a default in terms of display of the template, removing this parameter adds the talk page to a problem category.
 * 2) It inserts "|1=" when that is no longer the usage suggestion in WikiProject banner shell and removed by bots when making other changes.
 * Already reported on Feb 10, see archive 34. Tracked as but no fix yet. David Brooks (talk) 21:34, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks, and I see I replied to that topic. I guess I had a "Mr. Short Term Memory" moment. Glad it's being tracked at least. Stefen Towers among the rest!   Gab • Gruntwerk 03:40, 17 July 2024 (UTC)