RationalWiki:Bots
Bots [short for "robots"] are (usually small) computer programs/scripts created to perform repetitive tasks or to ease routine maintenance of a website.
On wikis Bot is a class of user which is usually such a program, although some users have Bot alteregos so that repetitive tasks won't clog up Special:RecentChanges.
A current list of RW's bots can be found here. Any of these which are generally applicable should have usage instructions on their user page.
At time of writing there are 23 bots on RW:
[edit] The bots
[edit] ACDbot
(obsolete) This was a one-use bot that moved all the "ACD" (Article Creation Drive) files to the new (at the time) Fun: namespace.
[edit] Aylesburymartin
This is user:Totnesmartin not wanting to clog recent changes with boring repetetive actions.
[edit] Bestofbot
Sorts WIGO votes and extracts the highest for "Best of ..." pages
[edit] Capturebot
A PERL script bot that makes images of the links on Conservapedia:What is going on at CP?, places the img tag next to the link and moves the sub headings.
- Current status: Retired
- Functionality: Workable
- Operators: User:Tmtoulouse, User:Π
[edit] Capturebot2
Python script that harvests image links created by the <votecp> and <capture> tags, captures images of the linked websites (conservapedia.com for <votecp> and any external link for <capture>) and uploads them. Operates continuously and checks recent changes every minute.
- Current status: Active
- Functionality: Working
- Operator: User:Nx
- Full instructions on user page
[edit] Catbot
Random PERL scripts written by User:Π for when he wants to do large category changes, because he doesn't do it by hand like most of the chumps on this list.
[edit] Chancellor Palpatine
Personal bot of Theemperor
[edit] FedhajiBot
Personal bot of Fedhaji. Used to update automatically statistics pages in Fedhaji's user subpages.
[edit] GenBot
Personal bot of Genghis Khant.
[edit] HumanBot
Does not exist, but if created, will randomly swear at users editing in good faith - and slap Gilligan with his own hat once in a while. Mostly entered to increase the alphabetizing of bots.
[edit] IceBot
Personal bot of Icewedge
[edit] Indexbot
This bot indexes all the articles in the name space making it easier for other bots to quickly move through the site
[edit] KenBot
Updates Template:KenRuns and Template:KenBreaks.
[edit] Mini Nyar bot
Automatically signs obvious examples of unsigned chatter. Leaves a comment on the perp's talk page.
[edit] NxBot
Alternate account of Nx with bot flag. Used to hide repetitive edits on recent changes, do various occasional bot jobs and break Human's monthly edit count record.
[edit] OCDBot
Used by Aboriginal Noise to categorize, mostly, and to do other nonsense that needn't be displayed on Recent Changes. Was created because other editors made him do it.
[edit] Phantom Ninja
Alternate account of Phantom Hoover with bot flag. Used ostensibly to hide repetitive edits on recent changes, as well as sneaky April fools' day jokes.
[edit] Pibot
A Python script bot for archiving high traffic talkpages, created by Misza13, who is loved very much. Has been tweaked to work with our template system. Ask Pi how to set it up.
- Full instructions on user page
- Current status: Active
- Functionality: Both working.
- Operator: User:Π
[edit] RAbot
Alternate account of Radioactive afikomen with bot flag. Used to hide repetitive edits on recent changes.
[edit] Rdbot
Administrative bot of Tmtoulouse
[edit] Redirectbot
Python script that fixes double redirects, deletes broken redirects and fixes links to avoid the use of redirects.
- Current status: Active
- Functionality: Too good, makes operator nervous
- Operator: User:Π
[edit] Secret Santa
Personal bot of Secret Santa
[edit] Stubbot
This is one of Trent's. It goes through all the articles, marking short ones with the "stub" template, and removing it from longer ones. It can be "blocked" on a short article that probably won't need to grow much by adding the "nostub" template instead of "stub".
[edit] Weaseldroid
Alternate account of Weaseloid with bot flag. Used to hide repetitive edits on recent changes.
[edit] WIGObot
A PERL script bot that will archive a months worth of the 4 non-CP WIGOs, closing the polls as it does it. Use to be done by Pibot, but Human wanted it done by a separate bot for some reason. Also moves the earlier entries heading on WIGO CP on occasions, when User:Π remembers to run it.
[edit] Wpbot
This bot is programmed to search all the pages in the main namespace that link to wikipedia articles using an intrawiki link and report them to User:wpbot/wplist. (why?)
[edit] How to make your own
[edit] Python
Download pywikipediabot, place this file into the families directory, then run generate_user_files.py and select RationalWiki. You can then run the provided bots, or write your own. For further reading see: Python beginner's guide, Using the python wikipediabot and Pywikipedia bot on non-Wikimedia projects (this isn't needed if you use the family file supplied here).