Wikisource:Bots

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Yes check.svg This page documents an official policy on Wikisource. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.
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This page outlines standards and guidelines related to bots, automated scripts that edit pages autonomously or semi-autonomously.

If you'd like to request a task to be performed by a bot, see Wikisource:Bot requests.

Bots are automated or semi-automated processes that edit pages on Wikisource with reduced or no direct human supervision. Because bots may potentially strain server resources or accidentally disrupt Wikisource, bots must follow the policy and guidelines outlined below. The policy outlines how bots may be used on Wikisource; bots which do not follow the policy may be blocked immediately until the operator has resolved any issues or non-compliance.

Contents

[edit] Policy

[edit] Bot account

A bot must be run using a separate account from the operator, as no human editor should be granted a bot flag. Any bot account on Wikisource must clearly and visibly contain the word "bot" to distinguish it from human editors; the most common forms are derived from the operator's username (such as Pathosbot, operated by Pathoschild), or using disambiguation style (such as Xenophon (bot), operated by Bookofjude).

The operators must answer any comments themselves; no user is permitted to make use of automated answering scripts. Some operators may choose to redirect the bot's talk page to their own, if their bot is not configured to detect messages.

[edit] Community authorisation

Bots must obtain community approval on the Scriptorium before they may be run (except interlanguage link bots). Users requesting permission to use a bot should state the purpose, the programming language, and the degree of human interaction involved. Where relevant, they should also state the framework used, and/or the period of time it will run (if limited).

If there is no opposition after at least three to four days, the bot may be run slowly without a bot flag to demonstrate the bot. The bot should stop immediately if there are complaints until those are resolved. After a week of reasonable operation, the operator may request that a bureaucrat grant the bot a flag.

Note that interlanguage link bots, which synchronise interlanguage links between different languages of Wikisource, may operate autonomously without community authorisation. However, they are nonetheless subject to the rest of this policy and the guidelines.

[edit] Unacceptable usage

  • Controversial changes: Bots may be used to perform edits which are most likely supported by other Wikisource editors; they should never be used to perform controversial edits. If you intend to expand the scope of the bot beyond that which was supported by the community, please make note of this at the Scriptorium to ensure that there is no opposition.
  • Data retrieval: Bots may not be used to retrieve bulk content for any use not directly related to an approved bot task. This includes dynamically loading Wikisource pages from another website, which will result in the website being blacklisted and permanently denied access. If you would like to download bulk content or mirror Wikisource, please do so by downloading and/or hosting your own copy of our database.
  • Spellchecking: No bot may automatically correct spelling mistakes, particularly in the article namespace. Works should be preserved in their entirety, including typographical errors. Further, it is not known to be technically possible to automatically correct spelling mistakes without a significant margin of error.

[edit] Guidelines

[edit] Edit throttle and peak hours

Bots running without a bot flag should edit at intervals of over 1 minute. Once they have been authorised and appropriately flagged, they should operate at an absolute minimum interval of 5 seconds (12 edits per minute). Bots should try to avoid running during the busiest hours, as they rapidly use server resources that should be reserved for human readers and editors. During these hours, they should operate at intervals of 20 seconds (3 edits per minute) to conserve resources.

[edit] Supervision

Unless the bot is publicly stated to run autonomously, the operator should remain available, occasionally check for messages, and be ready to shut down the bot if it does not perform as desired or if complaints are received. If the operator is not available, the bot may be blocked until any issues are resolved.

[edit] Development and source code

Operators are strongly encouraged to tweak their bots to improve their performance, or update them regularly if they are using a framework or distribution. They are also encouraged to provide the source code (publicly or on request), although they are not obligated to do so.

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:Bots"