Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/BigtopBot

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The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

User:BigtopBot[edit]

This bot is a proposed bot that I'm operating to clean up vandalism, just like the AntiVandalBot does. Vandalism continues to increase rapidly, and using the existing vandal-fighting bots as of now won't fight every vandalism. AntiVandalBot, Tawkerbot2 and Tawkerbot4 (examples) can't do all their work, so I should need them help.

  • About vandalism: Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. Vandalism here in Wikipedia may include, but not limited to: replacement of existing text with obscenities, page blanking, or the insertion of bad jokes or other nonsense. It's usually easy to spot, especially AntiVandalBot.
  • Purposes: This bot is designated to fight most of the vandalism above. The bot should fight about 80-90% of the vandalism described above. (Remember that bots are not perfect!) I'm going to operate this bot as scheduled to run, below, so I'm making this bot as an automatically-scheduled bot.
  • Scheduling: Scheduling is critical - I have to pick my days and times to operate this. I'm trying to have this bot operate from 8:00 AM PT to 9:00 PM PT Monday through Thursday, from 12:00 PM PT to 9:00 PM PT Friday, 12:00 PM PT to 12:00 AM PT Saturday, and 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Sunday. (Remember that PT is 8 hours back from UTC!)
  • Language: The language it will run is the same old plain English. However, it will use pywikipedia framework to operate efficiently. Software is important to run a bot.
  • Why do I need it: I need a bot because I've been using VandalProof, but sometimes, I don't get a chance to revert an edit. Using a bot gets me more chances to edit. When Cyde's AntiVandalBot is not around, I can use my bot to fight vandalism. When AntiVandalBot is around, I can use my bot to help him.
  • Importance: It's highly important I should use a bot that fights vandalism. Reverting vandalism is like cleaning up junk - but in Wikipedia, it's electronic. Bots should be convenient and easy to use because they're automatic, just like Roomba robotic floorvac which cleans up dirt in the carpet.
  • Please support me to approve this bot and to make it work! --Bigtop 02:13, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Some questions:

  1. What do you mean by "...sometimes, I don't get a chance to revert an edit...", is it that someone else reverted it, or you ignored the vandalism?
  2. What algorithyms will you be using to determine vandalism?
  3. Will the bot do anything other than revert edits?

Thanks! — xaosflux Talk 03:06, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Answers:

  1. This means that somebody must have reverted an edit.
  2. What's an algorighym?
  3. I think that's it. I wanted to have the bot revert edits (and especially) warn the editor who edited the page as a vandalism edit.

Please contact me if you need help. --Bigtop 16:27, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

An algorithym is a technique for analyzing a given set of data...in your case, new changes to Wikipedia. Specifically, we would like to know how your bot decides what a vandalistic edit is. (If I blanked my talk page, for instance, would I be reverted and warned?). alphaChimp laudare 18:00, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

About the algorithym: This user will revert common kinds of vandalism. He will revert these kinds of vandalism, and he will warn the editor who did the vandalism. Common kinds such as adding/replacing random words as well as adding inappropriate images and blanking can be reverted by this bot. --Bigtop 19:36, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How will the bot tell if I am adding/replacing random words? Also, how can it tell that an image is innapropriate?alphaChimp laudare 21:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'll try to copy AntiVandalBot's bad words list to my bot so I can work the same way as the AntiVandalBot does. --Bigtop 20:38, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How will the bot be able to tell the difference between, for example, a legitimate usage of "fuck" and a purely vandalistic usage? alphaChimp laudare 14:22, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong reservations about this until a much more full and clear description of the algorithm is provided. The comment about "English and pywikipedia" is far from illuminating: pywikipedia doesn't cover this, and English doesn't provide much of a bot framework, nice though that would be. Does actual software to do this actually exist? Positively opposed to an index expurgatorius of "bad words" as the basis of automatic reversion. Alai 15:56, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]


  • Far to vague at present, there is a good reason why those bots based on Joshbuddy's TawkerBot2 code don't revert everything, no one has come up with a reliable way to identify what is/isn't vandalism, so it goes for high certainty reverts. --pgk(talk) 10:41, 5 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • I'm not thinking about a bot for this moment, so I'm going to deny this approval and work on VandalProof. Sorry! --Bigtop 05:08, 6 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.
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