We cannot allow spelling bots unless:
A. The bot is registered B. The bot draws from an approved list
A word like /thier/ can safely be changed to "their", since it's almost always a misspelling. However, there are many misspellings which can't be automatically corrected.
I don't mind HUMANS whiling away their time doing a bit of spell-check work; I do it myself, when I want to relax.
But if a machine can do it, then it probably shouldn't be done as a logged-in contributor (robot or "bot"). Rather, let's have our zealous programming staff write a custom spell-check program.
Uncle Ed
Poor, Edmund W wrote:
We cannot allow spelling bots unless:
A. The bot is registered B. The bot draws from an approved list
A word like /thier/ can safely be changed to "their", since it's almost always a misspelling. However, there are many misspellings which can't be automatically corrected.
You can never be sure without looking at it in person. Wasn't there a French statesman by that name a century ago? If that's the case the proper correction would be to capitalize. :-)
I don't mind HUMANS whiling away their time doing a bit of spell-check work; I do it myself, when I want to relax.
I agree; I did some of that before our search function became non-operational. When it's back up and running I may do some more. It's a more productive way to build up personal edit numbers than engaging in reversion wars. ;-)
But if a machine can do it, then it probably shouldn't be done as a logged-in contributor (robot or "bot"). Rather, let's have our zealous programming staff write a custom spell-check program.
I would still be suspicious
Ec
Ray wrote:
A word like /thier/ can safely be changed to "their", since it's almost always a misspelling. However, there are many misspellings which can't be automatically corrected.
You can never be sure without looking at it in person. Wasn't there a French statesman by that name a century ago? If that's the case the proper correction would be to capitalize. :-)
A quick search on google reveals that, though rare, there is a name 'Thier'. I think this is actually a great example, because it *did* seem so unobjectionable at first glance.
--Jimbo
--On Monday, November 24, 2003 1:48 PM -0800 Jimmy Wales jwales@bomis.com wrote:
Ray wrote:
A word like /thier/ can safely be changed to "their", since it's almost always a misspelling. However, there are many misspellings which can't be automatically corrected.
You can never be sure without looking at it in person. Wasn't there a French statesman by that name a century ago? If that's the case the proper correction would be to capitalize. :-)
A quick search on google reveals that, though rare, there is a name 'Thier'. I think this is actually a great example, because it *did* seem so unobjectionable at first glance.
--Jimbo
So, Jimbo, is there a policy against fully automated spell-checking bots?
Nathan
Nathan Russell wrote:
So, Jimbo, is there a policy against fully automated spell-checking bots?
Uhm, o.k., if we really need it. I'm open to counter-arguments, but I can't see that anyone has really said that such bots are a good idea. Automated assistance for human spellchecking, now that makes sense to me.
Actually, I don't see any reason for a specific policy, as this already seems to be well-covered by our existing bot policy. On http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ABots we see that a robot must be (1) useful (2) harmless (3) not a server hog and (4) approved by someone.
It strikes me as fairly unlikely that a fully automated spell-checking bot could satisfy (2). It's actually a paradigm case of a bot that "sounds good at first" but which actually would be a disaster.
--Jimbo