Hi all,
I would like to propose that we separate the bot right into bot and boteditinterface, where the bot right only allows you to mark edits as bot edits for non-mediawiki namespace edits and you would need the boteditinterface right to mark any mediawiki namespace edits as a bot edit. Furthermore, I would propose that nobody on Wikimedia wikis ever get the boteditinterface right (But if I end up having to cave on that requirement, at least we could restrict it to people who really need it)
The idea being that any potential edit to site javascript should be highly scrutinized and shown on the RC by default. Additionally, most bots do not make edits to the MediaWiki namespace so this should not cause an undue burden. Those that do make edits, do not make a super large number. This proposal does not include edits made by centralnotice extension, which will continue to be marked bot.
If you think this is a horrible idea, please object now :) For more information see https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T151408 . If there are no major objections from the wikitech-l community, I also plan to notify the owners of bots who make edits to mediawiki namespace.
Thanks, Brian.