[Foundation-l] Fwd: [WikiEN-l] Bot policy for all wikis

[White Cat]

On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 10:00 PM, Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> --- On Thu, 5/29/08, White Cat <wikipedia.kawaii.neko at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: White Cat <wikipedia.kawaii.neko at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Fwd: [WikiEN-l] Bot policy for all wikis
> > To: birgitte_sb at yahoo.com, "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" <
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> > Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008, 1:35 PM
> > There is no reason to panic. Just because a bot gets a
> > technical bot flag
> > does not mean we bot operators will go out of our way to
> > wreck projects. We
> > are reasonable people. A note on the global bot fag request
> > page or a
> > general "global bot noticeboard page" can do
> > wonders in such a case.
> >
> > As for the problems experienced on wikisource, they are not
> > technical ones.
> > The problems there are purely cultural and often
> > consequences of centuries
> > old disputes (such as the bible case). This however is not
> > the time and
> > place to discuss that.
> >
>
>
> I don' know why you read "panic" in my message, but it is not how I am
> feeling about this.
>
> You are incorrect about the problems being "cultural".   Unless you
> understand the fact that there are commonly multiple translations of a work
> in a single language while the interwiki system only allows 1:1 links to be
> cultural.  Personally I think the developers will someday work out a
> technical solution to this problem, but for now we need to avoid running the
> script built for Wikipedia on Wikisources.
>
> I don't understand why an "interwiki" bot, whose script should not be
> running on a Wikisource should be given a flag to operate there.  While I do
> fully believe bot operators will not go out of their way to wreck projects,
> I don't see any reason to give such an easy opportunity for unintentional
> harm to be done.
>
> Birgitte SB
>
>
>
>
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The use of "panic" was a pun, an intended over exaggeration for semi-comical
nature. To ease tensions.

Interwiki linkage was intended to be a 1:1 system - translations of the
covered subject. Wikisource is using interwikis incorrectly. Interwiki.py is
doing exactly what it is designed for. I doubt heavily that developers will
come up with a solution.

 On wikisource only general articles like [[Bible]] should be interwiki
linked. Each translation of the Bible is considered as a separate version.
The translations of the bible can differ greatly due to disputes that age
over a millennium. Interwiki links should not be used on the individual
chapters of bible "translations" which are really reinterpretations. This
isn't the bots or programmers fault. It is hence a cultural issue rather
than technical.

Separating a project is kind of a segregation we do not want. People
operating interwiki bots with global flags will have very solid operational
parameters. They will have to deal with it once in meta. On meta operators
will learn which wikis they can and cannot operate the bot without going
through days of hundereds of tireless requests.