[WikiEN-l] Proposal: increased bot edit rates on en:wp

[Luna]

On 2/21/07, Parker Peters <parkerpeters1002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Bots are problematic enough as is, we have any number that malfunction or
> do
> things based on an ill-considered script already.
>
> The faster you allow them to edit, the faster two bots could conceivably
> get
> into a war as well.


I'd agree we should be careful about this -- bots have the potential to be
very helpful, but rogue or malfunctioning bots likewise have a potential to
do some pretty nasty damage. Not so much to pages; sure, it'll be a chore,
but we can revert all of that easily enough. I'd be especially concerned
about bots that deal with newer users, and how a buggy bot can influence
their first experiences on the wiki.

Always good to watch the bots. Some of them have been going for some time
with only a few problems, and could do more with more freedom to edit.
Giving out this freedom blindly is probably bad, and I didn't see people
proposing we should do that (I think) -- the bots we trust and know, and
which could obviously benefit from the boost, though, not sure if I see the
harm.

HagermanBot would be my specific example of a bot that doesn't need an
artificial limit. Some people have suggested it should wait a little longer
before signing (no idea where overall consensus on this is, just pointing
out), but even "wait x seconds before signing" is just a delay for each
edit, rather than a limit on the overall editing rate.

Bots getting into edit wars? Merf. That'd be bad, but a responsible botop
will avoid that problem with a few extra lines of code. It really wouldn't
be too difficult. Long-term things like the interwiki bots arguing, that's a
little trickier, but a high-speed end-of-the-world botwar isn't something I
expect to see any time soon.

Just my take, probably a bit of a ramble.
-Luna