Commons:Requests for comment/Technical needs survey/Bots

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Bots

Description of the Problem

• Problem description:

Some bots don't do what they used to do.

• Proposal type: bugfix / feature request / process request

feature request

• Proposed solution:

Provide more support to the bot maintainers, add bot maintainers, or bring the bots into WMF management

• Phabricator ticket:

1. None yet.
2. T339145

• Further remarks:

List of such bots and undone tasks:

1. User:SteinsplitterBot: Maintenance of reports like Commons:Database reports/Abuse filter effectiveness, which has not been updated since 00:43, 06 October 2020 (UTC). Updates requested of User:Steinsplitter 11:42, 25 September 2022 (UTC) in an ignored post archived to User talk:Steinsplitter/Archive/2022#Commons:Database reports/Abuse filter effectiveness.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 01:05, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

   Also, per User:SteinsplitterBot/Rotatebot, Steinsplitter's SteinsplitterBot has not performed the functions of User:Rotatebot since 01:15, 28 December 2023 (UTC) (11 days, 17 hours, 37 minutes ago).   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 18:52, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

2. Commons deletion notification bot, which notifies talk pages on other WMF wikis about images that are up for deletion on Commons, has been broken since 2023-06-06. See T339145. Toohool (talk) 19:13, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

   @Toohool: MusikAnimal (WMF) started that task. It has needed discussion since Jun 21 2023, 10:07 AM. This is what can happen under WMF management.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 19:23, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Drafted by   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 01:05, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

"Some bots don't do what they used to do." This is a very bad problem description. It casts a very wide net, that has no defined boundaries to the problem to be solved. It is much better to have specific items for specific bots. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:16, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

@TheDJ: They are not maintaining the site in the manner to which we have become accustomed. I am sure that more will be listed.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 13:46, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

in other words, bots that perform tasks essential for maintenance of commons but are only maintained by users. if they cannot work and users cannot fix them in time, commons is paralysed. such things have happened quite often.

these bots are all quite important:

1. User:ArchiverBot User:SpBot archive discussions on demand (placement of their templates).
2. a few other bots archive specific discussions.
3. User:SteinsplitterBot/Rotatebot rotates files.
4. User:QICbot COM:QI
5. User:CommonsDelinker

RZuo (talk) 01:01, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Discussion

• I want to run a bot but there seem to be too many things to clear. I would appreciate if somebody creats a more friendly tutorial for beginners. --トトト (talk) 13:06, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
• I believe that file rotation should be able to be done in MediaWiki software, not with a bot. afaik it only needs its exif data modified. Otherwise it's just a raster rotation, right? SWinxy (talk) 02:24, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

Votes

•  Support - Ryan Hodnett (talk) 03:02, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Support as proposer.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 03:16, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
• yes.--RZuo (talk) 08:09, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Support — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 08:27, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Support Jklamo (talk) 08:50, 23 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Neutral The problem description as well as the proposed solution are too vague. Gestumblindi (talk) 01:33, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Support Particularly the RotateBot and CommonsDelinker for me. --Engineerchange (talk) 15:34, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
•  Support SWinxy (talk) 02:24, 6 February 2024 (UTC)
•  Support critical features need to be maintained by the WMF. --GPSLeo (talk) 18:29, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
•  Neutral Per Gestumblindi. While I support the general idea of providing more support to the bot maintainers, the proposed solution is too vague. The proposer should prioritize which bugs need to be fixed ASAP and which most critical features need to be maintained by the WMF. The bot maintainer can also apply to the Rapid Fund if they need financial support. Thanks. SCP-2000 05:38, 14 February 2024 (UTC)