Wikidata:Requests for permissions/Bot/MerlBot

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

APPROVED, see below. Sven Manguard Wha? 03:53, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

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MerlBot

Operator User:Merlissimo

Task: Updating Wikidata:Labels and descriptions task force pages Update (database) report pages

Merlissimo has already been running this task for some time successfully, and already has another flagged bot doing item creation, so we know that both the program works and that the operator knows bots. The only question, then, is why he didn't apply to get MerlBot flagged. Since he hasn't, I'm starting the request myself. This is also Sven Manguard 17:50, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

•  Support - Bot task is useful and bot is working. I would advise, though, that next time this process has to be done before the bot starts running please. This is also Sven Manguard 17:50, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

If the Bot edits get controlled by the Botowner why should you request a botflag? Maybe the bot is not finished? --Sk!d (talk) 19:43, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

It certainly looks finished. I'm requesting this myself because I want to make sure that all of our running bots are flagged. This way, if someone gets blocked for running an unapproved bot sometime in the future, they can't point to MerlBot and say "What about that one, do the rules not apply to some people?!". This is also Sven Manguard 20:56, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

I think that's quite wise, Sven Manguard, althoug I do not prefer to request flags for other people's bots. --Bene* (talk) 20:58, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Point taken, I won't do it again. This is also Sven Manguard 20:59, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

•  Support per Sven. Restu²⁰ 18:32, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
•  Support but please, add a little bit more documentation how to add lang to the list and what will be the result (sections/number of items/etc) :) --Zanka (talk) 18:42, 28 November 2012 (UTC) addition was made by --Zanka (talk) 18:45, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Lukas²³ ^talk in German ^Contribs 18:54, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
•  Support I don't seen any problems with the bot. Besides that, per Sven Manguard. --Wiki13 (talk) 19:06, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

@Sven Manguard: Some days ago I told you in #wikimedia-wikidata why i havn't created a bot flag request for this bot yet.

My bot MerlBot generates reports for different wikiprojects and on multiple wikis. These are mostly database queries. Reports are updated on pages (mostly subpages) that are specially created for this bot report. The bot does not create new pages on its own or changes any other page.

The bot never uses the botflag to mark edits. That is because most people like to be notified after updates on their watchlist. All other people can remove reports pages from their watchlist. Because of the few edits there is also no problem on recent changes.

That's why adding bot group doesn't change anything. On few wikis my bot is flagged because of internal organisation. On some wikis it is approved without flag and most wikis allow these kind of bot unflagged, because it cannot bother anybody. Because of this i decided to wait until we discussed a bot policy.

The first report i created is for the Labels and descriptions task force. Currently it is a very basic report and i am still waiting for some response related to content, design and length (Wikidata talk:Labels and descriptions task force#Language worklist subpages). I already have some improvements in my dev version. But in future i plan to add more reports if this is requested by community. So i would like to request approval for the more general task to create reports as described above. enwiki is the only wiki where permission requests for every single report is needed. I think that this is not needed for reports here. The bot only updates the part between bot comment-markers.

Task: Update (database) report pages

Merlissimo (talk) 11:11, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

I understand that, but whether you have a bot flag or not, I do think that the task should at least be approved by the community anyways. This is also Sven Manguard 16:26, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

•  Support --Sk!d (talk) 11:48, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Althrough I don´t think we need to make an bot request for all bots. Does MZMcBride need to make an bot request for EdwardsBot?--Snaevar (talk) 01:20, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
  • I would say absolutely yes, but the community seems ambivalent on making bots that don't do page creation get approval. I'm not going to push it alone. Sven Manguard Wha? 08:29, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Conny (talk) 14:12, 4 December 2012 (UTC).
•  Support --Daniel749 (talk) 19:42, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

I waited for a very long time for someone else to step up to the plate and close this, as I have an apparent conflict of interest as the person that started this request. However this hasn't seen action for several weeks, and the consensus is obvious. If anyone wants to contest this, please feel free to undo this. If anyone wants to cosign this close, they can do that. I just am tired of letting this sit like this. Sven Manguard Wha? 03:53, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.