Difference between revisions of "User:LarryPoppins/PoppBot"

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'''PoppBot''' is a MediaWiki bot developed and maintained by [[User:LarryPoppins|LarryPoppins]]. It is currently in the planning phase with the goal of simplifying and automating many tasks of managing the Sims2Wiki.
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'''PoppBot''' is a MediaWiki bot to be developed and maintained by moi, [[User:LarryPoppins|LarryPoppins]]. It is currently in the planning phase. The purpose of this bot will be to automated many tedious tasks of managing the Sims2Wiki.
  
==Environment==
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==Purpose==
Programmed in PHP, the bot is designed to periodically run as a shell script off a web server through a cron job.
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Wikipedia says:
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<blockquote>''Bots can automate tasks and perform them much faster than humans. If you have a simple task which you need to perform lots of times (an example might be to add a template to all pages in a category with 1000 pages) then this is a task better suited to a bot than a human.''</blockquote>
  
 
==Tasks==
 
==Tasks==
The bot will carry out several tasks throughout the wiki:
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* '''Fix common errors'''
* Automate tedious and repetitive tasks
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** Category misspellings - Is it Bodyshop ''recolors'', Bodyshop ''recolours'', ''BodyShop'' Recolors, or what?!
* Fix common errors
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** Move pages to their correct namespaces - Moving Sims 3 articles to the Sims 3 namespace and what-not
** Category misspellings
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* '''Add correct formatting to pages''' - Common things like tutorials missing the correct templates
** Correct section capitalization
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* ''and more...''
** Pages prefixed with "Sims 3" moved to the [[Sims 3:Main Page|Sims 3 namespace]]
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* Fix and sort categories
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==Testing==
* Fix or remove broken redirects
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Now, obviously, it wouldn't be a very good idea to run experimental software on a production server (Sims2Wiki). To test, the bot would go through the pages and record any changes it ''would have'' made. From here, I look through and make sure everything is okay and approve or cancel it.
* Mark duplicate pages for deletion or redirect them
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* Add missing templates to categorized pages
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==Occasionally Asked Questions==
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===What if it destroys the wiki?===
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The great thing about wikis is that when changes are made, nothing is lost. In the rare occasion that there's a bug in the bot (say that 5 times fast), everything can be reverted and the bot can simply be blocked if it persists. In which case, you'd want to [mailto:me-AT-gabevans.com contact me].
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===Who has access to this?===
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This is going to be run on my personal server (Debian "lenny"). Depending on the tasks I've set it to do, it may be periodically run as a cron job or be manually started. This is something I'll run myself but I'll have the source code available upon request.
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===How much of the wiki's resources will it use?===
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The bot will be set to allow a very low timeout. This means that when the Sims2Wiki is under heavy load, the bot won't edit as frequently. The amount of time between edits can be between 5-30 seconds (that one's up to you, Delphy).
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===Why don't you know exactly what it'll do?===
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I'm still brainstorming. There's a general idea but it's impossible to come up with the exact tasks it'll do as this wiki is constantly changing and the bot will be changed to adapt to it. Today, it could be renaming a category and moving all the articles to a new one while tomorrow, it could be moving hundreds of pages to another namespace. The point is to make life easier when these tasks come up and allow us to get it done fast and efficiently. This way, we can focus on things that require more thinking (rather than point, click, ''repeat 5,000 times'').
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====Hi everybode im new here an i want 2 kno...===
 +
how do i install expensaion pack 4 sims 2? i look and no found (Just jokes. =D)

Revision as of 12:00, 24 July 2009

PoppBot is a MediaWiki bot to be developed and maintained by moi, LarryPoppins. It is currently in the planning phase. The purpose of this bot will be to automated many tedious tasks of managing the Sims2Wiki.

Contents

Purpose

Wikipedia says:

Bots can automate tasks and perform them much faster than humans. If you have a simple task which you need to perform lots of times (an example might be to add a template to all pages in a category with 1000 pages) then this is a task better suited to a bot than a human.

Tasks

  • Fix common errors
    • Category misspellings - Is it Bodyshop recolors, Bodyshop recolours, BodyShop Recolors, or what?!
    • Move pages to their correct namespaces - Moving Sims 3 articles to the Sims 3 namespace and what-not
  • Add correct formatting to pages - Common things like tutorials missing the correct templates
  • and more...

Testing

Now, obviously, it wouldn't be a very good idea to run experimental software on a production server (Sims2Wiki). To test, the bot would go through the pages and record any changes it would have made. From here, I look through and make sure everything is okay and approve or cancel it.

Occasionally Asked Questions

What if it destroys the wiki?

The great thing about wikis is that when changes are made, nothing is lost. In the rare occasion that there's a bug in the bot (say that 5 times fast), everything can be reverted and the bot can simply be blocked if it persists. In which case, you'd want to contact me.

Who has access to this?

This is going to be run on my personal server (Debian "lenny"). Depending on the tasks I've set it to do, it may be periodically run as a cron job or be manually started. This is something I'll run myself but I'll have the source code available upon request.

How much of the wiki's resources will it use?

The bot will be set to allow a very low timeout. This means that when the Sims2Wiki is under heavy load, the bot won't edit as frequently. The amount of time between edits can be between 5-30 seconds (that one's up to you, Delphy).

Why don't you know exactly what it'll do?

I'm still brainstorming. There's a general idea but it's impossible to come up with the exact tasks it'll do as this wiki is constantly changing and the bot will be changed to adapt to it. Today, it could be renaming a category and moving all the articles to a new one while tomorrow, it could be moving hundreds of pages to another namespace. The point is to make life easier when these tasks come up and allow us to get it done fast and efficiently. This way, we can focus on things that require more thinking (rather than point, click, repeat 5,000 times).

=Hi everybode im new here an i want 2 kno...

how do i install expensaion pack 4 sims 2? i look and no found (Just jokes. =D)

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