A bot is an automated or semi-automated account for performing repetitive tasks that would be extremely tedious to do manually. A bot is capable of making edits at an extremely rapid rate, and can cause damage to the wiki if incorrectly designed or operated. For these reasons, a bot policy has been developed.
Bot policy
Unauthorized bots are not permitted on CyberAcme. A bot must be approved by the community and bear a bot flag in order to run. Unauthorized bots will be blocked if caught editing.
Because a bot is capable of making several edits per minute, it may clog up recent changes. For this reason, any authorized bot for CyberAcme is required to have a bot flag. A bot flag is a user group right, and may be set on any account. Edits made by such accounts are hidden from the recent changes page by default. Accounts with a bot flag are listed here.
Bot requirements
Approvals for bots may be requested on the talk page. If a community consensus is reached, a bureaucrat will set the bot flag. Users are advised to review the requirements for a bot:
- It has no malicious intentions.
- It is to be used preferably for a task not currently handled by another bot.
- It carefully adheres to relevant policies and guidelines.
The editing speed of a bot should be regulated. Recently-approved bots, or bots in trial period should have an edit rate which allows their edits to be monitored and reviewed as necessary.
How to set up a bot
In the case you been allowed to set up a bot, here is a list of trusted places that have been previously used by administrators in the past for their own bots.
- AutoWikiBrowser: A semi-automated MediaWiki editor designed to make tedious or repetitive editing tasks quicker and easier.