This is a list of most frequently asked questions regarding my archiving bots.
- Q1: Why is the bot not archiving my page?
There are several possible reasons:
- (by far most common goof) You have blindly copied the template from the HowTo page and left User talk:Example in the archive destination parameter. Or you have copied from someone else's page. Either way, it won't work, obviously. Fix it and don't tell anyone or they'll laugh at you. (The code also needs to be updated when the page is moved)
- (second most common, but not your fault this time) There aren't enough threads on the page. See User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo#Parameters explained and read about minthreadsleft and minthreadstoarchive - by default, the bot will leave at least 5 threads on a page and will not archive fewer than two on a single run. You can adjust the parameters to your liking.
- The template is located after the first ==thread header== and the bot doesn't see it (it only searches for it in the page's intro).
- There is a spam-blacklisted URL on the page in question (introduced before it was blacklisted). The bot tries to put the thread in the archive but is prevented from doing so by the filter. To diagnose this problem, try copying the entire talk page into Wikipedia:Sandbox. If it saves, this is not the problem. Otherwise, it will tell you what link is causing the problem. To solve this, disrupt (or remove) any spam links so that they don't trigger the filter (for example, add spaces around the dots in the address).
- Q2: How can I prevent the bot from archiving a thread?
The bot will ignore threads that have no valid timestamps in them. If the thread you want to persist contains one, there are three possible solutions:
- "disrupt" the timestamp(s) by inserting an empty HTML comment (<!---->) somewhere inside them - this way the thread will once again have no timestamps (from the bot's perspective at least),
- add a timestamp with a ridiculously futuristic date (can be hidden in a comment, e.g. <!--00:00, 1 January 3000 (UTC)-->) - this way the thread will not expire for a looong time.
- Archiving can be delayed for a particular thread by substituting the template {{DNAU}} into the thread. Use
{{subst:DNAU}}to retain a thread indefinitely, or{{subst:DNAU|<integer>}}to retain a thread for <integer> days. See the template documentation for details about its use and function.
If you want to prevent the bot from archiving any threads on a certain page, remove all MiszaN templates from that page, or if you prefer, comment them out.
- Q3: Does the bot maintain a list of archives/thread index?
No, but:
- A simple list of archives can be auto-generated by the {{archive box}} (for sequential archives) or {{MonthlyArchive}} (for dated archives) templates.
- User:Legobot is a bot that maintains indexes of threads in the archives.
- Q4: The bot archives to "/dev/null"!
This can be achieved in one of two ways:
- Deliberately, by setting an empty archive parameter (or omitting it entirely).
- Unwillingly (very common), by compacting the template into one line - in this case the bot can't find a line starting with "|archive=" and assumes the default (empty) value.
- Q5: The bot archived a thread too early!
The bot will archive threads based on the latest timestamp and the configuration used. Note however, that if multiple timestamps appear on a single line, only the first one is read. If you are quoting an earlier comment complete with its timestamp, you should either delete the "(UTC)" from the quoted portion, or wrap it with the "text" template - {{text|(UTC)}} - to fool the bot into ignoring it, and reading the proper, newer timestamp. Note also that timestamps of a non-standard form are not recognized by the bot.
- Q6: Why does the bot reformat archive headers on affected pages (addings/removing spaces and/or blank lines)?
It is a side effect of how the algorithm was constructed - each affected page (both talk pages and their archives) are broken down into logical objects. Page = header + N threads (header is everything before first thread). Thread = title + content (title does not include the equals marks, as those are part of the wiki markup). Threads are then moved to archive as necessary and page text is reconstructed from those objects in a standardized manner, i.e.:
- single spaces as margins between thread title and equals marks,
- single blank line before and after thread title (separating it from previous section as well as this section's contents).
Please note:
- these formatting rules are entirely consistent with how the "new section" button adds a new thread to a page.
- the implementation used by Lowercase sigmabot III (talk · contribs) does not act this way.