Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/XeBot

The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. The result of the discussion was

Speedily Approved.

XeBot

Operator: Orango

Automatic or Manually assisted: Automatic

Programming language(s): Python

Source code available: Pywikipedia page in metawiki

Function overview: Add Interwiki Links.

Edit period(s): one time run

Estimated number of pages affected:

Exclusion compliant (Y/N):

Already has a bot flag (Y/N):

Function details:

Discussion

Hello. What exactly does this bot do? Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 20:34, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It add Interwiki Links using Interwiki.py script. Thankyou --Orango ^talk! 01:50, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still unclear.

Which articles will it link?
Which interwiki languages will get linked?
If it is running automated, how will it verify that the articles are in fact related? i.e. How will it recognise the case where an article exists on two wiki projects with the same name but about different subjects?
How would it cope with an article existing on another wiki project under a different name from the one on here?

—ClickRick (talk) 21:20, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Pywikipedia's interwiki.py is a pretty standard script for doing interwikis, used by probably 90% of all interwiki bots. Does the bot have a flag on any other wikis? Mr.Z-man 22:58, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

interwiki.py requests are generally speedily approved. Not sure why there's an exception being made here (echoing Mr.Z-man). --MZMcBride (talk) 23:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Aye, since Wikinews seems to be okay with it, and it's hasn't broken anything yet, a speedy approval may be okay. Although some one may want to check that the added interwiki links are going to the right place. - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 09:13, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The post looks like an attempt to understand the bot rather than stop its approval. ClickRick did not mention an exception to speedy approval and isn't a member of BAG anyway. Could someone in the know answer the questions, regardless of approval? A link to prior approvals of the same type of bot, or anything might help. I'm curious also.

I think discussion is allowed in the RFAB stage. Running this board as if discussion is the norm could help prevent future messes like anybot creating 6000 articles that need deleted. Part of discussion in a community like wikipedia might be knowing that newcomers may stop by anytime. Answering their questions is a good way to establish that outsider input is a welcome part of the process. If the bot impacts someone's community, they may want to discuss it first. That's my opinion about discussion at RFAB. As to the bot, curious, but no opinion on its approval. --69.226.103.13 (talk) 14:32, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As I said, probably 90% or more of interwiki bots running on Wikimedia projects use this script. Its probably the most-used bot script on Wikipedia. Some other recently approved interwiki bots using interwiki.py

According to this tool, the account has a bot flag on 10 other wikis. As for details of operation, there's a summary in the in-code documentation for the script. Mr.Z-man 18:09, 15 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you—those links help a lot. —ClickRick (talk) 18:17, 15 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Speedily Approved. As mentioned above, interwiki.py bots are generally speedily approved. Remember to stay out of the Template namespace, and request further approval at WP:BRFA before running anything other than the standard interwiki.py. Anomie ⚔ 22:50, 18 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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