Wikipedia talk:Article alerts/Bugs/Archive/Old/Unresolved bugs

Known problems and restrictions

Nominators are sometimes reported incorrectly

For several workflow types, the bot reports who nominated the article (e.g. for deletion). This occasionally produces wrong results. Namely, for efficiency reasons, the bot does not analyze the full article history, but relies on timestamps that the MediaWiki software records when an article is added to a category. Unfortunately these are not 100% reliable, but are sometimes triggered by an "innocent" subsequent edit, so that the later editor is incorrectly reported as nominator. A similar effect may be seen if the nomination template is removed and then re-added, e.g., in cases of vandalism.

Good article nominations

• In some cases, the link to the discussion page is no longer shown when a GAC is closed. This may be a temporary problem. --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:59, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Unreported deletion

Status	Verified
Description	Why was Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Clare Butterfield not reported?
Type	Overlooked page
Link to bug	Please link to the edit(s) that cause the bug(s).
Report by	TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 02:32, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Was the article tagged by your project's banner? Also if the article got nominated/deleted before the bot ran, then I'm pretty sure it won't show up, as the bot never saw the article enter or exit AfD.Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 02:57, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

According to today's diff it was formerly tagged by our project before AfD close and deletion.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

It seems that the AfD was reported on nomination, but dropped from the list on closure. Probably a duplicate of the bug reported below. --B. Wolterding (talk) 17:06, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

AfD discussion result not reported in the case of a redirect

Status	Verified
Description	Article was redirected, AABot simply removed the entry rather than report the result as "redirect"
Type	Overlooked page
Link to bug	[1]
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 05:00, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Confirmed - this seems to be a bug; but I haven't found he reason yet. --B. Wolterding (talk) 17:01, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

No reason is present in script/code. This is odd. Joe Gazz84^user•_talk•^contribs•_{Editor Review} 18:40, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Requested Moves

Status	Confirmed
Description	If a requested move template exists while an article is moved to the suggested location the workflow then gets changed from "requested move A->B" to "requested move B->B" instead of marking it as done. If subsequently the template gets removed it marks the move as not done.
Type	Other
Link to bug	Loreley->Lorelei Port Talbot Docks movedPort of Port Talbot supposedly not done
Report by	Agathoclea (talk) 09:37, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that's indeed the way the bot behaves. However, I'm a bit confused: Shouldn't the tag be removed when the proposed page move is actually done? --B. Wolterding (talk) 21:14, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I would say - move first then remove the tag. Then the bug can still appear even if the mover does not forget if the bot runs between the two edits. I think though that a lot of movers do forget to remove the tag, which is something we can catch if source = target. Agathoclea (talk) 23:06, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

FPC discussion incorrectly reported

Status	Confirmed
Description	The bot reported that a featured picture candidate had not been promoted, when in fact it had.
Type	Other
Link to bug	([2])
Report by	— Martin (MSGJ · talk) 14:22, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Confirmed - this is a bug. I'm not sure about the technical reason at the moment. As FPC has been tested only very little (there are very few examples), it might be that this fails in all cases. Does anybody know of other FP candidates that have appeared on an article alerts list? --B. Wolterding (talk) 21:14, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Adds a alert, then almost immediately removes it

Status	Not bug
Description	It places a Requested move, and less than half an hour later removes it.
Type	Other
Link to bug	[3]
Report by	The Windler talk  01:50, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

I was about to report the same (for a GAN though) ([4] and [5]) for WP:PHYS. I doubt it's a real bug (and if it is, a pretty mild one), especially since there was talk of bringing that article to GA, so it's possible that the bot simply ran twice and on the second run, the RM/GAN were withdrawn. Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 03:22, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

It appears that the move either was denied or the move was made. Joe Gazz84^user•_talk•^contribs•_{Editor Review} 18:45, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Bad link for a RFC

Status	New bug
Description	link to an RFC article has !! and doesn't close the link. Diff shows human-edited change being replaced by bot
Type	other
Link to bug	http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Oregon/Article_alerts&curid=22042256&diff=288170452&oldid=287768730
Report by	tedder (talk) 00:49, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Moved from another section

This isn't exactly a bug, but one of the RfCs on this page won't render correctly. I tried fixing the heading of the RfC, but that didn't seem to work. Can someone take a look? Thanks! Katr67 (talk) 03:13, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

No, it's a bug. It happened in the past and was fixed, so I wonder what caused it this time.Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 04:04, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

I made a temporary fix. The entry is displayed correctly for now, but that'll be overturned by on the next run (unless the bot is fixed before).Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 04:07, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, for looking into it. I thought the RfC was set up incorrectly and that's what had done it. Don't worry about the temp fix. It's kind of useless to fix it every time. Believe me, I tried. :) Katr67 (talk) 00:47, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Bot seems to be travelling backwards in time.

Status	Confirmed
Description	Bot reports the removal of a PROD /opening of a Peer Review [6], then follows up with the nomination [7] and removed the Peer Review.
Type	Other
Link to bug	See above.
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 04:10, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

I am experiencing the same problem at WP:CHICAGO.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 04:12, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Hm. It seems to me that the bot generated its usual report on 5 May (into its internal cache), but did not write it to the wiki due to some technical problem. (Maybe the wiki servers were down or too slow at that time.) The cached report was then written in the next run, together with that of 6 May, but unfortunately they were written in the wrong order. Did this happen more often, or only on May 6? --B. Wolterding (talk) 18:22, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Bot drops a bunch of alerts at WP:FLUID

Status	Confirmed
Description	Bot drops a bunch of alerts at WP:FLUID. Upon snooping around, I suspect that this is a taskforce-specific problems, as there were similar droppings of articles in all the physics taskforces, but none on the main project alerts.
Type	Other
Link to bug	[8]
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 02:57, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, indeed some strange behaviour. Some of these entries were re-added in the next bot run. Maybe something related to the toolserver database state on that particular date. Did someone notice any examples at other points of time? --B. Wolterding (talk) 19:15, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Incorrectly labeling AFD deleted articles as kept and giving wrong nominators

Status	New bug
Description	This bot has been labeling Xero (album) as kept per a deletion discussion when it was really deleted. Also, it is giving wrong nominator names for deletion discussions. Here's yet another error: * 30 Jun 2009 – Baxter (album) (talk) nominated for deletion by TenPoundHammer; see discussion. It links to the album page but the artist deletion discussion and labels TenPoundHammer as nominator when I nominated it for deletion.
Type	Other
Link to bug	[9]
Report by	Timmeh 18:15, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

See known problems for the wrong nominator part. The bad report is indeed a bug.Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 18:27, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Kept Afd article listed as deleted

Status	New bug
Description	Wikipedia:WikiProject Michael Jackson showing Debbie Rowe as deleted via its Afd but the result was actually Keep.
Type	Other
Link to bug	[10]
Report by	- ALLST✰R▼echo wuz here 10:50, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Incorrect reporting of move proposals

Status	New bug
Description	The bot has reported two move proposals on WP:INAA, both of which ended in a consensus to move, as not moved.
Type	Other
Link to bug	See this (discussion) and this (discussion)).
Report by	SBC-YPR (talk) 14:25, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

On this day not reported

Status	New bug
Description	On this day of Revolution Day was not reported for Wikipedia:WikiProject Egypt. Does this has something to do with that it isn't assessed ?
Type	Other
Link to bug	Please link to the edit(s) that cause the bug(s).
Report by	Diaa abdelmoneim (talk) 00:12, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Probably due to some lag in the categories. Wait until the next update. If it's not there, then it's a bug.Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 04:08, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Jesús Rosendo was reported as deleted, but the result of the discussion was keep (WikiProject Cycling)

Status	Confirmed
Description	In the WikiProject Cycling article alerts, on 17 August 2009, the Jesús Rosendo article was listed as having been deleted. The discussion on the page however had as conclusion keep, and the article still exists
Type	Other
Link to bug	[11]
Report by	EdgeNavidad (talk) 10:31, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it's a bug - probably related to the diacritics in the article title. Haven't found the solution yet. --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:08, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

University of Chicago WP:GAR review is being overlooked

Status	Confirmed
Description	University of Chicago is under a WP:GAR review
Type	Overlooked page
Link to bug	diff
Report by	TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 01:16, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, seems to be a bug - reason yet unknown. --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:14, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Second article never appeared at WP:CHIAA: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Is it the Chicago template which has a few redirects? Is it possible that the redirects are not showing up?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 23:10, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

No, I don't think this has to do with redirects - so far, the bot has always worked fine with template redirects. --B. Wolterding (talk) 23:50, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

It seems to me that the problem is related to the behaviour of {{GAR/link}}. When the request is put "on hold" (like apparently the one for Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago was), it removes the article from Category:Good article reassessment nominees. This is very unfortunate, since the bot can then no longer find the article. --B. Wolterding (talk) 23:56, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

I have left a note at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Good articles#Template question. --B. Wolterding (talk) 00:04, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Inline discussions not displayed

Status	New bug
Description	AA subsciptions at Wikipedia:WikiProject Films/Review/FAC and Wikipedia:WikiProject Films/Review/FC are set to |discussions=1 but entries are being listed, discussions are not being shown directly as Wikipedia:Article alerts/Subscribing suggests they should.
Type	Other
Link to bug	[12], [13]
Report by	PC78 (talk) 00:21, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Issue with cfd, bot not reporting when category listed

Status	New bug
Description	Category talk:2000 AD was tagged June 9 with {{comicsproj}} [14] (page has been moved hence different name in diff). However, when a CFD tag was added to the category on the 21st October [15], there was no mention by the bot in the alerts recorded on 22nd [16], or subsequently.
Type	"Overlooked page"
Link to bug	[17] [18] [19]
Report by	Hiding T 00:10, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Inactive banners break the alerts

Status	New bug
Description	When the a project's banner is switched to /inactive (those based on the Metabanner at least), the alerts stop working
Type	Other
Link to bug	[20]
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 03:39, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

If the project is inactive, does it not follow that there is no-one watching the alerts? PC78 (talk) 11:28, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

There still might be passerbys, and people could who watch them without editing the project page and so on. They would also serve as good archives of what went on during the period of inactivity if the project becomes active again. Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 00:53, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough. What it would need is for the bot to check for banners in Category:Inactive WikiProject banners. I've made a short term fix by adding a category the bot does check to the inactive banner, but it should still be fixed at this end. PC78 (talk) 01:08, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

MfD doesn't link to discussion

Status	New bug
Description	MfD doesn't have a link to the discussion
Type	Other
Link to bug	[21]
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 00:50, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Overlooks books

Status	New bug
Description	Book:Chemistry Book was sent to WP:MfD on 6 January 2010 (UTC), but the alerts didn't pick it up.
Type	Overlooked page
Link to bug	hist, hist
Report by	Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 04:00, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Alerts not updating for Martial Arts project

Status	New bug
Description	Article alerts do not appear to have updated for the Martial Arts project for a few days (at least three nominations for article deletion missed)
Type	Transclusion
Link to bug	No edits available; the problem is that the alerts are not updating
Report by	Janggeom (talk) 07:08, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect report at WP MILLS

Status	New bug
Description	Reported the GE 1.5 MW wind turbine article as deleted when it was kept
Type	Transclusion
Link to bug	[22]
Report by	Mjroots (talk) 21:44, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Featured Picture Candidates for WikiProject Volcanoes overlooked

Status	New bug
Description	There are currently four FPCs with the {{Volcano}} tag on their talk page. None have been reported at Wikipedia:WikiProject Volcanoes/Article alerts.
Type	Overlooked page
Link to bug	Tag placement: [23][24][25][26] Changes to alerts since the first tag was placed: [27]
Report by	Avenue (talk) 02:14, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

WP:USRD-related TfD's not listed properly in alert report

Status	New bug
Description	Multiple templates relating to California County routes (under WP:USRD) were nominated at Templates for Discussion on February 26 and February 27. ArticleAlertBot did not list these on the project report until March 4. The next report generated on March 5 erroneously stated that all these items were kept. All templates were actually deleted on March 6.
Type	Overlooked page; Other
Link to bug	Delayed report of items entering TfD workflow: [28]. Bot erroneously reporting items were kept: [29].
Report by	LJ (talk) 05:18, 7 March 2010 (UTC)