Archive for May 2013

MiszaBot II archiving current RfC

Hi. This archiving of a current RfC has been undone and removed from Misplaced Pages talk:Requests for adminship/Archive 222. I hope that's OK. -- Trevj (talk) 06:54, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) The bot only looks at signature timestamps; it knows nothing about RFCs. I've added a {{DNAU}} to the section to delay its archiving. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:50, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for helping out. I've amended the date, now it's closed. -- Trevj (talk) 11:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Bot failing when encountering blacklisted EL

See this edit. The bot deleted the threads from the talk page but failed to save the threads anywhere. When I undid the bot's deletion the spam filter would not let me save the undo due to an external link being placed on the blacklist. I altered the offending EL and saved the undo and will let the bot try archiving again.

What can be done to prevent this in the future? I would suggest the bot make the save to the archive first, and upon being rejected by the spam filter then no deletion is made from the talk page in the first place (because the spam filter would also disallow the bot to undo the original deletion from the talk page without fixing the blacklisted EL -- as it did to me). Or, upon the bot's edit being denied by the spam filter, the bot reports the edit to the talk page so a human can make the correction.

Thoughts? Rgrds. --64.85.217.134 (talk) 08:16, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Not good. Seems like a reasonable plan to fix.

And speaking of bump (section above): Bumping thread for 30 days. --Elvey (talk) 03:15, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Bot not entering b in change log

Your bot doesn't appear to be entering 'mb' in its signature but only 'm'. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Talk:Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

According to the history of that talk page, Miszabot has created "Archive 48". That archive does indeed exist. But there is no trace of any archive on the actual talk page, and the "48" is obviously rogue as the archive has "threads" back to 2004 and there is no archive 47.  ?!?!? --Sussexonian (talk) 14:20, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I've moved the archive and fixed up the configuration at the top of the talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:46, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it was due to this edit, which has |counter=48 not |counter=1 --Redrose64 (talk) 15:44, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Miszabot confuses me

The account User:MiszaBot appears to be blocked, with bots I, II, and III (wow, I never expected to write III|III]]) doing the work...but a lot of the documentation is hosted at the "old" bot page. It's strange because if you attempt to comment on, say, the FAQ, you get a "user is blocked" red box. Also, the Miszabot page has one of those bot shutdown buttons, suggesting it's a real bot. I figured it out but maybe it's suboptimal organization? On a related note, you may want to register/redirect/block the accounts User:Miszabot I, User:Miszabot II, and User:Miszabot III? WP:BEANS, but they seem tempting targets. (Maybe accounts with "bot" are autoprevented somehow.) -- stillnotelf is invisible 16:07, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, MiszaBot (talk · contribs) is blocked (here's the full log) but that doesn't imply that MiszaBot I (talk · contribs) MiszaBot II (talk · contribs) and MiszaBot III (talk · contribs) should necessarily be blocked as well. Have those malfunctioned in any way? Also, I don't know what you mean about MiszaBot I/II/III not being registered: they must be (and in fact they are), because they would not be able to edit otherwise. --Redrose64 (talk) 17:20, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

I didn't mean to at all imply that I, II, and III should be blocked! My confusion is that User:MiszaBot, which hosts a lot of documentation for bots I, II, and III, IS blocked, but its page behaves as if it's a fully functioning bot - big shutoff button, use of present tense, listed as having active tasks...). I think I, II, and III should continue as-is, but maybe User:MiszaBot should be tweaked to indicate its historical / documentation status and clarify it is no longer an active bot (and perhaps won't be again). For the second point - notice the capitalizations. My reference to WP:BEANS is the fact that I was relucant to spell out that User:Miszabot I (notice the case, and no it is not registered at this time) would be an attractive account for a vandal, since it looks a lot like a respected account, and could be used for subtle vandalism without attracting notice. -- stillnotelf is invisible 18:08, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, can someone explain why it still masquerades as a fully functioning bot, or suggest what should be done about the confusion? See: User_talk:Fluffernutter#MiszaBot_confusion. Perhaps we just tweak the page to indicate that I, II, and III, do the work as MiszaBot itself was malfunctioning and remains blocked.--Elvey (talk) 16:14, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

I've been bold following feedback from the blocker and the above discussion.

Bots I, II, and III are active, but Wikipedia_talk:Neutral_point_of_view/Noticeboard is not being archived; I wonder how widespread the problem is.--Elvey (talk) 18:51, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

At Wikipedia_talk:Neutral_point_of_view/Noticeboard, the archiving parameters are "minthreadsleft = 4" and "minthreadstoarchive = 3". So according to the documentation, nothing can be archived from that page until there are at least seven threads there. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:23, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

<Facepalm> --03:11, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Wikinews Importer Bot

The Wikinews Importer Bot (talk · contribs) hasn't edited since May 3. This is the bot that updates the Wikinews boxes at Portal:Current events - a high-profile page. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:58, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

At Wiki talk

Dear Miszabot,

At Talk:Wiki, the archives need refactored:

• Archive 1: 2003- 15July2011
• Archive 2: 2008 - 25Aug2012
• Archive 3: 2006 - 2Feb2013
• Archive 4: 2007 - 7Marcch2008

The entire talk page was harvested. Minthreads left was = 4.

I've restored the last several discussions from Archive 3. — CpiralCpiral 17:53, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

A day, no bot activity

Is the bot running today? The contribs suggest its last act was May 11. Needs attention? History2007 (talk) 21:58, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Yeah. All three bots appear down. Ramaksoud2000 21:28, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Probably has something to do with the Toolserver being down again See Misplaced Pages:Village_pump_(technical)#FYI:_Toolserver_web_tools_and_bots_down for more info. jcgoble3 (talk) 22:10, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

All three have performed archiving functions since the above thread was raised. --Redrose64 (talk) 08:16, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes. They seem to b working now. How do these compare to Cluebot III used on AN. The developer for that is still around... History2007 (talk) 08:42, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Anybody know what's happening, or when the bot will be working again?
—WWoods (talk) 03:35, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

The bot is up now. Ramaksoud2000 03:54, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Hey

Your bot is not archiving my stuff. Its set to do it every 30 days but it wont so I have to do it myself. Its annoying. Could you fix this or something. BlackDragon 14:57, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

First, let's consider the settings as they presently stand.

{{User:MiszaBot/config
|algo = old(30d)
|archive = User talk:Black60dragon/Archive 2
}}

Now compare these with their descriptions in User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo. The first setting, |algo=old(30d) doesn't mean "every 30 days" but that threads will be archived only when they are at least 30 days old. What's also important is the settings that you have omitted: these take on their default values. For example, you've not specified |minthreadsleft=, therefore, the bot will not archive threads if that would leave less than five on the page. Now look at the last version of your talk page prior to your recent manual archive. It has one thread; I know that you're going to say "but there are 17", but the level 1 heading immediately after the contents acts as a wrapper for all the subsequent level 2 headings. If you want automatic archiving to occur, that level 1 heading must go. --Redrose64 (talk) 19:01, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

K thanks and I meant 30 days old. And someone edited the bot part a while back. Im not sure what they changed though .BlackDragon 01:03, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

@Black60dragon: You added the MiszaBot/config section in this edit; the only change since then is that the bot adjusted the white space. Since you've created the third archive by hand, you'll want to adjust the "archive" parameter which still points to archive 2. You could perhaps switch it to use the "counter" method using the example at User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo#Example 2 - incremental archives, but setting the counter to 3. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:05, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Talk:BP

Hi Misza, the archiving appears not to be working on this page. I changed it on 17 May to 10 days but nothing has been archived since then (in fact, nothing has been archived since 8 May). Would you mind taking a look? SlimVirgin 20:25, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) Misza hasn't been editing at this wiki lately. I've set the archive counter to 15, since archive 14 is full and archive 15 exists. Let's see if that helps. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:46, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Many thanks, John. SlimVirgin 20:47, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi, still nothing. SlimVirgin 16:33, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

MiszaBot I (talk · contribs) hasn't edited since the 17th. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:10, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that. Is there another bot that we can replace it with on Talk:BP, or do we need to archive manually? I'm asking because the page is long and getting hard to navigate. SlimVirgin 18:23, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

ClueBot III (talk · contribs) is quite popular, although the setup technique is different and I've never actually done it. Other archiving bots do exist, although some, such as Femto Bot (talk · contribs), are no longer available. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:15, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

MiszaBot I has archived the page now. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:15, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for the help. SlimVirgin 21:44, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Single line configuration

I have a quick question that I want to ask... I'm trying to condense the top of the WP:THQ page and was wondering if the template for this bot was one of the "picky ones" that doesn't work if all of the arguments are on a single line like {{User:MiszaBot/config|archiveheader = {{Automatic archive navigator}}|maxarchivesize = 70K|counter = 106|minthreadsleft = 12|minthreadstoarchive = 1|algo = old(3d)|archive = Misplaced Pages:Teahouse/Questions/Archive %(counter)d}}.

I actually have a second question as well, does the template work if it is transcluded? For example could I put the template in {{TH question page}} and have it transcluded like <includeonly>{{User:MiszaBot/config|archiveheader = {{Automatic archive navigator}}|maxarchivesize = 70K|counter = 106|minthreadsleft = 12|minthreadstoarchive = 1|algo = old(3d)|archive = Misplaced Pages:Teahouse/Questions/Archive %(counter)d}}</includeonly> and have it only work on the THQ page? Thanks again. Technical 13 (talk) 12:14, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

To the first question: no, you can't; see User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo#Setting up archiving. To the second question: almost certainly not - since the format of the wikitext is critical (see previous answer), it's pretty certain that the bot looks at the Wikitext for the page and does not follow transclusions. --Redrose64 (talk) 13:04, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

*sigh* Okay, thank you very much Rose. That was the information I was looking for. Technical 13 (talk) 15:17, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

script inactive sysops

Hei Misza13, please take a look at User talk:Misza13/Archives/2013/03#script inactive sysops, the script is out of order since months now. Would be great, if you or anyone else reading this would repair it at any time. Would also be good, if the message wouldn’t disappear in the archive, as long as nothing has been changed with the script. --Geitost 11:30, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

There are two possibilities here, both connected to the fact that the script is on Toolserver: (i) people with a Toolserver account must log in there at least once every six months, otherwise their accounts expire - it's possible that since Misza13 (talk · contribs) hasn't edited on Misplaced Pages for seven months now, he also hasn't visited Toolserver during the same period; (ii) Toolserver is known to be in a bad way, and many tasks are failing through no fault of their owners, see various threads at WP:VPT and its archives. --Redrose64 (talk) 14:03, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

I’ve read months ago that this error hasn’t anything to do with the inactivity of Misza13. In that case, there wouldn’t be anything to see anymore except „account expired“ and something like this. Perhaps, that may be in the future. This error has something to do with MW changes made years ago (I don’t know anymore which ones, someone mentioned that on German wiki in March). The script had to be changed, but wasn’t, and in February or March, the old way of doing things (which was old for years) had been switched off, so the script isn’t useable anymore since then. But I can’t remember which change and switch off that was. I’d have to look for that again. But if noone else has the possibility to change the script except Misza13, then that wouldn’t help anyway. Someone would have to take over the maintenaince, if Misza13 doesn’t come back anymore, or the tool is gone forever. --Geitost 14:33, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

I’ve been told in March that this error has something to do with this change in August 2010, and in February/March there had been a config change, so that an old way to use the databases shall not be useable anymore, and that the tool doesn’t work anymore because of that. Perhaps anyone understands that and can do anything with it. --Geitost 14:43, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Script fixed, it was just a matter of pointing the coded to correct servers and databases. Seems you'll have to live without CSS on my pages, unfortunately. MediaWiki seems to have changed the way it loads styles into pages a while ago and my "hack" of stealing Misplaced Pages's styles doesn't seem to be working anymore. And I don't have time to investigate how to fix it now. If anyone has an idea with what to replace the following archaic lines:

       @import "http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/shared.css?80";
       @import "http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/monobook/main.css?80";

I'm open to suggestions. —Миша13 16:55, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing (I’m just seeing this). Don’t have any idea about the other thing, but I can go around and ask for that. Perhaps anyone who has a suggestion will come here then. Greetings --Geitost 12:31, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi, contains any of the following lines your needed CSS?

• https://bits.wikimedia.org/en.wikipedia.org/load.php?debug=true&lang=en&modules=skins.monobook&only=styles&skin=monobook&*
• https://bits.wikimedia.org/en.wikipedia.org/load.php?debug=true&lang=en&modules=site&only=styles&skin=monobook&*

(remove debug=true for compressed output). If not, you may want to load this url and monitor which style got loaded from where --Se4598 (talk) 13:47, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Bot Broke the Formatting

It appears that MiszaBot broke the formatting of Misplaced Pages Talk: Vandalism. See this diff. http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Wikipedia_talk%3AVandalism&diff=553740452&oldid=553405711 Vandalism to the page may have confused the bot. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:32, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure what bit you think might have been vandalism, but MiszaBot ignores <nowiki>...</nowiki> around section headings. To prevent a dummy heading from being treated as a real heading, the {{fake heading}} template should be used. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:15, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Feature request

I'd like the bot to archive also when a section is marked "resolved" (at least after 48h). -DePiep (talk) 23:42, 31 May 2013 (UTC)