Forum:SH:WP:BOTS loophole

This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Senate Hall page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. —spookywillowwtalk 20:39, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
Forums > Senate Hall archive > SH:WP:BOTS loophole

So…Wookieepedia:Bots. Rarely touched, etc. Had been chatting with someone and noticed a bit of a loophole though; there's no specification for if/when/how a bot flag gets removed. And then of course, sometimes things slip through the cracks, such as a recent case in which, until brought up, an inactive operator's bot retained bot rights long after the {{Inactive}} tag had been applied to their userpage.

Anyway, I kinda think it's fair to set it in stone that if/when a bot's operator has {{Inactive}} applied to their userpage (thus representing one full year with no edits), the bot should automatically lose its flags until their return, and would suggest that to be changed on the page. At least then it's more of a duty (such as how Inactive template is) and not quite so personal. That said, if someone has departed the site, it's not optimal to have extra accounts with bot flags that may be compromised, as they can do a lot of damage.

And, while this is on the table, it might be prudent to work in a mention of the Discord-facing bot requests channel, and also specifically note that it's bureaucrats who do the bot-flagging; pursuant to the WP:A tweaks that will be listing that as a duty soon for the 'crats. Might also be optimal to note that you can request such flags via the Discord server too (as has been done multiple times since, for many modern bots). Of course, the Discord's server logs are generally available so that the request can be verified still pretty easily; but also worth noting that it's good to present it as a second option since that's pretty much what people do anyway…and Admin noticeboard has largely fallen out of use.

With all that said though; if anyone had any other proposed cleanup for the wording; now might be the time.—spookywillowwtalk 05:24, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

Spun up a diff link draft with the small tweaks above. Image was courtesy of Editor finding that for me, thought it would be a nice touch.—spookywillowwtalk 02:39, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

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