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 Approved.

Operator: Xclamation point

Automatic or Manually Assisted: Automatic

Programming Language(s): PHP

Function Overview: See Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Main Page Image Bot. In addition to protectng images, this will also take up the role of User:FA Template Protection Bot as well.

Edit period(s): Daily.

Already has a bot flag (Y/N): N, self-requested desysopping.

Function Details: Ok, a few people will question my ability to run these bots. I know that. Please note that this bot was not written by me, but is a clone of what Chris G wrote at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Main Page Image Bot. I've been called upon by others to run this task, so here it is.

Quoted from the BRFA:

“

Bot has two parts, one watches the irc feed for edits to the mainpage templates, and uploads as nessary. The other part runs on a five minute crontab which deletes images that are no longer on the mainpage and also runs an extra image check in case part A missed an image.

”

---

In addition to protecting images, this will also protect templates that are on today's FA, like User:FA Template Protection Bot used to do. Simple task, already runs fine.

Discussion[edit]

*sees no problems* ·Add§hore· ^{Talk To Me!} 17:15, 23 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If this bot is just uploading images from commons so they can be protected, why not have the bot detect the pictures and then make a comment at the commons admin noticeboard requesting protection under their template (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:En_main_page) designed for this?. Although my idea would require to submit a bot request at commons as well..... Peachey88 ^{(Talk Page | Contribs)} 06:20, 24 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Why do all the work when a properly coded bot can do it much faster and more accurately than a human can? --Chris 09:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1. Is the source code public?
2. Are you essentially just putting this in your crontab?
3. And do you have a sufficient understanding of the code to fix any possible problems in the future?

--MZMcBride (talk) 18:35, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1. https://svn.toolserver.org/svnroot/chris/mpimagebot/ and https://svn.toolserver.org/svnroot/chris/admin/fa.php
2. Pretty much (is there another way?)
3. I think so...

Xclamation point 18:49, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question 2 was me asking whether you were making any modifications to the code or just copying / pasting. --MZMcBride (talk) 19:16, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Aside from making it use SoxBot rather than Chris G Bot, it's almost an exact clone. Slight modifications will be made to increase the IRC bot's functionality. Xclamation point 19:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

 Approved. -- Cobi^(t|c|b) 20:32, 25 February 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.