User:Petrb/Proposed bot task iptalk

This page contains summary of the task which would be done by bot for archiving ip talk pages: in {} is highlighted what needs to be fixed / discussed

The bot will skip pages that have been edited within the past 14 days

1

Bot will walk through half of all the pages in the list Category:Wikipedia user talk pages of shared IP addresses
It will check if the talk page is empty / archived and which template is used at the top
If no template is present and content can't be archived (vandalised page) it will skip
Template which matches the {list provided by Maryana} will be replaced with new one
Bot will check the last time (if more recently than 14 days) the user's talk page was edited and if user isn't blocked
If page is not already being archived, has messages older than 14 days, the talk page hasn't been edited in 14 days, and there are no live block notices on the page, the bot will:
*create Archive {n} subpage of the user page with {{talk archive navigation}} {if the archive is over a max size (e.g. 100Kb) we should start archive 2,3,4 etc?}
*cut and paste all old messages onto that page and save the page
*leave an archive banner {{archives}} and an auto archive notice {{auto archiving notice}} at the top of the talk page and save the page {Chzz: I suggest just use {{archives|auto}} - I don't think any other notification is needed}
If page is already archived, it would be skipped
If the page is not being archived but has been edited in the last 14 days, the bot will create Archive 1 subpage, leave archive banner and auto archive notice on the talk page but will not cut and paste the talk page messages yet
Bot will recheck all the pages again after 14 days. If the page has not been edited in 14 days, it will cut and paste all old messages (except current block notifications while the user is blocked) to the archive.
Bot will continue checking pages every 14 days and archive messages on talk pages that have not been edited in 14 days.
Bot will not archive block notifications while a user is blocked {or if block has expired within X days}

2

Bot will full cache whole block list of ip users (dumped from sql)
It will be connected to pmtpa rc feed and track changes to blocks
When block would be removed it {removes / archive} template from tp
Bot will archive blocks when expires

Bot also watches its /Shutdown page for a changes, when someone change it, it terminate all tasks and shut down for 1 hour, then respawn, if page is still changed, it shutdown again

Counting idea

The bot could keep a count of the total number of warnings that have ever been removed from each specific page - ie it could add the number removed during a specific run, and if it'd previously archived that same page, then the old count could be added. (probably, the bot would get that number from its own previous edit-summary)

That way, we can a) add a <small> text somewhere in the replacement text saying e.g. "A bot has archived 42 stale warning messages from this page" and b) the count can appear in the bot's edit summary.

This would alleviate concerns such as A relatively slow vandal will maybe come once a week, and will every time get a low level warning, however, that now gets obscured too much as old warnings are archived [1] Chzz ► 18:45, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

I think this is a good idea, though you should just say "A bot has archived X old messages." There may be stuff in the archives that aren't just warnings (block notices and other stuff too). Steven Walling (WMF) • talk 22:27, 4 November 2011 (UTC)