User talk:Slakr/Archive 3

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Kaola bear

I haven't been around and just saw the Kaola bear you gave me, thanks it's adorable. I hope things are getting a little easier here with your bot for you. I see it everywhere when I am on! :) Thanks again,--CrohnieGal^Talk 10:17, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Heh, no problem. I see it as a good thing, because it gives my customer service skills some practice. :P --slakr^\ talk / 21:40, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

P.S. problem

I commented at Talk:Moors Sundry Act of 1790, then added a P.S. signed with ~~~ instead of ~~~~. SineBot added {{Unsigned}} after my undated sig, with puzzling results. Diff. A fix would be great. 'Til then, I'll sign and date my P.S.s. -- Rob C. alias Alarob 05:04, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Delayed. {{undated}} support was temporarily disabled in an older version. In the meantime the bot has been using {{unsigned}} or {{unsignedIP}} for everything. {{undated}} will soon be back, since I've been adding timestamp and weird User: page exceptions in the meantime. --slakr^\ talk / 21:36, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Slakr : for now please enable {{undated}} for obvious cases (User Example signing with [[User:Example|Example]]), which probably make > 90% of all undated signatures.

Alarob : note that you'll have to timestamp your P.S. even after the fix (or opt-out)

∴ Alex Smotrov 22:36, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Understood. -- Rob C. alias Alarob 02:01, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot error

On Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Assessment/Assessment Drive#Awards, I signed signature but sinebot thinks I didn't. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 21:09, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Frequently Asked Question (#1). Your signature did not include a timestamp per signatures guideline. --slakr^\ talk / 20:45, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot prob

Please make Sine Bot stop signing my pages in my user space, I am using a sub page as a work page for a current project I am working on, I opted out yesterday with the {{NoAutosign}} on the talk page in question but it hasn't stopped the bot, thanks for your attention to this matter. IvoShandor 07:59, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a bug. Please re-read the instructions for {{NoAutosign}}. You must place the template on your user page, not your talk page. If, however, you would like to exempt your talk page (instead of yourself), please use {{bots}} instead. --slakr^\ talk / 16:14, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. IvoShandor 22:07, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Hey, it seems I have to add that to every sub page to opt out on those pages as well. Would be neat for those of us who have tons of sub pages (like me) to be able to simply opt out on our main user pages and have that opt out all of our sub pages. Just a thought, I am sure you have more pressing matters to tend to, rogue signings and malcontents in their aftermath to be sure. ;) IvoShandor 11:22, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

It's a good idea, it's just that no practical ways of implementing it come to mind. For example, the bot would have to traverse backwards from a given subpage to find the root page where there might be a "don't sign my subpages" directive. Of course, it would have to load all of those prior pages in order to get there. If {{bots}} had some sort of a sister that worked like miszabot's config template, even that might prove a problem, since in order to read those configuration parameters it would still have to load the page every so often. It's possible there could be some sort of template called "NoAutosignMySubpages" but I figure that most people don't have soooo many "User talk:" subpages in their user space that it's wholly impractical to simply go through and {{bots}}-ify them. --slakr^\ talk / 17:55, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I hear ya, not a big deal. I can learn to live with SineBot anyway, and if I can't then I will just opt out, most of the stuff that was causing problems has been moved to the main space anyway. IvoShandor 06:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Your sineBot autosigns stuff that has already been signed.

Check the section written by PureRumble. I used the "~ ~ ~ ~" mark. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann&action=edit&section=24. PureRumble 21:27, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Frequently Asked Question (#1). Your signature did not include a link to either your user page or your talk page, per signatures guideline. --slakr^\ talk / 21:44, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Code for SineBot

I would appreciate if you could give me the code for the bot. Dreamy ^\*/_!$! 21:22, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot and edit conflicts

Hi, can you take a look at this diff when you have a sec - [1]. Is there a way to stop SineBot signing posts that have already been reverted? WjBscribe 12:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Not exactly sure why that happened, because the bot explicitly will not add a signature to a page if Mediawiki says that the page has changed in the meantime. My main guess is that since this happened during a period of relatively high activity, there were db lag effects between the two edits. I.e., this is a portion of the output of the actual revisions to the page:

          <rev user="SineBot" timestamp="2007-09-12T11:33:33Z" comment="Automatically signing comment made by [[User:DragonflySixty7|DragonflySixty7]]" />
          <rev user="MER-C" timestamp="2007-09-12T11:33:29Z" comment="Reverted 1 edit by [[Special:Contributions/DragonflySixty7|DragonflySixty7]]." />

As you can see, the difference is a mere matter of seconds-- more than enough time for any given slave to not realize there was an edit conflict, leading me to believe that this is a fluke. I haven't changed anything recently, and the bot's been running for the last 6 days. However, if this actually is a recurring problem (and it actually makes conflicts outside of that margin of error), which I'm thinking it probably isn't/doesn't, please let me know if it happens again so that I can examine it further. As for now, I'll go take a quick look at the code just to make sure I didn't overlook anything. Thanks for the heads up, and cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 15:50, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Bot help

I often do searches for words that are spelt incorrectly in articles. When I find one (or a group), I go ahead and fix them. Recently I did a search for "appearence" (misspelling of "appearance). I hit the mother lode. My search [2] revealed 252733 instances.

Is there a bot out there that can visit all these articles and fix this spelling mistake automatically? Clerks. 15:52, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Yikes! :P I'd suggest copy/pasting this post to the requests for bot work board to see if anyone already has a bot that can quickly / easily do something like that. Usually spell check bots are frowned upon, but if it's an unambiguous change (like this one), you might have some luck. Lemme know if you run across any problems. --slakr^\ talk / 23:26, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Signing My Posts

Thanks for the tip on how to sign my posts. Fahlbrs 19:12, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

No problem! Thanks for dropping by to say thanks :D. On a related note, you might be interested in checking out the tutorial for other stuff you can learn about. :) --slakr^\ talk / 23:29, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Dupe sigs

Yes, so this signing really isn't needed[3], and it happened on all my other AfD !votes if you care. I suspect it's because I cleverly hacked up a signature such that a ~~~ expands to the full thing. So please fix that. --Gwern (contribs) 23:07 14 September 2007 (GMT)

Fixed in v1.2.10. It was because you had a space after your user name in the "User talk:" link. Cheers. :) --slakr^\ talk / 23:18, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Good, good. I plan to !vote at AfD more often these days, and I am gratified it is fixed already. --Gwern (contribs) 21:52 15 September 2007 (GMT)

Sinebot problem

Sinebot keeps signing pictures on my discussion sandbox could you please maske him stop?Swirlex 23:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Frequently Asked Question (#2). Please see SineBot's user page. --slakr^\ talk / 02:24, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

userpage revert

Thanks for that revert. The culprit is blocked, though appears to have more than one ip address at hand and will likely resurface. -- Longhair\^talk 03:21, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Heh, no prob. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:23, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

user still vandalising

user User_talk:74.229.129.64 also vandalized Japan, please ban him User5802 04:20, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Superfluous signing?

Hi,

This is the second time that I can recall that the signbot has signed my talk page comments when I believe that I used four tildes to sign my own comments. [4]

One common feature in both instances is that for some reason my username is signed but there is no timestamp. Obviously, one possibility is that the wiki software is not correctly addding a timestamp when I use 4 tildes. Another possibility is a problem with the signbot. Yet another possibility is that I am mistaken in my belief that I really did use 4 tildes in signing my post. The third possibility seems unikely unless there is some other mechanism for my username to appear. I certainly did not add a link to my wikipage manually, exceot by the standard method of using 4 tildes. --Ramsey2006 06:04, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm really thinking that there is some sort of glitch in the wiki software that sometimes leaves the signature without a timestamp and then the signbot interprets the lack of a timestamp as not having a signature. Could it be some sort of race condition, where the signbot accesses the wiki database betweeen the time when the signature is added and the timestamp is added? Maybe adding the signature and the timestamp is not an atomic operation on the wiki database. In both cases I recall the effect being rather immediate on a human time scale. --Ramsey2006 06:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

The bot doesn't know if the signature is signed using tildes or not, as tilde parsing is done only once before the actual change is committed to the database; so, the bot only sees the end result. What's likely happening here is you accidentally signed with only three tildes (an easy mistake to make), which would only output your user link and not the datestamp. Likewise, if you signed with 5 tildes, it would only output the datestamp. The bot would have used {{undated}} instead, but it currently isn't enabled (but will be whenever I get a chance), so it used {{unsigned}} despite the fact it was only missing the date. --slakr^\ talk / 14:39, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah...that makes sense. I didn't even know that there were alternatives of using 3 or 5 tildes. --Ramsey2006 18:52, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Another example to look at. [5]. Turlo Lomon 05:46, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot doesn't like my signature!

SineBot has started adding an "unsigned" notice to my comments; see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=157935403 and http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=157933614. I'm guessing it's because my signature contains [[User: Ruakh |Ruakh]] rather than [[User:Ruakh|Ruakh]] (i.e., my signature contains spaces in the syntax, spaces that MediaWiki ignores but that SineBot apparently does not). As you can imagine, this is really annoying. —Ruakh_TALK 07:15, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Already fixed in v1.2.10. Though, if it still gives you problems, lemme know =) --slakr^\ talk / 08:50, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

O.K., thanks. Your bot does good work. :-) —Ruakh_TALK 19:28, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, it looks like Sinebot hates my sig too... [6] gets me a double-sign, but maybe it's because I forgot to sign last time? -Mysekurity 07:04, 16 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mysekurity (talk • contribs) HA! 15:03, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

It's because the link isn't to your user page, but rather a redirect to it. :P --slakr^\ talk / 18:13, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Ahh...gotcha! I imagine that would be kinda difficult to implement... Thanks. -Mysekurity 21:48, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot

Bot seems to be broken. Well, I have done my duty as a bug reporter. :P -- Cat ^chi? 16:15, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a bug.. You sign - so far as the bot is concerned - as "User:White Cat/07" but you are, of course "User:White Cat". The bot does not at the moment allow user A to sign as User B. I see User:White Cat/07 redirects to User:White Cat so I'm a little puzzled as to your decision to have the "/07" element of the username in the signature link. (And I'm not User:Slakr, btw, but as I sat here about to compose a message to him I read your message and...) --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:24, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

To-do. Yeah, redirects are kind of weird. If this gets to be a huge problem, let me know and I'll add an exemption. I'm not thinking it will be, since the overwhelming majority of signatures don't link to a subpage on their user/user talk space; however, when I have some free time I'll probably add a check for '/' to the regex. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 19:26, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I am for the most part inactive on wikipedia for now though I do always sign.

I know how difficult maintaining a bot is so I am trying to be very careful not to be a dick about this. Please accept my apologies if thats the case and know that it is unintentional. I link to a redirect in my sigs by year (its 2007 and hence /07). You may wish to check if the linked page is a redirect - though that might be too resource demanding. It isn't rare for people to sign with the "old" username after a username rename for a while for example. Some signatures do not even link to any pages as it isn't required though recommended for obvious reasons.

-- Cat ^chi? 21:53, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

The bot tries to stay as close as possible to Wikipedia:Signatures, including the internal links requirements. --slakr^\ talk / 21:59, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Ur annoyin' bot

ARGHHH, it's annoying.. every time i post any comment it sign's it even though it has already been. i changed my name. --West Coast Ryda and Talk to Me 20:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a bug. Your current user name is Football97, but you're signing as West Coast Ryda, which is a non-existent user. Being signed in as one user but signing as someone else can be extremely confusing to other editors-- especially newbies. Please note that simply changing your signature does not change your user name, so I would suggest that you read up on how to change your user name instead so that you might properly change your user name. --slakr^\ talk / 20:38, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Cake advertisement

Yes please delete it. I dropped that there by mistake.--Filll 01:35, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot is against a valid signature!

Why is this option still at Wikipedia when we can't use it, according to SineBot? This is an option from My Preferences: "Raw signature (If unchecked, the contents of the box above will be treated as your nickname and link automatically to your user page. If checked, the contents should be source code, including all links. Do not use images, templates, or external links in your signature.)" I will still sign this comment using four tildes and letting that option checked. --Daniel7 16:24, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

The raw signature option is for people who want to add html markup and/or different links to their signatures (e.g., instead of a simple [[User: link, changing it to a [[User talk: link instead). Checking the box simply tells Mediawiki that you're doing something complex and instead of simply transparently doing [[User:Daniel7|<whatever you put into the box>]] it allows you to completely replace the entire thing with whatever you want. For example, I checked the box and put both a link to my user page AND a link to my talk page (plus some formatting stuff), even though I only need one of those links and the formatting is aesthetic. Thus, you can technically use it however you want, especially if you're ignoring all rules (like your current signature is doing). SineBot simply signs signatures that don't conform to the signatures guideline (mainly per FAQ #1 at the top of this page). --slakr^\ talk / 18:27, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not "ignoring all rules". When I change the interface into my country language (romanian) it says this about that option: "Short version of the name, for signatures: _______ . ¤ Gross signature (without automatic link)". So this means I am totally in accordance with the rules, or that translation, which is on the .en site, not on .ro, is totally wrong! I was just trying to use another nickname because I can't change my user name. I'll try to use another nickname with link to my user page. I think this signature is OK, with link to my talk page? --daniel7 15:12, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, yeah, there's a good chance there's a little loss in translation somewhere along the way. Basically all that the signatures guideline really wants is a link to your user page or your talk page so that people can easily find and/or contact you. I definitely agree, however, that the signature settings are worded strangely, because when I was customizing my signature I had to pull up the guide to be sure I was doing stuff the right way. :P But yeah, your new signature is totally fine. =) --slakr^\ talk / 19:21, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Sig customization used to be even more confusing before raw sigs came out—to get "Random|832, which was my sig at one time, I would have to put Random]]|[[User talk:Random832|832 in the box. Do you remember doing that? —Random832 17:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Wishlist

Thanks for getting the undated element of sinebot back up & running. Two wishlist suggestions:

• Amend the edit summary for an "undated" edit to be "Automatically dating comment made by Foo Bar"
• Consider amending comments generally to "Automatically signing Foo Bar comment: "contents of FooBar's Edit Summary"" (i.e. so I don;t have to hide bots to hide SineBot edits; but I'm still presented with FooBar's edit summary in your edit summary"--Tagishsimon (talk) 17:24, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Future feature. Excellent ideas on both accounts. I had them on my mental to-do list but was procrastinating because they were primarily aesthetic :P. I'll add those next time I get a chance, since it seems most of the functional bugs have been ironed out. Thanks for your support, and cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 19:31, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Added in v1.3.0. Thanks again =) --slakr^\ talk / 22:17, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

So noticed, just now. Excellent work, young slacker. --Tagishsimon (talk) 10:50, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

faq

Didn't mean that comment on Talk:Abortion to sound as snarky as it came across - a FAQ would be good there, but I don't know if anyone will agree on its wording, given the intransigence we see there. Tvoz |talk 17:33, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Came here to offer support (but probably no help) if you decide to try to do a FAQ. Good luck, have fun with the endless archives, etc. Let me know if you want feedback. (puppy cheering at anyone foolish foolhardy brave enough to write a FAQ! KillerChihuahua^?!? 18:41, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Sliced Bread

I'm of the opinion that Sinebot is the greatest thing since. Fun name too. Oh, and if Dallas is Hell, then Houston is Hells larger, wetter, and stankier cousin. Not to start a "my cities a bigger cesspool than yours" argument or anything... Cheers! BURNyA 23:17, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Lol, well I suppose I should be more grateful. :P Cheers to a fellow Texan =) --slakr^\ talk / 17:40, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

vandalism

i did not do anything wrong 68.198.255.30 23:43, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, I don't think I ever said you did, since it looks like your talk page is blank and it doesn't look like I've reverted any of your edits. Perhaps you might be confusing me with someone else? You might consider checking out page histories to see who made a certain edit. --slakr^\ talk / 17:43, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Bug needs fixing

Please see this diff by sinebot. There's no need for this when adding to an existing comment. Please resolve. Thanks. ...\ ... Otherwise, generally nice work-- SineBot provides a useful service! ... Kenosis 00:45, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Unsupported. The text block was added a significant period of time after the original post (plus there had been an intermediate edit during that same time). Had the edit been a quick fix (I think the window is 5-10 minutes) and there hadn't been anyone else editing the page, the bot would have ignored it; however, since the period of time was large, the bot signed it, thinking that it was a new addition. It mainly does this to avoid people adding things later in time without signing, which would create a situation where an editor looks at one version of the comment, possibly posts a comment on it or performs an action based on it, then comes back later to find out that the post wasn't what it once was. Usually, when adding extra information that varies substantially in time (especially on regularly trafficked pages like Wikipedia talk:Policies and guidelines), people simply make a new indent off of their original post if there's a danger of people reading a comment/responding to it in the meantime. --slakr^\ talk / 17:32, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I accidentally removed a post when declining unblock (darn pasting of templates) and replaced it, complete with sig. Sinebot added my sig here. Not sure if this is something you can address or not, but there was a valid sig on the post, although not matching the person who added (which sinebot would see as me) so this may be an extra cost of my poor mousing. Thought I'd mention it anyway. KillerChihuahua^?!? 12:12, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Comment + Future feature. This is a quasi-sorta-semi-bug introduced as a result of the bot actually checking a signature for a correct link to the adding user's User:/User talk: space. The bot ignores edit summaries that reflect traditional UNDOs, reverts, twinkle edits and some other keywords, for example, but since your addition wasn't complex, didn't have any weird deletes or templates, and was a simple addition of indented lines, the bot thought it was a new comment addition and that you were fake-signing for someone else. :P Of course, on that note, I should probably simply tell it to ignore admins in the first place, since they're (hopefully :P) likely to know WP:SIG and by nature of the job doing funky things; hence, I'll add this in a future release. :) --slakr^\ talk / 17:32, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Template talk?

Is SineBot working for template talk pages? Just wondering - I noticed a couple of anon edits to Template talk:Porn Star that SineBot didn't catch. Videmus Omnia ^Talk 13:36, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. It normally should (well, I think-- I'll go double check). Not sure why it didn't hit the first one (it might have to do with the pagecreate), but it ignored the second one because it was an undo. --slakr^\ talk / 17:38, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Self note - FAQ pages

Confirmed. Exempt FAQ pages for {{FAQ}}. --slakr^\ talk / 19:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Fixed in v1.3.0. --slakr^\ talk / 22:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot source

Hi Slakr,

is it possible to have the source code of the bot? I would be interested in running it for the Italian wikipedia.

Snowolf 11:53, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Possibly. I need to get the bugs ironed out first and do some cleanup. --slakr^\ talk / 17:35, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Just mentionning that if I'm quietly monitoring this talk page, I'm still interested in running it on the French wikipedia. Let us know ;) NicDumZ ~ 12:37, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot dating of comments

Please don't do this anymore. I'm very careful to choose when I want my comments undated. It's rare but it is deliberate. Rossami (talk) 06:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Frequently Asked Question (SineBot/#2). Opt out methods are on its user page. --slakr^\ talk / 08:03, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Name before comment.

In this edit, SineBot unnecessarily signed a proposal (not a comment) for which I'd put my name before the proposal. It seems easy enough to program the bot such that if the username is included within the edit, it need not be signed. Thank you. Chick Bowen 22:21, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, it looks like it was undated as well. --slakr^\ talk / 08:07, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot signed my already-signed comments

Here's the diff. RainbowOfLight ^Talk 07:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Aha, I think I just figured out why - I changed my username and hadn't changed my signature - it was redirecting from my old userpage and talk page. RainbowOfLight ^Talk 07:38, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a bug. Yep, you got it. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 08:00, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Signing again

I am not supposed to sign this: [7]

I have even done what is required to be exempt from the bot. Your bot needs tuning. -- Cat ^chi? 20:14, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Confirmed. This is a problem with the bot's parsing of the eicontinue directive from api.php. I'll fix it right after I add this. Please use the category opt out method temporarily. --slakr^\ talk / 21:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Fixed in v1.3.0. --slakr^\ talk / 22:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for the prompt response and fix. Here have a barnstar. -- Cat ^chi? 11:50, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The da Vinci Barnstar The da Vinci Barnstar Ribbon

The da Vinci Barnstar For maintaining a decent bot and promptly fixing problems of any kind beyond the call of duty I here by award you this barnstar. -- Cat chi? 11:50, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Sahweet! Thanks a million =) --slakr^\ talk / 19:54, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

SineBot signed an addition of an interwiki link

Hi Slakr,

Just informing you of a mistake made by SineBot. User:Andres added an interwiki link to the Good Article Candidates page, and SineBot came along and added a signature. Diff is here. Hope it's an easy fix. Carre 10:15, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, well, the links are in a bunch of different languages, but I'm thinking that I could make an exception for link-only additions that look like they could be interwiki links. This problem would only effect the few non-talk pages that are opted in to autosigning, but I'll see what I can do =) --slakr^\ talk / 08:10, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Fixed in v1.3.2. Although it might not be perfect, since it's hard to know 100% since I (and consequently the bot) don't know all of the languages, but *shrug* :P --slakr^\ talk / 19:52, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Nice - a thought though... Wikipedia knows all the other language wikis out there, right? And interwiki links always start [[<language abbreviation>:, yes? So maybe that's the way to get a comprehensive list? I dunno, not knowing what language the Bot's written in, and viewing anything more recent than C as extravagant wastefullness (joking), but it's a thought. Or maybe that's what you've already done, but just lacked the comprehensive list? Nice quick fix anyway - thanks. Carre 22:41, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hello

Hey, I am an administrator on a small Wikipedia called Afrikaans Wikipedia. Right, so I was wondering whether you have some kind of manual on how to create a similar bot and run it on wikis other than the English Wikipedia. Your help will be very much appreciated. — Adriaan (T★C) 12:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll probably release the source code once I get to a stable version and I can do some major code cleanups (since it's a mess of comments, debugging stuff, and en.*-specific exemptions). --slakr^\ talk / 08:13, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, not to mention, it'd also require installing PHP extensions; otherwise, diffing will devour your CPU. But, I suppose that's not much of a problem on lower-traffic wikis, so I might have to write some sort of diffing engine that replicates xdiff. :\ --slakr^\ talk / 08:16, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Then again, I also might end up completely rewriting the logic part in C anyway, since it's getting to that crossover point (lol) :P. If I do that (which is actually more likely), it might *realllly* require installing a PHP extension, unless I completely rewrite the entire thing in C++, in which case it'd just require the ability to compile stuff in general. --slakr^\ talk / 08:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Wow thanks for the response. I am not really familiar with programming language and all that stuff, but thanks for your response. When it gets released I will probably need some more help, but it would come in very handy on our wiki :D Thanks :P — Adriaan (T★C) 16:18, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Possible serious glitch with User:SineBot

Hi, please investigate this edit by your bot, which appears to have removed quite a lot of text in the course of signing. --Tony Sidaway 02:49, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Here is another instance of a similar malfunction. --ElKevbo 02:52, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, lemme look into this real quick. --slakr^\ talk / 05:54, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Confirmed and Fixed in v1.3.1. Okay, here's the story. So the bot, itself, wasn't on crack, but, it seems as though the bad edits coincided with a period during which The Planet's (i.e., my dedicated server's ISP's) connection to several major backbones (UUNet, ATT, Cogent, Abovenet Global Crossing, and Level 3) took a major fall (at least, according to their uplink graphs). I'm fairly certain that the bot went to make the edit, and the edit timed out during mid-transmission. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but I totally put the wpTextbot1 argument at the very end of the form, instead of at the very beginning. As a result, everything crucial to the form (including the all-important wpEditToken) got transmitted in whole, except for wpTextbox1; and, where it cut off is where the connection timed out. MediaWiki simply assumed that that's all the edit was supposed to be, so it committed the change after the socket timed out.

Annnnnyway, the more important thing for now is that this won't happen again, as I've moved the wpTextbox1 field to the front of the form and the edit token to the very end, so now if the socket times out in the future (during wpTextbox1 transmission or even the edit summary), MediaWiki won't get the correct edit token, so it won't commit the change, and worst case the contrib goes unsigned (but nothing will get deleted). Sorry about the fuss :(. Thanks for notifying me of the problem, and cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 07:03, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation. I maintain bot framework code myself so I'll be looking at my own code to see how I can incorporate what we learned here into it. --Tony Sidaway 02:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot signing interwiki links on the RD Header?

Is there any way to stop this from happening? --VectorPotential^Talk 13:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Fixed in v1.3.2. Although it might not be perfect, since it's hard to know 100% since I (and consequently the bot) don't know all of the languages, but *shrug* :P --slakr^\ talk / 19:51, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I hope things are getting better

Hi, I've been watching you and see, I think, that you and your bot are getting better. Good work!--CrohnieGal^Talk 21:37, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

more Lag?

I think it might be a good thing for Sinebot to have a bit more lag.... consider this more or less vandalistic edit to Talk:Pencil. Sinebot signed it fast enough that reverting the edit will be more work than if it had lagged, as with the signature there it can't just be rolled back or undone in one step. There may be reasons not to lag, I dunno, but I did want to mention it. Thanks, in general, for your great bot, it's very helpful. ++Lar: t/c 01:46, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Source of the bot

I'd like to use the bot on tr.wiki. Would you mind releasing the source? :/ -- Cat ^chi? 23:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Mistaken Signing?

Hey. Sinebot just did the "did not sign" thing to my message on Talk: Runescape. The thing is that I had already signed it. Jump! Slash! Dash! Ouch! Super Mario SonicBOOM! 16:02, 26 September 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Mario Sonicboom (talk • contribs)

Just did it a second time. I'm not reverting it this time so you can see it without me resorting to my lousy link skills. ;P Jump! Slash! Dash! Ouch! Super Mario SonicBOOM! 16:10, 26 September 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Mario Sonicboom (talk • contribs)

Frequently Asked Question (SineBot/#1). You're probably using five tildes instead of 4, which leaves only the datestamp instead of both the userlink and the datestamp. --slakr^\ talk / 22:27, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not. I'm sure of it. Though a friend has told me it may be because it doesn't link to my user/talk pages. I'll see about getting that fixed, and we'll go from there, I guess. Jump! Slash! Dash! Ouch! Super Mario SonicBOOM! 12:41, 27 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mario Sonicboom (talk • contribs)

Yep, that's what the FAQ #1 (see the top of this page) says. Please see signatures guideline for more info. --slakr^\ talk / 06:26, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Mystery signing

Signbot signed (or should we say pp'd - can we change the name?) this addition by me to an existing comment. Rich Farmbrough, 12:14 28 September 2007 (GMT).

Ah. I think it was because it was added in the middle of the comment, and the bot couldn't see a signature from you in the diff, so it probably assumed you were adding a new comment elsewhere. I'm probably going to just add a blanket admin exemption, since it's unlikely that admins will actually forget to sign their posts. :P --slakr^\ talk / 12:24, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

What faith! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimfbleak (talk • contribs) 12:32, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Alex Hand

Just for info, I noticed that you put a prod on Alex Hand. I've actually speedied and protected titled this since this is the fourth recreation (usually as Alex hand), and is total nonsense/vandalism - see the date of death at the end. I've also put a 24 hr block on the contributor for other vandalism. Hope this is OK, if not let me know, Jimfbleak 12:29, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Haha, totally okay. I was actually considering CSD for that one as well (I already stuck one on either Alex Hand or Alex hand -- I forget the capitalization), but I figured since the one I put the {{prod}} on did try to stab at notability, I added it to my watchlist to see if anything happened. Oh well. :P Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 12:36, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thanks for reverting vandalism on my user page. I don't really know why he is that mad... ;D --Pupster21 Talk To Me 12:30, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Lol, no problem. Clearly he/she woke up on the wrong side of the bed (or maybe his "wilkins" was particularly thin that morning-- who knows). :D Anyway, he's blocked now. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 12:39, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Letter to SineBot

Don't leave me now! -- Carol 23:20, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Huh? --slakr^\ talk / 23:23, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot used to sign my four tilde generated signatures for me and his way of recreating my signature was better than the one I wanted even. He was like a valet or something but now he doesn't do this for me. I have this feeling of deep and inescapable loss at his departure from a few seconds after I save a tilde here.... -- Carol 23:32, 28 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by CarolSpears (talk • contribs)

Frequently Asked Question (SineBot/#1). You don't have a link to your user page. Please see signatures guideline. --slakr^\ talk / 23:39, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I will be certain to put that on my todo list; right after the item which will be "wait patiently for the sockpuppet template to be fixed so it doesn't do this". Which should be right after the item "make the TODO list". Until that time, I am so glad that SineBot is back in action or on patrol or a few seconds behind me in time! -- Carol 02:05, 29 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by CarolSpears (talk • contribs)

Frigg

FYI 222.252.227.234 (talk · contribs), 222.252.231.194 (talk · contribs), and 222.252.230.6 (talk · contribs) all seem to be the same rather excitable person, particularly on the topic of Norse mythology. Take a look at the talk page for Gullveig if you are bored sometime. Crypticfirefly 03:52, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

I was wondering how to sign my comments. And now I know. Kyprioth657 05:25, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Sweet. You might be interested in the introduction as well, as it covers a bunch of other stuff as well. Feel free to contact me if you have any other problems. =) --slakr^\ talk / 02:57, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Italiotus

Thanks a lot. All the best. Italiotis 22:10, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

No problem. If you run across any other issues, lemme know. --slakr^\ talk / 02:56, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Signing old comments

Sinebot is great! It just caught a comment I wrote seconds after I forgot to sign it. Is there someway to get Sinebot to sign old comments or does someone else have a bot to do this? Some talk pages have almost no signatures at all and it's a lot of work to go through and sort out who said what, when and where. –panda 17:58, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

I have one in the making (CosineBot), which will be able to dive into a talk page's revision history to assemble a list of comments that potentially need to be signed; but, it'll only do it on demand. I'm waiting until I get the logic solidified on SineBot, as CosineBot would be a bit more complex, since it also has to take much more into account (like comments that were made but were later archived or edits to already-existing comments. I did consider, however, having a bot that explicitly tries to look for a given comment (as opposed to all unsigned comments), to see when and by whom it was originally added, optionally giving someone the ability to add a proper {{unsigned}} tag himself; or, allowing the bot to do it; however, I have yet to start on it, and I have no ETA. :\ --slakr^\ talk / 02:16, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm glad to hear that CosineBot is at least existent, if not functional. (Great name choice BTW!) In the mean time, I'll be anxiously waiting for CosineBot. Too bad your SinBot didn't exist sooner... Keep up the great work! It's really appreciated! –panda 15:33, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Your signing bot

I think that your signing bot is a wonderful service at WP. I can be a bit absent minded as can many of us. However I'm wondering if we could present it more as a service as opposed to an admonition. For example: " Auto signed for Kevin Murray (talk • contribs) 19:07, 30 September 2007 (UTC)". Thanks! --Kevin Murray 19:19, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestion. Currently, the bot uses {{unsigned}}, {{undated}}, and {{unsignedIP}}, which are generic templates that have customarily been used by humans and bots alike. Their intention is not to admonish those who forget to sign, but rather to simply inform other editors as to who left the comment and/or when it was left. However, if you feel that they might be too admonishingly worded, you might consider starting a discussion about alternative wordings on the templates' talk pages. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 02:27, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

SineBot adding sig on WP project subpages

SineBot signed a comment here on an edit of Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Header. - Fayenatic (talk) 21:48, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Its parent, Wikipedia:Templates for deletion, is in Category:Non-talk pages with subpages that are automatically signed, thereby causing Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Header to be signed as well, since it's a subpage. I added {{bots}} for you here. Lemme know if you run across any more problems, and be sure to check out User:SineBot for other info about the bot. --slakr^\ talk / 02:35, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks -- I admit I hadn't read that. - Fayenatic (talk) 17:21, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Time error query

Just a query on Sinebot. How comes to some people, Dinebot signs a timestamp saying the timestamp has not been signed, when it has just not using UTC? Simply south 13:58, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Err, Sinebot.... Simply south 13:59, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot also recognizes timestamps that don't include (UTC), even though they should include some timezone, because not including one can cause time range differences with a large window of confusion. Moreover, many talkpage archive bots won't recognize weird timestamps. However, if the datestamps also aren't in a standard format that the bot recognizes (i.e.,, it doesn't know what time it translates to), then it will treat it like normal text and hence not a datestamp. If you happen to have diffs to where it has done this, I can see if I can add an exemption for that particular datestamp-- particularly if it's an otherwise-valid and lucid datestamp. --slakr^\ talk / 01:30, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

AIAV signing

hi -- I tried to report an IPvandal on WP:AIAV, and SineBot signed my (already signed) post. something was fishy about the whole thing; I don't think my report showed up, maybe because it was above the "list below here" line. anyway, you might take a look at this diff. thanks! bikeable (talk) 16:36, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Someone had accidentally removed the close HTML comment tag (-->) prior to this, and because the templates that are added to unsigned posts include html comments, the html comments close tag on the templates closed the priorly-posted text, resulting in the previous revision's parsing to be interpreted on the bot's modification, resulting in it looking like sinebot made a bunch of reports (since the ~~~~s and such suddenly became active). --slakr^\ talk / 01:08, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

SineBot on RfA optional questions

Hi, I'm just wondering if there's anyway you could have SineBot stop signing the Optional Questions section on Requests for Adminship, but still keep the functionality of signing comments in the section below. Cheers. Nick 19:56, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

It does, but part of the regex expects a closing ''' so that it knows that it's likely an optional question. It also checks for a user link in it as well, which yours did have. I kind of had to do that because there were so many weird wordings for optional questions that there was no other common thing they shared (e.g., some said things like "Completely and strangely irrelevant question by somedude" and "Request by anotherdude"). If you have any ideas as to how it make it better, lemme know. --slakr^\ talk / 01:19, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Double-signing when signature links to foreign wiki

You bot signed my already signed comment. As you can see, I link directly to my Dutch user page in order to have a central place to contact me. You might want to consider a link to a user page on a foreign Wikipedia to be equivalent to a link to a user page. The pywikipediabot framework maintains a list of names of namespaces on foreign-language wikis (but since your bot is written in PHP, this may not be practical), and there are also other easy ways to retrieve them: for example, the XML output for nl:Special:Export/xxxnosuchpagexxx contains a list of names. – gpvos (talk) 20:46, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

I might add this in a newer revision, but it's not highest priority, since the overwhelming majority of users tend to use signatures that point intra-wiki, and from that user page (or user talk page), they place a soft redirect using an inter-wiki link. --slakr^\ talk / 01:24, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello!

PolarWolf ( sign ) has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Happy editing!
Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Because I feel like smiling at people today ^_^

Thanks a million =D --slakr^\ talk / 03:56, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Article deletion

Hi,

Why is the articles, Futurion Power Systems, and Xenon Board up for deletion? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nick Tompson (talk • contribs) 03:02, 3 October 2007

Please see Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Futurion_Power_Systems. --slakr^\ talk / 03:05, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Award

Thanks :) I've been an anon before, but I wanted to ge an account so I could use TWINKLE. AntiVMan 03:53, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Heh, I figured you'd been around. Few new users edit their monobook and start CSD tagging stuff right off the bat :P ANyway, keep up the good work =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:55, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Confusion

I din edit 2007 burma protest page. sum1 elsez did it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.113.209 (talk) 11:28, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks :)

Thanks ;) Not sure what I said to deserve that, but I'm glad I can provide entertainment :p ~ Riana ⁂ 12:00, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

It wasn't any one thing. I think I came across something you did yesterday that sparked the actual award, but it more represents one of those long-term trend kind of things. :P --slakr^\ talk / 12:06, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Sig

Hello. Your bot said I signed, bud did not date, a comment (see this diff). I sign using three tildes (~~~) instead of four (~~~~) because my signature already embeds date formatting (see User:Matheus Wahl/sig). Can you tell your bot to not warn me anymore? Thanks for the attention.

My sig: // Matheus Wahl //, 13:54, Wed 03.10.2007. —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 13:54, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi there. The bot put an {{undated}} because your date format is strange in two ways: 1. it has no timezone, and 2. the date format is strange. Please note that this date format may also interfere with archive bots' ability to automatically archive pages. I might add a future exemption for that type of date, but if this is a pressing matter, please check out the bot's user page for opt out instructions. --slakr^\ talk / 22:32, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for reverting the vandalism to my talk page. --Nlu (talk) 15:49, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

No problem :) --slakr^\ talk / 02:56, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Signature

Why was an "unsigned signature" added to this simple undo [8]? Mariokempes 17:20, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

... because the edit reason didn't reflect that it was a simple undo. For example, if you use the undo link, an edit reason is automatically generated. Most people simply append more explanation onto that. In either case, the bot will know that the edit was an undo; however, if an ambiguous edit message is given, it is easily confused. --slakr^\ talk / 22:35, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot going crazy??

Please look at Talk:Victor Niederhoffer. Sinebot just signed something that I just signed (completely as far as I can tell). But it also seems to "disappear" comments that it signs, e.g. look at the diff of the edit, then try to find the comment - it's not there! Either Sinebot or me is going crazy (or it's been a much tougher day than I thought!) Smallbones 23:41, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

No. You broke the page's parsing when you added this comment and forgot to close the tags. I just now made an emergency edit to the other editors' comments to fix the parsing on the page by adding nowikis around the broken tag. Please fix it whenever you get a chance. --slakr^\ talk / 02:06, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and I also went back and replaced their signatures with {{unsigned}} templates (even though they had already signed). since fixing the page would have activated the ~~~~'s, making it look like I had left the comments. --slakr^\ talk / 02:17, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Talk:AIDS reappraisal

Hi there, we're discussing the question you raised about the image. Do you have any further input? All the best Tim Vickers 03:21, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:58, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Sinebot signed comment already signed

FYI - see this diff By the way, Sinebot is very useful - thank you - just a little glitch yesterday. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 08:57, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Confirmed. It's the User: page link (the accented 'o'). You might consider using an opt out method until I get it fixed in the next revision. Sorry for any confusion. --slakr^\ talk / 09:01, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Problem for me too. I'm signing with ~~~~ but have twice got diffs like this. Am I doing something wrong? Kim Dent-Brown ^{(Talk to me)} 11:53, 4 October 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kim Dent-Brown (talk • contribs)

Fixed in 1.3.3p7. --slakr^\ talk / 23:36, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Your user name is Kim Dent-Brown, but your signature points to Kim dent brown (ie, omitting the '-'), so the bot thinks you're signing as someone else. --slakr^\ talk / 11:56, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmm - I shall have to look at that. However I have not changed my signature in months and the bot has only just started picking me up. But I'll see if I can make the changes at my end. Kim Dent-Brown ^{(Talk to me)} —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 12:55, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

RFA question signing

The bot signed here. As far as I can see these questions do not get signed, certainly the other questions weren't signed (and SineBot didn't seem to sign those). Not a big deal, but I just wondered if it should be doing this. F Mita 22:43, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

The bot exempts optional questions/questions from various people as long as they're bolded and contain a user link to the person who posted them. The second addition (the one you sent) is kind of a fluke, because you posted it after-the-fact, and since you posted so many questions, the original "Question by" was also no longer in the context of the diff, so the bot had no idea where you were adding it. --slakr^\ talk / 02:11, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

... which reminds me: as one of the major revision changes I was planning on implementing a signing bot configuration thinggy so that the bot can be told to only sign certain sections and/or exempt certain ones, as well. --slakr^\ talk / 02:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, it signed my question here, it would be nice if it didn't. ~Eliz81^(C) 02:36, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Signing my sandbox

Perhaps I have the sandbox somewhere that I should not, but, at present, it's subordinate to my talk page. Is it really necessary to have every sandbox entry signed, while I'm actively working on a document? Howard C. Berkowitz 22:16, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Check out User:SineBot for info on opting out a page. Also, you might consider placing the sandbox in the User: namespace-- unless the sandbox, itself, is supposed to be a talk page. --slakr^\ talk / 04:39, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

SLAKR, HELP!!!

Slakr... seriously, though, could you explain to me the banning process a little? For instance, can an auto-ban turn into something that lasts even longer than that? I know Admins will judge on whether or not people get unbanned or banned, but anything you could tell me about the standard length of ban time and such I would appreciate very much. Hopefully knowing more will deter my future destructive / non-constructive posts... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.154.251 (talk) 10:18, 9 October 2007

Sure. Check out information on blocking. Though, if you're actually interested in contributing constructively, please consider taking a quick peak at the introduction and the tutorial. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 10:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you sir. I appreciate it!-motorway

bot deleted my change

I did not change every Oradea listing but the established practice (see the Danzig/Gdansk debates) is to use both names of the city in the article (i.e Danzig before 1945, Gdansk after 1945) This would be fitting for this case as all the medeival dates refer to Nagyvárad or Grosswardrein, not to Oradea. After Trianon it should be referred to as Oradea. Any objections? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.224.28.2 (talk) 14:55, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... I'm not seeing any deletions on your contribution. If you're talking about why the bot signed it, please it's because you didn't sign your post (using ~~~~) as the signatures guideline instructs. Please let me know if I'm mistaken or if I otherwise missed something. --slakr^\ talk / 20:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The bot is broke.

SineBot appears to have died. He hasn't made any edits for nine and a half hours, and isn't responding to his sandbox either. Thought you ought to know.... Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 05:32, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah, thanks for the heads up. It's back now. I was messing around with the database server earlier and it probably didn't like that (heh, I told it to die if the database starts giving it issues). Thanks again =) --slakr^\ talk / 12:04, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh second pass, it looks like for some reason it wasn't able to log in after it found it out didn't have a valid session ("Login failed. Dying...") around 1191963881 (Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:04:41 +0000), which was around its last edit. I'm assuming wikimedia's servers were probably undergoing maintenance or something. Meh, anyway... :P --slakr^\ talk / 12:13, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Heh. Ok, thanks for checking on it, he seems to be working now. Those server locks will get just about anyone impatient, it seems. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 13:32, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you!

Thank you for reverting my little fan's edits in my user space. I appreciate it. Into The Fray ^T/C 15:29, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

yet another bug for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AWhite_Cat&diff=163553567&oldid=163553353

End of report.

-- Cat ^chi? 17:47, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Not a bug. User didn't have a link to user/user talk page per WP:SIG. --slakr^\ talk / 09:30, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

For all that you do...

		The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
		I'm following your every move at WP:AIV, keep up the great work... The Rambling Man 14:51, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks a million. =) --slakr^\ talk / 19:37, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

why bother

Why bother sigining when the bot will do it for me automatically. I'm lazy.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.89.235 (talk) 05:57, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

That's totally your choice. But, keep in mind, the bot won't always sign (particularly if your post is too complicated), and it will keep nagging you every so often. --slakr^\ talk / 11:53, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

WikiThanks

Thanks for reverting the vandalism on my talk page utcursch | talk 13:33, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Template:Amigas y Rivales

There is a format error that appeared automatically weeks after the template was updated. What happened and how can I fix it??? WIKIVUE Detroit (talk) FRI OCT 12 2007 12:15 AM EDT

Eep, I just replied on your talk page while you were removing your response. But, you do mention it happened automatically, which is kind of weird. It's possible that something changed in the mediawiki software or in the site templates. You might consider asking around the village pump. --slakr^\ talk / 04:21, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up and for the help!!! WIKIVUE Detroit (talk) FRI OCT 12 2007 11:49 AM EDT —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 15:50, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Redundant signature bot

[9] Is there any way you could get your bot to stop doing this? It's not the first time I've seen it happen. Burntsauce 17:35, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

The bot follows WP:SIG, and that signature didn't have an internal link to the user's user or talk page. --slakr^\ talk / 17:37, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Not sure what your point is? Your bot is adding a signature where there obviously was one. Add a search string for (UTC) prior to the end of line or something to prevent this. Burntsauce 17:39, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

That's a good idea. Sadly, it's a little bit more complex than that. The bot not only has to check to see if the post is signed but also dated, both of which have posed issues in the past. On top of that, lots of people use weird datestamps. Check out the bot's change log and/or my talk page archives to see the various issues. Long story short, if the signature fails WP:SIG even after the exemptions I've made, and the user doesn't want his posts autosigned, he's more than welcome to simply opt out. --slakr^\ talk / 17:48, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Signature problem for a user

Hello. Your bot (and other users) has realized that User:Tim riley is having problems with his tildes. He has been, for some reason, unable to use the signature feature for at least a couple of months. Perhaps you can help him deal with the technical problem? -- Ssilvers 19:43, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Sure. I just left him a message on his talk page (diff). Thanks for the heads up =) --slakr^\ talk / 21:24, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

ok thank you. why are you telling me this? Psycholgymajor101 21:01, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, I think you might be confusing me with SineBot, which is my bot. It left a note on your user talk page. It does that automatically when you've left several unsigned comments. Check out User:SineBot for more info. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 21:27, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Already signed comments

Hi, please have your bot not sign small corrections or alterations I make to previously signed comments, thanks. Otherwise, the bot does good work. Badagnani 21:42, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Normally it won't, but your edit was made juuuust a little over 5 minutes since your last edit to the same talkpage, so it thought it was a new contrib (since in the diff it can't see the signature). :\ --slakr^\ talk / 21:52, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello

Greetings, Slakr. Quick question: How do you become a member of the Counter-Vandalism Unit? I was wondering how to crack down on vandalisers and how to ban their editing privileges. Thanks-Goldenstatewarroirs¡ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Goldenstatewarroirs (talk • contribs) 22:47, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Glad you're interested in helping out. Check out the main page for the CVU. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:45, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Please slow sinebot down

Hi. When I edit a page and forget to sign, I usually notice immediately and try to correct it. Meanwhile, sinebot has already tagged my comment as unsigned, and I end up in an edit conflict.

A delay of 5 minutes would prevent this nuisance behaviour. Thanks. --Gronky 21:18, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree with this. Maybe even longer than five minutes. Jason Quinn 05:11, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

The current delay has been around 90-120 seconds, so I'm most likely going to increase it since several people have complained about it. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 16:09, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Raw signature preference

I use ~~~~ to sign my posts however I also have "raw signature" clicked in preferences (with the signature box blank). This produces a typical name-date signature stamp but without the name hyperlinked. Your bot flags on that pattern match because the name isn't hyperlinked. I think that is too aggressive. In my case the raw signature box was checked by accident (I don't remember even doing it) but if somebody doesn't want their name hyperlinked, that's their choice. Not to mention the possibilities for people that use a custom signature. Jason Quinn 05:09, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm reading the signature guidelines now... yes, it says that they should be hyperlinked but these are guidelines not rules. Plus, in my case, it was Wikipedia itself violating its own guidelines as a preference had been checked to produce the "incorrect" formatting. Jason Quinn 05:17, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

The checkbox is there to allow people to use signatures like mine. WP:SIG is not a policy, but it is a guideline, and guidelines reflect the consensus of the community. The bot was written to adhere to people who want to ignore all rules, so please see User:SineBot for opting out instructions if you wish to do that. Cheers. --slakr^\ talk / 15:52, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Protecting a page

Are you an administrator? I am looking for someone to put semi-protection on the page Greyhound Lines. One or more people have been continually writing a section in the article that is not factual information about Greyhound, but rather is a person attack on the company, and it has turned into a revert war. They are venting their anger by telling their own personal experiences on the page rather than using neutral, verifiable info. This is clearly a violation of WP:OR and WP:COI. Hellno2 14:28, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... it looks like the most of the edits over the last few days have been from 141.157.208.130 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log), so it wouldn't seem to me that it requires protection for the time being. I went ahead and left a caution about it on the user's talk page, and I'll keep an eye on the page. If more IPs join in or the user starts violating the three revert rule, you might consider visiting requests for page protection (in the event of more people joining in) or the 3rr noticeboard (for violations of the three revert rule). Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 16:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Signing help

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to advise me on getting the tildes to behave themselves. I am very much obliged. Tim riley 17:30, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Mistake by SineBot

SineBot added an "unsigned" comment to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Encyclopedia Titanica [10]. In fact, the edit I hade made was to reinstate a "keep" vote [11] which another user had mistakenly removed [12]. It's probably difficult to get it stop that sort of thing, but anyway.... --RFBailey 00:10, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Yeah... it thought you might have been adding a comment and signing as someone else. The bot does ignore certain keywords, though, like "rvv" and such as well as UNDO-type edit summaries. You can also explicitly tell it not to sign any given contrib using !nosign! anywhere in the edit summary. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 01:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Eep

I dunno, looks like vandalism to me...I blocked him.. Dreadstar † 02:32, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah yes... an hour or so had passed, so I figured I'd just wait to see if he did more. *shrug* Either way works. :P --slakr^\ talk / 02:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

And, there's the removal of warnings to consider... If user requests unblock, I'll WP:AGF. ;) Dreadstar † 02:35, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

No worries, we were on the same page. We'll wait and see what happens :) --slakr^\ talk / 02:36, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

HOMO

i just think your a homo :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bula muckaka (talk • contribs) 12:58, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

I was just reading the Sinebot page....when I was linked to slark's user page....and I clicked on the "make me feel less lonely thing"....and got directed here. I was reading the comments and saw that there was a grammar mistake (ignore my ellipses).... It should be "you're a homo"........maybe I should post this on Bula muckaka's talk page....nyaaaa! Shinpah1 01:17, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Lol, yeah. I saw when he/she added this, and while I could have just removed it, I thought it was a fun vandalism that, in its own way, made all of the time spent reverting the guy's edits worthwhile. :P --slakr^\ talk / 03:35, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Signing.

I dont understand the tildes. I type them and only once has my name showed up in the edit. I sign all of edits anyway, manually. Also...there is a war going on Wikpedia. Yuppie scum are activly trying to vandalize and/or rewrite Los Angeles history with BS and gibberish. In my exuberance,sometimes I forget to sign. But hey, its all cool.....Lawrence Tierney and Charles Bukowsky were among my drnking buddies at one time....to tell the historical truth and set the record straight, I owe them that much. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Garagehero (talk • contribs) 08:41, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... when you get a chance, check out the signatures guideline for more information on correct tilde usage. Long story short, if you're adding discussion to a talk page (i.e., the "discussion" tab), you should always sign your posts using four tildes in a row ("~~~~"). Also, if people add stuff that's not inline with Wikipedia's list of policies or list of guidelines, you're always free to revert their additions, which you can do by visiting the page history. Also, please be sure to make sure that you cite your additions with reliable secondary sources. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 13:59, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

• I don't know whether it is intentional, but it ignores five tildes. 01:45, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
  • (that comment was made by me) Celtic Minstrel (talk • contribs) —Preceding comment was added at 01:46, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

    Hmm... it shouldn't. It looks like you added that and then edited this page within the grace period, so the bot didn't sign it. Try User:SineBot/Sandbox, as that page has no delay as it's a high priority page. Also, check out User:SineBot for more general info on the bot. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:28, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

    ... actually I just saw what you did (diff). It looks like you edited the page in quick succession, and since the bot detected a valid signature in the context of the diff, it assumed you were simply adding more to the text and you decided to datestamp as opposed to use a full signature (therein signifying that you added an addendum or something). Either way, the bot should normally sign 5 tildes in normal talk page conditions. Lemme know if it doesn't, though. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:32, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Bans

Hello Do bans ban the IP address or the username? Cause this is a public computer, and i noticed some vandalizing was being done from here. PLease excuse all these as i have no control over content entered on this computer.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.192.32.226 (talk) 22:30, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Bans are different than blocks. Bans are applied to individual editors-- regardless of IP address, username, etc, while blocks are applied to either user names, IP addresses, or both. For blocks, usually the block message will tell you why you are blocked and if you are even able to sign in and/or create a new account. The easy way to check this is to try to edit a page or visit your talk page and scroll through any warnings/messages about blocks or bans and you will most likely see a block message as to why/if you are blocked, who blocked you, and how you can request unblocking. Though, since you're able to post comments, you are currently not blocked. Your block log also does not show any entries for this IP.

If you happen to have any other questions, feel free to let me know or place a {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone should be by to assist you. Cheers =) --slakr^\ talk / 03:25, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Annoying date/time format requirement

Your bot is particularly annoying in that it apparently requires a particular date/time format. However, I will not change the way I format my date/time, so hopefully you will make it smarter or turn it off. I doubt you will do either, but I figured the decent thing to do was tell you about it. --Fandyllic 5:25 PM PDT 15 Oct 2007 —Preceding comment was added at 00:26, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah, thanks for the heads up. I'll see if I can add an exception. Does your day of the month have a leading zero (i.e., your current sig is 15, but when it rolls around to 9, is it 09)? In the meantime, if the bot keeps bugging you, simply visit its user page for information on opting out of auto signing. Also, on a related point, you might consider reading up on self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to your doubts about me. :P --slakr^\ talk / 16:08, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

The solution is to make an exception for both cases, leading zero and none. Not all annoyed people will go to the bother of coming to this talk page, so to be on the safe side of not annoying everyone now or anyone in the future. The default must be to not annoy people. --Gronky 15:48, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and it really can't be assumed that an annoyed person will put this page on their watchlist and reply to follow up questions you have. --Gronky 15:49, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Although that would be the ideal, I seriously cannot make exceptions for every single date format that everyone can possibly conjure up, because exemption regexes start taking up memory and processing time on my personal server, and I don't code SineBot for a living. If people are serious about getting an exception, then yes, they will watchlist my page after asking their question-- or at least check back for replies to it a day or so later. Otherwise, they can opt out manually, as their custom datestamps could likely mess up talk page archive bots anyway. --slakr^\ talk / 03:23, 23 October 2007 (UTC)