Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/FastilyBot 17

The following discussion is an archived debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard. The result of the discussion was

Approved.

FastilyBot 17

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Operator: Fastily (talk · contribs · SUL · edit count · logs · page moves · block log · rights log · ANI search)

Time filed: 00:07, Thursday, October 13, 2022 (UTC)

Function overview: Remove instances of {{FFDC}} which reference files that are no longer being discussed at FfD.

Automatic, Supervised, or Manual: Automatic

Programming language(s): Python

Source code available: In this repository, when I have written it

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate):

Edit period(s): weekly

Estimated number of pages affected: ~200 first run, then probably 1-5/week thereafter.

Namespace(s): Mainspace

Exclusion compliant (Yes/No): Yes

Function details: When listing files at FfD, editors will sometimes add {{FFDC}} to the articles that link the listed files. When FfD discussions are closed, it's common for the closing editor to miss and/or forget to remove {{FFDC}}. This proposed bot task will simply find instances of {{FFDC}} that reference closed/non-existent FfD discussions and remove them. Courtesy pings for @CX Zoom & @Marchjuly. -FASTILY 00:07, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

If a bot can do this, then great. I try to add ffdc templates whenever possible and then go back remove them when the after the FFD has been closed if they're still there, but things slip throught the cracks. I think files that have captions are probably not much a problem because the admin who deletes the file usually also removes any associated caption as well (and thus the ffdc template). Files without captions (e.g. infobox images), on the other hand, might be harder to catch since the ffdc syntax is only visible as code and you wouldn't know its even there if you weren't looking for it. I have also noticed that deleted image file syntax sometimes end up being WP:HIDDEN instead of removed, which means any caption is also hidden as well. Since adding ffdc templates currently seems to be only optional, it would be interesting to know how much of an issue this really is. Is there a way to search articles for "orphaned" ffdc templates? -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:25, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
According to this page, there are 187 articles transcluding at least one instance of {{FFDC}}. Only 15 FfDs are open at the time of writing, which would suggest the the vast majority of FFDC transclusions are referencing closed/non-existent discussions. -FASTILY 03:22, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I tried searching insource:/{{ffdc in the search window and I got between 250 and 500 hits. How accurate that is I have no idea of knowing, but the template is being used for File:Iron Maiden Purgatory 29 second file.ogg in Heavy metal music and that file was deleted per Wikipedia:Files for discussion/2022 February 18#File:Iron Maiden Purgatory 29 second file.ogg in February 2022. The {{Listen}} template where the file was being used wasn't removed from the article after the FFD was closed like was done for a different file in the same article for a different FFD as seen here. Since the file no longer exists, the "Listen" template seems to be disabled by default, which means the ffdc template is also disabled. Another example is Golden State Warriors#1997–2009: Wilderness years and "We Believe" Warriors where the ffdc template is hidden as; for some reason, the image syntax for this file wasn't removed after Wikipedia:Files for discussion/2016 September 2#File:Golden State Warriors.svg was closed. In these two examples, the ffdc template isn't visible to readers, but it's still in the WikiCode. Are ffdc templates still visible to readers (ffdc template not removed for file's that were kept) more of a concern than those only "visible" in the Wikicode? -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:53, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Something similar seems to be happening regarding {{deletable image-caption}} templates added for PRODs and F7 deletions. ImageRemovalBot seems to be hiding the syntax of deleted files (like this) instead of removing it. Maybe ImageRemovalBot could be tweaked to remove the syntax instead? -- Marchjuly (talk) 06:11, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The situation with self-hiding instances of {{Listen}} is interesting, but will probably need to be addressed in a separate BRFA. I can't speak for Carnildo/ImageRemovalBot, but it seems that hiding FFDC is only a side-effect of commenting out links to deleted files. While I am mildly skeptical about this approach, it's been the status quo for so long that I'm not sure it actually needs changing. -FASTILY 23:11, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yesterday I bumped into one such transclusion and notified Fastily about it. It would be great if the entire process could be made automatic so that nothing slips through. —CX Zoom[he/him] ^{(let's talk • {C•X})} 06:07, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Approved for trial (50 edits). Please provide a link to the relevant contributions and/or diffs when the trial is complete. This seems like a problem that needs fixing, and it's simple enough to merit a bot to do it. Primefac (talk) 08:09, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Trial complete. these 50 contributions. @Primefac -FASTILY 03:59, 9 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Approved. Trial seems to have gone just fine. No outstanding issues, simple task. Approved. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 03:56, 18 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. To request review of this BRFA, please start a new section at Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard.