Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 7

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

Approved.

Lightbot 7

Operator: Lightmouse (talk · contribs)

Automatic or Manually assisted: Automatic supervised

Programming language(s): AWB, monobook, vector, manual

Source code available: Source code for monobook or vector are available. Source code for AWB will vary but versions are often also kept as user pages.

Function overview: Make unit formats consistent: 'm.p.h', 'MPH', 'M.P.H' to 'mph'

Links to relevant discussions (where appropriate):
This request duplicates part of the function "Edits may modify the format of units" in Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 3. That BRFA was very similar to the two previous approvals: Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot and Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 2.

Edit period(s): Multiple runs. Often by batch based on preprocessed list of selected target articles.

Estimated number of pages affected: Individual runs of tens, or hundreds, or thousands.

Exclusion compliant (Y/N): Yes, will comply with 'nobots'

Already has a bot flag (Y/N): No

Function details:
The format 'mph' is a popular to indicate 'miles per hour'. wp:mosnum says: When unit symbols are combined by division, use a slash to separate the symbols (e.g., for the metre per second use the symbol m/s, not mps) or use negative exponents (m·s−1). Exceptions include mph for the mile per hour, psi for pounds per square inch, etc.

The bot will do any of the following:

ensure the use of lower case e.g. convert 'MPH' and 'Mph' to 'mph'
remove period symbols when used as separators e.g. convert 'm.p.h.' to 'mph'
remove trailing 'r' e.g. convert 'mphr' to 'mph'

Constraints:

The bot will only operate where the abbreviation means 'miles per hour'. Thus it will avoid non-speed uses intended to mean things like 'Master of Public Health'. See MPH disambiguation for examples.
The bot will only operate where 'p' (upper or lower case) is present. Thus it will not convert 'mi/h' to 'mph'.

Discussion

Recused MBisanz ^talk 05:32, 27 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Hold See User_talk:Lightmouse#Bots_and_Automated_tools, and pls hold till arbcom issues are settled. — Rlevse • Talk • 19:58, 30 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Since the writer of the 'hold' has now left WP for cause, is the hold now dismissed? Hmains (talk) 17:09, 5 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The user may have left, but the underlying issue still stands. Without being too involved, it would be preferred if a discussion agreeing on Lightmouse doing these edits is carried out. — HELLKNOWZ ▎TALK 11:47, 8 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Miles per hour is never listed as m/h and always mph. Unlike km/h ... (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 20:34, 6 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note. An ongoing Arbitration Request for Amendment is in progress. — HELLKNOWZ ▎TALK 12:55, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Temporarily archiving request without prejudice as an effort to refocus attention on Lightbot 5. With operator's permission. - Jarry1250 ^{[Who? Discuss.]} 20:40, 18 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Resubmitted. Lightmouse (talk) 10:25, 11 February 2011 (UTC) {{BAG assistance needed}}[reply]

To move this BRFA forward, per WP:BOTPOL ("performs only tasks for which there is consensus"; "carefully adheres to relevant policies and guidelines"), please provide link(s) to the relevant policy/guideline/consensus that this task should be both performed and performed by an automated bot. The three BRFAs linked do not provide such links. Thank you. — HELLKNOWZ ▎TALK 13:48, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The guideline is at:

mosnum - Specific units

The guideline is stable and has existed in various forms for a long time. Other editors and I have done many edits along these lines over a long period. I'm sure I could find examples in contributions list but it would be easier just to demonstrate by new edits.

Please can we move to a 50 edit trial? Lightmouse (talk) 17:25, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

{{BAGAssistanceNeeded}} OK, how about a 20 edit trial then? Lightmouse (talk) 17:39, 13 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How will you determine which uses of e.g. "m.p.h." mean "miles per hour" and which don't? Thryduulf (talk) 12:27, 23 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is relatively trivial. Units are usually preceded by a space and a digit. The efficiency of unit conversion and unit formatting should be broadly similar because they both use this feature and human oversight to ensure the high level of efficiency demonstrated over the years.

List manipulation also plays a part. It's the rarely mentioned aspect of AWB that allows targeting and whitelisting.

This function is already proven with previous non-bot and bot runs. Lightbots1 to 3 and Lightmouse have formatted units routinely as part of unit gnoming for many years. It would be easier to run a new trial than to dig through the thousands of unit-related contributions.

Please can we move to a trial? Lightmouse (talk) 08:59, 25 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have plans include mi/h and mi/hr in future versions? Other than that question, consistency (for the most part) is a good thing. Good Luck Light...—MJCdetroit ^(yak) 02:46, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The formats 'mi/h' and 'mi/hr' both exist within Wikipedia e.g. Sidewalk and Lockheed MC-130. Of the two options, 'mi/hr' is worse and should be converted into 'mi/h'. It isn't within the scope of this request.
I have no plans to change 'mi/h' into 'mph', or the other direction. I can see merit in making a change within an article with mixed formats. But I'd like to see more discussion if one is to be deprecated across Wikipedia. I don't have a strong opinion either way. It isn't within the scope of this request.
Note that the scope of this application is contained within the scope of Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 13. I don't know whether it's better to have multiple small scope requests or fewer generic requests. Either way, I'm requesting a trial.

Thanks for your comments, most appreciated. Lightmouse (talk) 13:32, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How exactly do you determine how the string "MPH" should be converted to "mph"? How does it handle quotes? What exactly does "Automatic supervised" mean? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 15:15, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Question 1. How to determine which 'MPH' is 'miles per hour':

In most cases, this will be an inherent part of a template conversion. Thus "travelling at 80 MPH" becomes travelling at 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). The true/false rate of the format change will therefore be similar to the true/false rate of the conversion code and list selection.

In most instances of 'MPH' = 'miles per hour', it's preceded by a number. In most cases of 'MPH' != 'miles per hour' it's preceded by a non-number.

A human operator will be the arbiter and see each edit. It's trivial for a human to distinguish "travelling at 80 MPH." from "a small grouping of MPH Canada's member base".

Question 2. How to avoid quotes.

This is a frequent question in bot applications. For some time now, AWB has been able to hide quotes, see Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/General_fixes#Text_hiding. It doesn't catch 100% but since it's been introduced I've only seen a handful of quotes that AWB can't cope with. As the human superviser, I've caught these quotes and formatted them correctly (thereby making an incidental improvement to the article for future readers and editors). I wish this feature of AWB were more widely known outside the AWB user community.

Question 3. What does 'Automatic supervised' mean.

I didn't create the term, it is within the bot request template. I don't know who has the proper definition. But the template asked me to choose between the following options:

Automatic: Specify whether supervised or unsupervised
Manually Assisted: User must manually confirm every change

In a high proportion of runs the edits will be 'Manually Assisted' - I see the diff and press 'save'.

I haven't asked for 'Automatic unsupervised' because it will never run unsupervised.

I asked for 'Automatic supervised' because in a low proportion of runs, the list selection and code is so efficient that I've let it press 'save' automatically' while watching the diff.

Lightmouse (talk) 16:15, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, so this is basically semi-automated editing, with a subset being automatic? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 16:20, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, here we need to be explicit about definitions.

The template doesn't use the term 'semi-automated' it uses the term 'Manually assisted'. I think both terms are synonymous and mean: "code edits the text, human presses save". Yes, it is basically semi-automated editing as the majority.
The term 'automatic' is split into supervised and unsupervised. I think automatic means "code edits the text, code presses save". I think supervised means "human sees the diff of each edit" and unsupervised means "human doesn't see the diff of each edit". Yes, a subset is automatic supervised.

Sorry for the lengthy answer but I hope it's clear. Lightmouse (talk) 16:43, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Approved. since this is essentially a semi-automated task, it can be approved without trial. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 09:05, 10 May 2011 (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 WT:BRFA.