Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 9

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 9

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: correcting symbols for hertz e.g. 'mhz' to 'MHz'

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 'Hz' is the symbolic form for 'hertz'. This bot will replace non-standard symbols (e.g. 'hz', 'HZ', etc.) with 'Hz'. It will also replace non-standard prefixes (e.g where 'K' is used to mean 'kilo' it will be replaced with 'k', where 'm' is used to mean 'mega' it will be replaced with 'M').

The bot will do any of the following:

ensure the use of a 'Hz' as the symbol for hertz e.g. 'hz' to 'Hz'
ensure the use of correct prefixes e.g. 'KHz' to 'kHz'

Constraints:

The bot will only operate where the abbreviation means the SI unit 'hertz'. Thus it will avoid non-unit uses intended to mean things like car rental companies, see Hertz (disambiguation), or airport designators see MHZ (disambiguation) for examples.

Discussion

Note. An ongoing Arbitration Request for Amendment is in progress. Gigs (talk) 02:15, 24 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Question - How is the bot going to know whether or not "hz", etc is indicating a unit measurement and not an abbreviation for something else, or a typo?--Rockfang (talk) 05:32, 1 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Let's look at a real example: "only 400 HZ electrical". The bot will see digit, space, hz, space. That sequence is almost always a unit. As I've said above, and you've repeated, there are abbreviations for other things and that's why it's supervised not fully automatic. I've already done this task as a non-bot in many articles over the years, as have many other editors. I don't know what you mean by typo. If you'd like to give an example from an article, I'd be happy to work it through with you or we could run a trial run on, say, 50 articles. Lightmouse (talk) 17:21, 3 December 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) 10:28, 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]

How is the bot going to identify whether the alphabetical sequence is intended as a unit of frequency or not? Unless someone shows me that the bot can do this adequately, I'm going to say "No". - Richard Cavell (talk) 03:56, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How will it know whether mHz is an incorrect usage for megahertz and not an intentional usage of millihertz? Megahertz is far more common, but millihertz is still a real unit. Mr.Z-man 17:33, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Relevant guidelines include:

mosnum - SI standard "SI units are written according to the SI standard unless otherwise specified in this Manual of Style (dates and numbers)."
mosnum - Units and symbols often written incorrectly "MHz is the symbol for the megahertz, not mHz"

The guideline is stable and has existed in various forms for a long time.

I'm aware of approximately ten articles that have legitimate use "x mHz". Other editors and I have done many edits along these lines over a long period. False positives have been avoided by whitelisting, by preprocessing article lists to ensure the frequency relates to radio, TV, or microprocessors. Furthermore, these edits are supervised by human. They are relatively short runs (currently there are about 186 articles containing 'mhz' errors) but there are other hz errors. Runs have to be done repeatedly because editors keep adding these errors.

I'm sure I could find examples in contributions lists but it would be easier just to demonstrate by new edits.

Please can we move to a 50 edit trial? Lightmouse (talk) 17:47, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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

Waiting for answers on Lightbot 7. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 15:29, 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} 09:18, 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.