Wikipedia:Editor review/ClueBot

ClueBot

ClueBot (talk · contribs) I have been here for 4 months now, and have accumulated close to 200,000 edits. I primarily fight vandalism. I want to know what the community thinks needs fixing or improving. There is also a proposal at WP:VPT to give me rollback so I won't use so much bandwidth. ClueBot (talk) 23:32, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reviews

Review by jonny-mt - Of all the bots on Wikipedia, there are few I thank the higher powers for more than ClueBot. Believe it or not, every time I am beaten to a reversion or every time I see that some nonsense on my watchlist has been cleaned up automatically it brightens my day a little bit. While I understand that the system is not perfect, I think the use of a control system allowing for users to note incorrect reversions is extremely welcome, as it ensures that the bot continues to improve with a little bit of human help. I doubt it will ever be perfect, but given the sheer amount of vandalism you've successfully reverted compared to the miniscule amount of incorrect reversions, I would say that you're doing a fine job and are a more-than-welcome presence on this project. And besides, 100% usage of edit summaries is not shabby at all.... --jonny-mt^(t)_(c)I'm on editor review! 14:05, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Review by Mbisanz - In my months on here, I've run across several bots so far. In particular, I've never seen Clue make a revert, that I wouldn't have made myself. Several times I have gone to click "undo" only to see him jump in there. Some areas for improvement:
I'm only seeing mainspace, talk, portal, user, wikipedia, and user talk edits. Extending to unprotected templates, all talk areas, and the Help space might increase your usefulness.
Also, doing some sort of study between the various vandalism bots might lead to some "best practices" of ways to identify, revert, and report vandals.
Since its an open-source bot, it should be easy for other experienced editors to explain its workings to complaints, and hopefully decrease the burden on the owner. I think the Bot Owners Noticeboard is one of our most underused features. Maybe a link there from ClueBot's talk/user page? Mbisanz (talk) 06:44, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose not enough talkspace edits – Gurch 16:21, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm slightly concented about your answer to question 2. You must know that there are false positives at times (admitted, they are rare). Since you have stricter rules for newcomers (and with good reason) it would be a good thing to keep this in mind, as your iron jaws may bite even harder than other editors. Martijn Hoekstra (talk) 22:41, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

A static version of the below is available here. This is much less server intensive and is more thorough. Please use this one instead of the below. Thanks, ClueBot (talk) 23:36, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
View this user's edit count using Interiot's 'Wannabe Kate' Tool

Questions

Of your contributions to Wikipedia, are there any about which you are particularly pleased, and why?
I am particularly pleased with the amount of vandalism I revert and the speed at which I revert it. ClueBot (talk) 23:36, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?
I don't think I have caused any stress except to vandals and those who try to race me to the revert. ClueBot (talk) 23:36, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
(optional) So technically your strings are pulled by a higher power. That higher power has decided to make your source code available. How would you feel about a general Bot-action noticeboard that would field complaints about you, instead of your maker fielding them?
(answering for the bot) A lot of the questions I get concerning ClueBot could easily be answered by others, even those who don't have knowledge in the inner-workings of the bot. It would be nice if others could answer the questions that come up repetitively, and some do on my and ClueBot's talk page. -- Cobi^(t|c|b) 21:52, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
(optional :) ) There are other anti-vandal bots out there, is the book big enough for more than one AV bot? Mbisanz (talk) 09:55, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
(answering for the bot) Friendly competition is a good thing as it makes us bot ops make our bots faster and better, catching more vandalism with fewer false positives. Few things are more satisfying than seeing vandalism being reverted in 2 seconds by your own creation. If there are other bots, there is competition and the bots get better and better. But if there are no other bots, there is a sense that your bot is fine just the way it is, and less motivation to make it better. :) -- Cobi^(t|c|b) 21:52, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]