Wikidata:Requests for permissions/Bot/AutomaticWelcomerBot
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
Not done Withdrawn. --Lymantria (talk) 13:08, 30 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
AutomaticWelcomerBot (talk • contribs • new items • new lexemes • SUL • Block log • User rights log • User rights • xtools)
Operator: JJBullet (talk • contribs • logs)
Task/s: Welcomes users.
Code: Not Created Yet
Function details:
- Welcomes new users with a custom, kind, heartwarming & homely welcome template.
- Checks the User creation log for new users that have been created.
- Check if the new user have made any unnecessary edits & welcomes them with a different template explaining about some rules & guidelines for creating an item.
- Always updates the edit summary with suffix "- (Bot)"
Checks if the users username is inappropriate and if so warns them with a friendly template.
- I believe that we need a broad discussion whether this automatic welcome is needed. Would you please mind starting one at the project chat?--Ymblanter (talk) 18:44, 24 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- That's Fine, ill do that right awayJJBullet (talk) 12:19, 26 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- While I do believe that having a bot that welcomes users will be useful, I don't think it should trigger based on the User creation log. A lot of new users get created based on page moves on Wikipedia. Those pages moves shouldn't result in them getting a Wikidata welcome message.
- On https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Welcome there's some existing prior art.
- I think it would be useful to react to specific events like new users creating items without instance of (P31) or subclass of (P279). ChristianKl ❪✉❫ 07:43, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- So @ChristianKl: do you think i have a chance of getting a bot accepted if i follow your advice??JJBullet (talk) 08:57, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- I would expect that different people will voice there opinion on how welcome messages should be displayed here. Some of them might share my preferences and others don't. For my part I would support a bot that's providing useful input to new users. ChristianKl ❪✉❫ 09:29, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- So @ChristianKl: do you think i have a chance of getting a bot accepted if i follow your advice??JJBullet (talk) 08:57, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- I'm not sure how the username checking is supposed to work. How should a bot be able to decide whether a name is inappropriate? In any case given that users can't change their username, it seems to me like a task that isn't good for a bot but would be better addressed by manual attention from admins that might talk with the person and ban policy violating user names or a burocrat who changes the username. ChristianKl ❪✉❫ 09:32, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Pictogram_voting_comment.svg/15px-Pictogram_voting_comment.svg.png)
- i think that is true what you are saying about the name checking, i was talking to @Edoderoo: and he was saying "maybe we should define some rules when the overly friendly user gets too late with its welcome, and the bot can kick in. For example after <x> days and <y> edits" what do you think about this change?~JJBullet~ {Talk} 10:10, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
The custom of welcoming users is one of the older customs in wikimedia projects. The most important mission and result of such message is that new users become aware that they contribute in a project where other real persons contribute. This is what creates empathy for other users. So, imho an automated welcome message that is signed by bot and/or in the history makes clear that it was created by a bot does not fulfil this need and mission. I do use a script to welcome new users in elwiki, but I run it from my own account - so that new users do understand that it is a human who is welcoming them and not a machine. Some times they do respond back and sometimes with questions. This is great and makes me feel that the mission of the welcome message was fulfiled. They would never respond to a bot. Also, I keep the welcome message as simple and short as possible. New users should never get confused with complex wiki markup in their own talk page, or even a template (since most probably they do not yet know what a template is). They can always get guided through the existing help pages, so no need for long lists of links to them. Also, I run it every two hours allowing other users to welcome new users. -Geraki (talk) 10:19, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- Ok Geraki, i see what you are saying, but surely i can make it come from my own account? get a bot flag for my account so the bot part welcomes them and i respond to them if they have any questions / worries?~JJBullet~ {Talk} 10:31, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- The great thing about a template is that a template can be automatically translated to the language of the user in question. On a project like Wikidata where many of the users don't speak English, it's more complicated to greet users with premade texts that aren't templates. ChristianKl ❪✉❫ 11:01, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Traditionally, I prefer to welcome users manually, for me it means that I have checked who they are and what they do. I have nothing against a bot if used by other users but I cannot put my name as an available signature, that's just not my style. I remind you all that some users do no like automated welcome messages and other ones are unaware wikidata exists sometimes, even if they have induced edit there. We had discussion about "violation of privacy" when they access a platform and receive a welcome message, a fact that I personally find far-fetched but are there. So my advice in this case would be to use the bot for long-term users whose talk page is still red after maybe one year from the first edit. People like me have all the time to welcome users one by one in a frontal way, and we can still fix the horror vacui of red pages. Those targeted users will be accustomed by that date to welcome messages on other platforms and should not care too much.--Alexmar983 (talk) 11:33, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- Ok from all the replies i think im going to close this, thank you all and i wish you all the best~JJBullet~ {Talk} 13:32, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]