User:Joe's Null Bot
Wikipedia editing bot run by Joe Decker
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There are a number of strange and occasionally problematic caching behaviors in MediaWiki related to template-based conditional categorization and the like, places where updates don't percolate the way you'd hope, particularly if the "update" is merely passing some point in time where a conditional suddenly goes from one answer to another. See T7382 and T33628 and T14019.[1]
 | This user account is a bot that uses MediaWiki::API, operated by Joe Decker (talk). It is used to make repetitive automated or semi-automated edits that would be extremely tedious to do manually, in accordance with the bot policy. This bot was previously approved but has since been retired, and therefore shouldn't be making edits that appear to be unassisted except in the operator's or its own user and user talk space. Administrators: if this bot is malfunctioning or causing harm, please block it. |
These can be worked around with a full null edit, but more efficiently with a special WP:PURGE with the rarely observed "forcelinkupdate" option.[2]
This account should have precisely zero edits. Administrators: You may consider a single contribution edit a reason to block this account.
Recent changes:
- Modified 20 May 2016 to use SSL interface, as WMF expects to disable HTTP API access on 12 June 2016.
- Migrated 27 December 2016 to run on Tool Labs rather than my own server
Your concerns, ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome. Please leave all messages at User talk:Joe Decker, thanks.
| Task Number | Active? | BRFA | Frequency | Requests per day | Max. requests per day | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | task 1 | 1 / day | ~60 | 250 | Purges, using the forcelinkupdate option, each article in Category:BLP articles proposed for deletion by days left, in order to update the cache for that category as well as Category:Expired proposed deletions of unsourced BLPs.
The source code for task 1 is available here. Replaced by task 9. |
| 2 | Yes | task 2 | 1 / day | Purges the Main Page in order to resolve some ordering issues in the template used for the WP:TAFI deployment there. Went into operation March 16, 2013, set inactive when TAFI was removed from the main page on May 19, 2013. Restarted on request September 12 to help with a "random image of the day" feature on the main page, at 1x/day. | ||
| 3 | No | task 3 | 1 / week | Purges one of the subtemplates for TAFI, also set inactive when TAFI was was removed from the main page on May 19. (No forcelinkupdate required.) | ||
| 4 | Yes | task 4 | 1 / day | ~1000 | 3500 | Purges items in Category:Pending AfC submissions |
| 5 | Yes | task 5 | 1 / day | ~250 | 400 | Purges items in Category:Empty categories awaiting deletion |
| 6 | Yes | task 6 | 1 / day | ~20, | 120 | Purges items in Category:Duplicate or hardcoded templates awaiting deletion |
| 7 | No | task 7 | 1 / day | ~50 | 500 | Purges items in Category:Rescaled fairuse files. After a merger of templates, those files now appear in the category handled by task 8. |
| 8 | Yes | task 8 | 1 / day | ~50 | 1000 | Purges items in Category:Non-free files with orphaned versions |
| 9 | Yes | task 9 | 1 / day | ~250 | 750 | Purges items in Category:All articles proposed for deletion, replaced task 1 |
| 10 | Yes | task 10 | 1 / hour | Purges WP:PERM (No forcelinkupdate required.) | ||
| 11 | Yes | task 11 | 1 / day | Purges WP:TFA Title
| ||
| 12 | Yes | task 12 | 1 / day | ~200 | 750 | Purges items in Category:All files proposed for deletion, extending in a sense task 9. |
| 13 | Yes | task 13 | 1 / hour | Purges WP:PCB |