Help:Bots
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Bots are automated or semi-automated tools that carry out repetitive and mundane tasks on a wiki. Bots can make numerous edits quickly. Bots are often used to move pages to new categories, fix redirects, fix links to disambiguation pages and fix common spelling mistakes.
Types of bot
There are two main types of bot: AutoWikiBrowser and Pywikipediabot. These both differ in powers and abilities.
Bot accounts
Bots need a separate account to the normal user. This is so that the user's edits don't get hidden in recent changes and so that the bot's edits don't get shown in recent changes. Just create a new account, usually including your user name and bot in the name.
Bot flags
Bot flags can hide a bot's edits in recent changes. This is because bots usually do many repetitive tasks quickly and can clog up recent changes. A bureaucrat can give the bot rights out. If there are no active bureaucrats, staff can give you the rights. To see bot edits, you can click show bots in recent changes.
What can bots do?
Accounts marked as bots can:
- Have higher limits while using the MediaWiki API
- Have their edits hidden on recent changes list
- Not alert users on minor talk page edits