Runescape Botting

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ON THIS WIKI
This article is About to make edits bots to the RuneScape Wiki. For bots in RuneScape, see Macro.
For a list of bots in RuneScape Wiki and Their status and tasks, see RuneScape: Bots / List.
For guidelines and rules AutoWikiBrowser Regarding the tool, see RuneScape: AutoWikiBrowser.
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A bot is a computer program automates That Certain tasks, Which In This Case is editing this wiki. That bots perform tasks Unlike in RuneScape, bots here are allowed and encouraged. However, Given That There is a potential for bots to malfunction or vandalize, the community must Carefully Regulate Their operation to Prevent them from damaging the wiki.
There are many tasks can perform more bots That Efficiently and with Less work than humans. Examples include correcting American spelling of words to British and tagging pages with maintenance templates (Such as Template: Jpeg). However, human editors will always be needed, as capable of adding bots Are not content to the wiki. They are just a tool for performing repetitive tasks with Less Work Involved.

Community members that are interested in creating a wiki bot creating a bot should read on Wikipedia, as it Provides useful background information That Applies here.

Process
The process of creating a bot Usually Should Begin with an idea for a bot being Discussed by the community. These discussions are held informally on IRC Often, to get a general idea and feedback on the idea. If the overall consensus Is that it would be useful for the bot to perform the tasks discussed This, then the prospective operator bot write a detailed specification Should That Explains how the bot will run on the Yew Grove. The specification should include:
A detailed description of what the bot will do and how the bot will do it. The Latter is important Because Otherwise, the community may end up waiting and waiting for a bot That Will Never Be Able to carry out its tasks Intended.
How often the bot will run. All bots will run Either Continuously, Periodically, or one time. If the bot is designed to run Periodically, it Should be specified How often it runs.
Who Will Be Able to access it. Most Often, only the owner will be Able to Control the bot other than through blocking it, but Sometimes It Is Possible to allow others to access the bot. Access to the bot will almost never be open to everyone, since there is a potential again for abuse of its features.
Any other information the community would be interested in. When Evaluating the proposal.
It is important to write the specification before work is started on the bot, Because It defines the bot's goals before it's annoying to change them. Additionally, the community can be sure the operator is serious That About the bot running.
After the bot is coded, it Should Go through testing of all its features in a variety of scenarios. This testing Should Occur on a separate bot account instead of the creator's account, and is oftentimes performed on a 'test wiki'. The testing Should Ensure That the bot performs as expected. Once testing is complete, it Should be NOTED on the thread, if it is still open.

The bot flag only has the technical effect of Allowing the bot's edits to be hidden from the recent changes page, but to the community it Indicates That the bot has been tested and approved. Bureaucrats can flag bots; They will look for a community consensus to flag the bot before doing so.

Guidelines
All bots must run on separate accounts from Their creators, as it is important to Distinguish Between automatic and manual edits. These accounts Should not be created Until the bot Enters The testing phase, However, Because That point Until there might not ever be a working bot to use the account.
Most of the time, the bot account Should Have a bot flag That its edits are so hidden from recent changes. Additionally, the bot flag shows That the community has approved the bot, as bureaucrats look for a consensus When flagging bots (and no other users can flag them). The only exception is When the bot is still testing, in Which case it may be relevant to Have the edits on recent changes in case the bot functions incorrectly. Otherwise, the bot has Demonstrated correct Behaviour and Its Repeated edits need not be seen by everyone else UNLESS They are overtly interested. Bot bot flags are reserved for accounts, and normal accounts may not have a bot flag, although this probably goes without saying.

Per the above section, community consensus behind the bot is required at nearly every stage of the process. There is always the potential for a bot to function incorrectly or do harm to the wiki, and it is important the community knows That bots are running and has some confidence That this operation is correct. If caught an unapproved bot is running, administrators are free to block it as They See Fit Until There is community approval for it.

Source code
It is requested, but not required, That bot creators publicly release the source code for the bot, or at least give a copy of said code to a trusted user. The code Should be released under an open license Such as the GPL. By Providing some community member With The source code, the bot can continue operation after its operator has left the wiki, if and When This Happens. If the operator has distributed the bot's source code, This should be NOTED on the bot's user page.
If a bot operator does in fact leave and another takes his or her place, a separate bot account Should be created, controlled by the new operator. This is to Ensure transparency and accountability for the bot's actions. The bot's source code will run unmodified Usually by the new operator. If this is the case, the specification and testing phases may be skipped and the new operator need only ask the community for a new bot flag before running the bot, Given That the functionality of the bot is already Known to the community to be correct. However, if the code is Significantly modified to the point where its Behaviour is not the same, the testing phase of development bot Should Also Be Repeated by the new operator.