Wikipedia:Robotic editing

This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community.

Shortcut WP:ROBOTICWP:ROBOTIC

This page in a nutshell: Semi-automated editing can be monotonous and wearing on the editors who make these necessary edits with care. Show appreciation for editors who perform a series of robotic edits.

Robotic editing is the manual performance of the same or similar edit to multiple, perhaps numerous pages. It is not technically robotic, but is done humanhandedly when needed. It can be monotonous with little or no thought about what is being done after a while. The more formal name for this is assisted editing or semi-automated editing.

When is robotic editing necessary?

Some examples of when robotic editing is necessary are:

• When linking other articles to a new or already existing page
• When adding a new category to a page
• When adding a new template, such as a navbox, to every page it lists
• Following the page move with the old name being used for a new page, all pages that link to the previous title must be updated

What you should know

Here are some things you should know if ever you edit robotically:

• Remember what you are doing: If you get too carried away, you may unintentionally mess up, thereby necessitating many more similar edits.
• Use the edit summary to let others know what you just did. You can make it very simple if you want to edit efficiently, such as "+cat" or "+nav."
• If marking the edits as "minor," be sure that these edits meet Wikipedia's minor edit guidelines. Otherwise, do not mark them as minor.
• You may be considered a bot, and may be subject to the bot policy on bot-like editing. Make sure your edits have consensus, and that their purpose is well-explained in the edit summaries.

Semi-automated editors

• Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser (AWB) – downloadable desktop application for Windows
• Wikipedia:JavaScript Wiki Browser (JWB) – works similarly to AWB, but requires no executable installation, and runs on all major operating systems

Show appreciation

Robotic editing is challenging not in the information that is provided. In most cases, the information in a robotic edit is quite simple. But it sure can wear one down.

In the event that another editor performed a series of robotic edits that you had planned on, it is strongly recommended that you award a barnstar to that editor. The Working Man's Barnstar is appropriate for these situations.

{{subst:The Working Man's Barnstar|message ~~~~|gender}}