Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/SMS Bot 2

SMS Bot 2

Operator: SMS ^Talk

Automatic or Manually Assisted: Automatic

Programming Language(s): AWB + Custom Module(C#)

Function Summary: This bot will convert in-text external links into references.

Edit period(s) (e.g. Continuous, daily, one time run): Daily

Edit rate requested: 8-9 edits per min

Already has a bot flag (Y/N): N

Function Details: SMS Bot 2 will convert External links present in the text of an article into references and will also add {{Reflist}} if not present, before the External links section. A sample edit: [1]

Discussion

Doesn't seem to follow the correct cite web procedure. — Werdna talk 01:08, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, although, I love this task, can you make it use {{cite web}}? If you could, however, you may need to think about how to tell when {{cite news}} etc, are appropriate. SQL ^{Query me!} 03:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well! after reading Citing sources, I got an impression that using citation templates is something controversial. So I avoided use of these templates. --SMS ^Talk 04:21, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You're right.. but since when? — Werdna talk 07:54, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Don't know exactly but this discussion might have triggered it. --SMS ^Talk 11:23, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

shrug. Any objections to this bot's task? — Werdna talk 12:05, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How does it determine which links to convert? Not every in-text external link is a reference. In fact, I'd wager the vast majority of them are not. A link should only be turned into a reference if the link actually is a reference for the provided material. -- JLaTondre (talk) 15:17, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It can't determine whether an external link is a reference or not, just for the purpose of readability it will convert the external link into reference. And as much as I have seen, most of the external links are references or footnotes. Another thing it will convert only unnamed URL. --SMS ^Talk 16:42, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Then it is a bad idea. Take Sales Performance Management (SPM) for an example. The section labeled "Vendors" contains external links to the corporations mentioned. These are not references. They are at best external links that should be replaced with internal links. The links do not establish the vendors as a "best-of-breed" choice for a SPM solutions. This paragraph needs to be re-written (or deleted); making it look like a referenced statement is absolutely the wrong thing. Wikipedia has tons of this type of external linking. It only took me a couple minutes to find this one example. References should only be for real references. -- JLaTondre (talk) 17:00, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also {{Reflist}} should not be used but rather <references/> instead. β^{_{command 2}} 15:39, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why <references/> is a better option than {{Reflist}}? --SMS ^Talk 16:42, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]