User:AntiSpamBot/FAQ

The AntiSpamBot FAQ

1. What is AntiSpamBot?

AntiSpamBot is an automated program which tries to remove spam links inserted into Wikipedia. It is written in Perl, and its developer is Shadow1.

2. How does it work?

AntiSpamBot listens to output from Linkwatcher, an IRC bot originally written by Eagle 101 and currently maintained by Shadow1, which scans the Recent changes log for links. If a link matches a rule in a built-in blacklist, it sends the edit to AntiSpamBot for reversion and such.

3. Has it ever screwed up?

Yes, it has. But, as with all computer programs, it isn't perfect. If it accidentally reverts you, simply revert it. AntiSpamBot should realize that it's already reverted you on that article and not remove your changes. AntiSpamBot is, by default, programmed only to revert unregistered and new users, so it's not likely that it will revert you accidentally.

4. What do I do if it does screw up?

Please leave a message on either Shadow1's talk page or AntiSpamBot's talk page, leaving a link to the diff where the bot reverted. Shadow1 should get in contact with you soon to try to sort out the issue.

Also, simply revert the reversion. AntiSpamBot is, by default, programmed to not revert you twice, and should leave you alone. However, persistent spammers may cause Shadow1 to put AntiSpamBot into angry mode, where it will revert as many times as necessary.

5. This thing sounds cool! How can I help?

Well, for starters, join the #wikipedia-en-spam and #wikipedia-spam-t channels on Freenode. There, you can suggest new blacklist rules, help Shadow1 and Eagle 101 with bot development, and help revert spam!

6. Why does AntiSpamBot screw up in the first place?

Mostly because of anti-vandalism efforts that accidentally re-insert spam links, but also due to incorrectly-written regex rules and AntiSpamBot operators which incorrectly identify links as spam. That, and Shadow1 isn't the best Perl programmer in existence.

7. What sort of links are reverted by AntiSpamBot?

A full list of links that AntiSpamBot will revert can be found at User:Shadowbot/Blacklist.

8. Technical specs?

AntiSpamBot is written in Perl and uses perlwikipedia to edit and retrieve information from Wikipedia. It uses the POE::Component::IRC module to communicate with Freenode. It uses MySQL for its database functions. You can check out a copy of its source code by running

svn co svn://hemlock.ts.wikimedia.org/shadow1/subversion/shadowbot shadowbot. The copy of the source in Subversion is guaranteed to be within a week or so of the production code.