When to use the pseudo-bot flag

Administrators should use the pseudo-bot flag (also called "flood flag") to avoid flushing other edits and actions from the RecentChanges (RC) feed when making repetitive changes. Such actions must never be controversial, as using the pseudo-bot flag decreases the amount of oversight they may receive. Abuse of the pseudo-bot flag is treated as abuse of any other administrator tool would be. Examples of acceptable use would be deleting many spambot pages, or deleting a large number of pages after consensus has been achieved at Wikibooks:Requests for deletion or blocking many open proxies. Unacceptable uses include attempting to circumvent legitimate oversight of any controversial action, regardless of whether it is an administrator task or not.

Users may also wish to equip the pseudo-bot flag when performing log actions on large numbers of usernames that are offensive or libellous (i.e. administrators performing local blocks, and so on).

In some cases, a bureaucrat may remove the pseudo-bot flag to force an administrator's edits to appear in RC. This should be done in cases where the administrator has forgotten to remove it, or when the changes should be seen by default in RC.

The pseudo-bot flag is set and removed using Special:UserRights.

Room for abuse?

One issue with the pseudo-bot flag is that there is room for abuse from administrators; if an administrator is making contentious edits or actions, he or she would be able to toggle the pseudo-bot flag to prevent them from being seen or monitored from Recent Changes, which is the primary source at which new edits are displayed and observed.

However, it must be remembered the administrators are already trusted with the ability to delete pages, block users, view deleted material, place protections on pages, etc. In the end, this added functionality should not require more trust than administrators are already given.

Granting the pseudo-bot flag is logged, and shown in recent changes. Administrators who abuse the pseudo-bot may have their administrative rights removed.

Pseudo-bot flag or bot flag?

This is intended to replace requesting temporary bot flags from bureaucrats. Administrators who would otherwise request a temporary bot flag may simply flag themselves using the pseudo-bot flag.

Cases where a permanent bot flag should be given remain the same - the administrator should create a secondary account and request a bot flag as normal. Only temporary bot flags are replaced with this pseudo-bot flag.

See also

  • Current users in the Pseudo-bot group


User groups
Local: blocked users – anonymous users – registered users – autoconfirmed users – autoreviewed users – reviewers – uploaders – importers – bots – pseudo-bots – administrators – interface administrators – bureaucrats – checkusers
Global: locked accounts – unified accounts – rollbackers – sysops – ombudsmen – system administrators – stewards
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