Factors Influencing Approval of Wikipedia Bots

Abstract

Before a Wikipedia bot is allowed to edit, the operator of the bot must get approval. The Bot Approvals Group (BAG), a committee of Wikipedia bot developers, users and editors, discusses each bot request to reach consensus regarding approval or denial. We examine factors related to approval of a bot by analyzing 100 bots’ project pages. The results suggest that usefulness, value-based decision making and the bot’s status (e.g., automatic or manual) are related to approval. This study may contribute to understanding decision making regarding the human-automation boundary and may lead to developing more efficient bots.