Difference between revisions of "Wikipedia Bots"
(→Internet bots) |
|||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
===Internet bots=== | ===Internet bots=== | ||
| − | An internet bot is a software application that runs automated tasks on the web. They allow for repetitive tasks be performed faster and at a larger scale than they would be done manually. Internet bots are integral part of the web. For example, all search engines depend on crawlers who jump from link to link to index sites. Bots can roughly be divided into two categories: good actors like the search engine crawlers and malicious bots, which pose a large threat to cyber security. Bots can work together in what is known as a botnet to perform large scale attacks, like a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The [[Mirai_Botnet]] is an infamous example of such an attack. Even good intentioned bots can cause damage, as there can be unintended consequences. A crawler that neglects to obey the robots exclusion protocol can overload a web server by making too many requests for the server to handle. | + | An internet bot is a software application that runs automated tasks on the web. They allow for repetitive tasks be performed faster and at a larger scale than they would be done manually. Internet bots are integral part of the web. For example, all search engines depend on crawlers who jump from link to link to index sites. Bots can roughly be divided into two categories: good actors like the search engine crawlers and malicious bots, which pose a large threat to cyber security. Bots can work together in what is known as a botnet to perform large scale attacks, like a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The [[Mirai_Botnet]] is an infamous example of such an attack. Even good intentioned bots can cause damage, as there can be unintended consequences. A crawler that neglects to obey the robots exclusion protocol can overload a web server by making too many requests for the server to handle. Two notable properties of bots that enable their potential for unintended consequences are that they can be long running and autonomous. A bot can run continuously for years and can independently make decisions. |
| + | |||
=== History of Bots on Wikipedia === | === History of Bots on Wikipedia === | ||
Revision as of 05:08, 15 March 2019
Wikipedia is a user-edited online encyclopedia . As of March, 2019 Wikipedia contains over five million [1] English articles, as well as many more in 302 other languages[2]. Wikipedia depends on volunteers to grow and maintain the site. Maintenance of the site is facilitated by internet bots, which have their own user accounts. In 2014, there were 274 active bots and they accounted for 15% of all edits on Wikipedia. [3] The bots demonstrate how autonomous agents can improve the info sphere they inhabit. However, due to their potential to also cause wide damage to info sphere if left unchecked, there are policies concerning the bots, set in place to safe guard the website.
Contents
Internet bots
An internet bot is a software application that runs automated tasks on the web. They allow for repetitive tasks be performed faster and at a larger scale than they would be done manually. Internet bots are integral part of the web. For example, all search engines depend on crawlers who jump from link to link to index sites. Bots can roughly be divided into two categories: good actors like the search engine crawlers and malicious bots, which pose a large threat to cyber security. Bots can work together in what is known as a botnet to perform large scale attacks, like a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The Mirai_Botnet is an infamous example of such an attack. Even good intentioned bots can cause damage, as there can be unintended consequences. A crawler that neglects to obey the robots exclusion protocol can overload a web server by making too many requests for the server to handle. Two notable properties of bots that enable their potential for unintended consequences are that they can be long running and autonomous. A bot can run continuously for years and can independently make decisions.
History of Bots on Wikipedia
Policy
Benefits to Info-sphere
Danger to Info-sphere
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Size_of_Wikipedia five million
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias
- ↑ ip=35.3.51.231&id=2641613&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=93447E3B54F7D979%2E0A17827594E6F2C8%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35&__acm__=1552621378_e7b064c4e0c4e92a28e12ac3a1ac3ce1
