Wikipedia talk:AutoEd/Archive 3

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Edit summary

The tool adds itself to the edit description even when it did nothing AManWithNoPlan (talk) 03:14, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Adding a space before "/" in refs

I am not a fan of this extra space. Can we please have this tool stop doing this [1] Best Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 18:28, 25 June 2017 (UTC)

some insight on this topic https://stackoverflow.com/questions/462741/space-before-closing-slash AManWithNoPlan (talk) 04:04, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Not working

and suspiciously, the problem seems connected to something called regex editor, which appeared around the same time. Any ideas? Regards Keith-264 (talk) 17:26, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

AutoEd is working fine for me. Here's an edit I just did with it. You'll have to be more specific about what you are trying to do. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:35, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

I've been trying to use it and nothing happens most times or only minor errors like not spacing after a * are remedied. Even when I've edited something and put Auto Ed on straight away, the edits aren't showing up. Keith-264 (talk) 19:01, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

It's worked the last few times. Keith-264 (talk) 18:15, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

Fixing dates

So AutoEd was recently recommended to me to help keep dating consistent in references for Wikipedia articles, instead of going through and fixing them manually. I installed AutoEd and when attempting to use it on the page it didn't fix the dates automatically. Apologies for the simple and likely obvious question as I am very bad with JavaScript, but how would I set up AutoEd to automatically change dates like "1 January 2018" and "2018-01-01" to "January 1, 2018"? DanielleTH ^{(Say hi!)} 04:03, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

Dashes

There has been a recent AutoEd edit to Fungus. Among other things it replaced something (a hyphen?) by an emdash. Referring to WP:MOSDASH, what I think should have been used is the spaced ndash template.

Citations were also reformatted. Page number ranges were changed from the form 123-134 to the form 123-34. Is this an intended effect of AutoEd? (My impression is that the former format is commoner in current usage, and WikiPedia, though either is acceptable.)

(An "r" was also lost from "mushroom", but I presume this has to be user finger trouble, rather than AutoEd.) Lavateraguy (talk) 02:47, 15 January 2019 (UTC)

I see quite a lot of non auto Ed work AManWithNoPlan (talk) 03:19, 15 January 2019 (UTC)

"No difference"

Whenever I click the auto ed link under the "Move", I see the same message: No difference. All the time. I think I have followed all the instructions (copied the code, bypassed the cache, etc.) and have deleted other scripts possibly clashing with the AE. But still...What do you think the problem might be? Puduḫepa 20:55, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

Flipping CFB and NFL scores?

Hello, this edit[2] attributed to "Cleaned up using AutoEd" flipped the scores on lost games. Ex, "L 30–34" became "L 34–30". As there are other (good) changes in the edit, it's unclear whether to attribute the score flipping to the script, or to additional manual effort by the editor.

The ordering convention in reporting football scores as "W|L" "Team"–"Opponent" can be seen througout CFB and NFL team articles. Ex, 2016 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team#Schedule or 2018 Green Bay Packers season#Schedule. Cheers, UW Dawgs (talk) 22:44, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

all evidence points to this not being the tool. Looks like they’ve used the tool and been a tool in one edit. AManWithNoPlan (talk) 11:22, 18 August 2019 (UTC)

Whitespace only

This edit by User:Paper Luigi is a whitespace-only edit. Is there something that can be done to the script to reduce the likelihood of these edits being made?

I'd also like to discourage the removal of blank lines before lists. While blank lines *within* lists are WP:LISTGAP problems, a blank line before a list can make the wikitext easier for those of us who like to edit in that mode. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:25, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

User:Plastikspork, do you have any ideas about how we could address this? WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:42, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

feature request: remove whitespace before references

I used AutoEd for this edit, but all of the removal of whitespace before references was manual. This would require adding regex to Wikipedia:AutoEd/whitespace.js that would replace the following:

• . <ref> with .<ref>
• , <ref> with ,<ref>
• " <ref> with "<ref>
• </ref> <ref> with </ref><ref>

...where the space is really arbitrary whitespace. I'm willing to determine the regex pattern, but could use some help. = paul2520 (talk) 15:06, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

AutoEd bot error

Dear bot wizards: Please run AutoEd on USS Oberrender. You will (should) see an error on how AutoEd marks up the </references> template. It converts the template to <references /> which produces a mass to citation error messages. Thank you. – S. Rich (talk) 02:24, 21 November 2019 (UTC)

I couldn't get it to work

I tried both basic and complete, on both Brave (Chrome) and Firefox, with other scripts enabled and disabled. What am I doing wrong? Guarapiranga (talk) 08:37, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

You have a TON of scripts in your common.js. I see that you tried to disable all of them. What happened when you did that? Did AutoEd appear in your "More" menu when you viewed an article? If so, what happened when you clicked that menu option?

You are welcome to look at my files. It would be most useful to look at vector.js, twoisbnparams.js, and core.js. I have done some customizing to run AutoEd in my own user space and without the basic functions, just my own regular expressions. I can try to answer questions here or on my talk page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:21, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

Aha! I was looking looking in the wrong place (I've now clarified that in the text):

Once installed, the "auto ed" tab should appear on all non-talk pages.

@Jonesey95:: You have a TON of scripts in your common.js.

Indeed I do! 😅

I'm curious and wanna try everything (and a little less diligent at pruning it down on what I have no need for). I'll take your advice on what's not worth keeping, Jonesey95. I'll have a look at your config files, and see what I can learn from them. Immediately, I noticed you don't use common.js. Why is that? Guarapiranga (talk) 23:19, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

Re common.js: I have always used the vector skin exclusively, so I just put everything in vector.js. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:26, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Punctuation around reference tags

Any ideas about including auto-repair of WP:REFPUNCT violations? Largoplazo (talk) 00:35, 24 December 2019 (UTC)

I've tested with /\s*(((<ref[^/]*?>[^<]*?</ref>)\s*)+)\s*(([.,"'!?;:])+)/, replacing that with $4$1. And then replacing /\s+(<ref[\s>])/ with $1 to get rid of spaces in front of the refs. Probably neither completely robust nor 100% safe, but it's a start. Largoplazo (talk) 01:11, 24 December 2019 (UTC)

Change

AutoEd is causing problems in this edit[3]

When it changed "</references></div> to <references /></div>"

Wondering what a solution to this would be? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 10:12, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

@Doc James: Pardon me for my ignorance, but where is "</references>" documented as being correct wikitext syntax, and as being preferred on this project over standard legacy "<references />" syntax?   — Jeff G. ツ 12:50, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

It's documented at Help:List-defined references. Seems like WP:AutoEd/htmltowikitext.js should be modified to change

  str = str.replace(/<[\\\/\s]*REFERENCES[\\\/\s]*>/gim, '<references />');

to something like

  str = str.replace(/([^>\s]\s*)<[\\\/\s]*REFERENCES[\\\/\s]*>/gim, '$1<references />');

which would prevent it from messing up list-defined references. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 23:12, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

Ahecht, thanks for the suggestion. Now implemented! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 22:28, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

AutoEd bug causing issues at COVID-19 pandemic

 You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:COVID-19 pandemic#AutoEd. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 20:35, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

This relates to the above section.   — Jeff G. ツ 16:18, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Content model

@Plastikspork: I saw your edit here which uses a hack to do syntax highlighting. Is there a reason that you don't just use Special:ChangeContentModel/Wikipedia:AutoEd/htmltowikitext.js to change the content model to JavaScript? --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 21:33, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Ahecht, good idea. For some reason, that hasn't worked for me in the past. For example, if you look at Special:ChangeContentModel/User:Christopher_Parham/monobook.js you will see that it's javascript, but if you look at this list of offending WhatLinksHere you will find that page in the list. Do you have any idea why the it's still being parsed for template transclusions? Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 22:21, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

@Plastikspork: I think that's working as intended, since it allows things like counting linkbacks in js files and CSD tagging. Using

//<nowiki>
... 
//</nowiki>

should prevent WhatLinksHere from finding those pages, although it doesn't seem like it actually presents a problem. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 23:42, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Ahecht, as far as I can tell <syntaxhighlight>...</syntaxhighlight> and <pre>...</pre> also suppress WhatLinksHere transclusions. The reason for worrying about this is mostly for database reports like Special:WantedTemplates which are clogged up with false positives right now. If we didn't have the ca. 1000 false positives from .js pages, it would be easier to find the actual problems. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 00:20, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Dummy edits

Re: this edit, Ozzie10aaaa has asked me to post here to clarify that these sorts of edits that just manipulate some whitespace and make no difference in the way that a page functions or renders are inappropriate and should not be made. Correct me if I'm wrong. ―Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 21:34, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Im glad you posted here, I started using this tool last week, if for whatever reason you have an issue with Autoed then it may need to be adjusted (Either way I can easily drop its use ... not a big deal)--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 21:42, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, that edit removed space characters that were not causing any trouble, and that were actually helpful for someone wanting to add parameter values in a way that matched the existing formatting of the infobox. It is possible, though I have no way to verify, that those spaces were some sort of hidden unicode character that acts like a space but causes trouble, like an invisible nbsp. If the edit simply removed space characters at the end of each line, that is a cosmetic edit that is borderline harmful, and it should not be performed in batches by anyone, let alone with scripts or tools.

There are some edits that do not change the rendered appearance of the page but that fix actual errors, like this one. I have performed thousands of edits like that with AutoEd and can't recall receiving an objection or revert. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:53, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Jonesey95, thank you for above info, in any event Ill just stop using the tool (again my first edit with it was more or less a week ago)--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 22:03, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Jonesey95, Agreed that sometimes fixing a lint error or malformed code can be useful but even then, it's best to pair those kind of fixes with something that actually changes the output of the page. I can confirm that the space characters were standard hit-the-spacebar spaces and not weird thin spaces or non-breaking spaces or control characters. ―Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 22:19, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Bug?

On Kogge–Stone adder AutoEd tries to change...

book cover shows invalid ISBN-10: 0-397-28594-6 and no ISBN-13

...to...

book cover shows invalid ISBN 0-397-28594-6 and no ISBN

...and it does it inside an HTML comment. Why does AutoEd even try to modify HTML comments?

--Guy Macon (talk) 23:50, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

Not working on a Miraheze wiki

@Drilnoth: I've successfully used scripts from Wikipedia before with my wiki at Miraheze. I've tried the same with AutoEd using

mw.loader.load('//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:AutoEd/complete.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript');

(https://sdiy.info/wiki/User:Rob_Kam/common.js) but it doesn't appear under the More drop-down menu. I've tried commenting the other scripts out etc, but that hasn't helped. How to get it working off-Wikipedia on other MW wikis please? --Rob Kam (talk) 19:24, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Does not respect Template:Not a typo

On Python (programming language), AutoEd tries to change

 {{Not a typo|[[mod_wsgi]]}}

to

 {{Not a typo|[[mod wsgi]]}}

Shouldn't Template:Not a typo protect the text from AutoEd? --Guy Macon (talk) 18:08, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Why add a space after bullets and colons in lists?

AutoEd adds a space after bullets, #s, and colons in lists. And such spaces are shown in the list guidance/examples we see at MOS:BULLET and WP:ACCESSIBILITY. But this guidance does not say spaces should be used. Nor does the guidance say why the spaces are added. It is my understanding that the spaces help automated screen readers "speak" when reading texts to the blind. I glean this from the ACCESS guidance which says "but will be read by a screen reader as: 'List of 2 items: (bullet) White rose, (bullet) Yellow rose, list end. List of 1 items: (bullet) Pink rose, list end. List of 1 items: (bullet) Red rose, list end.'" Am I gleaning correctly? If so, please add a line to the list of things that AutoEd Basic does. Something like " * Adds a space after bullets (*'s), hashmarks (#'s), and colons (:'s) to allow automated screen readers discern list markup. " Thanks. – S. Rich (talk) 23:07, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

Just to add to the above, there is a benefit from making formatting consistent instead of doing things like having the space in some places and omitting it in others, even if they look the same on the page. Same with, say, <br> and <br/>; Wikipedia treats them both the same but constancy is better. Sometimes bugs only show up when one format or the other is used. Sometimes screen readers or automated tools work better with one or the other. It is usually a waste of effort and an extra entry in the edit history to just fix one inconsistency, but it is a good addition to a tool that fixes many problems at once. --Guy Macon (talk) 01:24, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

I'm only concerned about consistency on stuff that is visible to the reader; editors can fend for themselves. I'd only support adding a space if it helps screen readers do their thing. That's what we need to confirm or deny.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 10:37, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

And I am concerned with consistency whether or not it is visible to the reader, as long as fixing it is piggybacked on more important things rather than creating another entry in the edit history. I am sure that everyone reading appreciates us both expressing our personal preferences on this. Do you have a specific improvement to AutoEd that you would like to propose? --Guy Macon (talk) 13:08, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

My suggestion is specific: Add a line to the AutoEd explanation that tells us "what" it is doing and "why". The "what" justifications are two-fold: 1. AutoEd adds a space before bullets and the results comply with the BULLET MOS and ACCESSIBILITY examples. 2. Next it assures consistency in list presentations. It does NOT add whitespace and the changes are NOT cosmetic. AutoEd's functions were vetted long ago – but Wikignomes like myself (and the Project) will befit from a small "why" on the explanation page. – S. Rich (talk) 20:03, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Ah. Please forgive me for misunderstanding. Strong agreement with making it clear why AutoEd does what it does. --Guy Macon (talk) 01:45, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Per consensus and WP:BB I'll insert the clarification. – S. Rich (talk) 23:26, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Error

AutoEd changes...

<---

...to...

←-

...instead of...

←

Depending on the font, the ← and - don't line up.

--Guy Macon (talk) 21:56, 26 June 2020 (UTC)

Am I posting bug reports to the wrong place? I would have expected some sort of response by now. --Guy Macon (talk) 00:31, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Unhelpful infobox edits

this edit is unhelpful.

There is no need to remove spaces from the ends of blank infobox parameters such as | qid = . They are included in pro-forma infobox markup, in the documentation of many infoboxes, deliberately.

Please ensure that such behaviour is discontinued. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:41, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

<br />

Why does AutoEd embed <br />? This is XHTML syntax. We don't use XHTML. <br> is correct, not <br />.Andy Dingley (talk) 16:36, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

The syntax highlighter doesn't work with <br>. It's a long-standing issue. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:54, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Jonesey95, one of the 4 syntax highlighters doesn't work with <br>. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:09, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I'm just using the one in Preferences - Gadgets. If it isn't the best one, perhaps it shouldn't be so readily available and de facto recommended by WMF and the community. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:24, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

According to the HTML spec, both <br> and <br /> are correct. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 23:23, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

The HTML spec is not applicable here. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:42, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Even if "The HTML spec" was applicable here, the HTML5 spec is evil, and whenever possible Wikipedia should follow the HTML 4.01 specification,[4] which mandates <br> and forbids <br />.[5]

• EFF's Formal Objection to the HTML WG Draft Charter
• Tell W3C: We don't want the Hollyweb
• HTML5: a devil in disguise
• Firefox’s adoption of closed-source DRM breaks my heart

--Guy Macon (talk) 00:00, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

AutoEd disrupts table layout

Please look at this diff. Note how AutoEd disrupts the layout of the table. Please fix. Thank you. – S. Rich (talk) 22:59, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

S. Rich, I think this line was the problem. We could possibly still do something there, but we should check to see if we are inside a table. Let me know if that doesn't fix the issue. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:11, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you so very much! I've run the bot again on the newest and some older versions of the article. The problem seems to be fixed. – S. Rich (talk) 01:40, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

Weirdness with <references> change to <references />

See THIS EDIT. Is there a fix for the old reference markup? This caused a huge page error caught by Mikeblas. GenQuest ^{"Talk to Me"} 16:42, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Is anyone successfully using AutoEd with the 2010 wikitext editor and syntax highlighting enabled?

I use AutoEd to fix Linter errors, and it appears to not work when I have syntax highlighting turned on in the 2010 wikitext editor. If I edit this version of my sandbox, turn on syntax highlighting using the pencil icon in the toolbar, and run my custom AutoEd script that fixes missing italics, it does not make an edit. If I click the pencil icon to turn off syntax highlighting and then run the script, my script fixes the missing italics. I know that not many people use AutoEd, but I use it to make thousands of edits to fix Linter errors, and syntax highlighting is key to seeing the errors.

Can anyone else reproduce this problem? Are there any active AutoEd users out there? – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:45, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

I cannot speak to this specific issue, but I use the 2017 wikitext editor and pretty much all beta features; and more or less all of my editing scripts (eg date formatting, dash fixing) just end up reloading the page without making any changes. I have to turn everything to default to run any of them. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 20:55, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Eddie891, thanks for the response. Do you know if this significant bug has been reported at Phabricator? – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:09, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Not that I know of, and certainly not by me (I try and leave tech to those who understand it ). If somebody could figure it out I'd greatly appreciate it! Best, Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 21:13, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Jonesey95, it’s not a bug in mediawiki. It’s just autoed that was never updated to make use of jquery.textselection api, which is required to be used if you want to edit the text area from a script (at the same time as other scripts are potentially modifying that text). —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 22:26, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

TheDJ, AutoEd works fine in the old wikitext editor, even with the syntax highlighting gadget turned on. I'm assuming that the 2010 and 2017 wikitext editors are the ones that require this update.

Plastikspork, you are listed as the maintainer for AutoEd. Do you think that it would be possible for you to incorporate the update described by TheDJ in this section? – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:28, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Jonesey95, I would be happy to help with improvements. It would go faster if I had some assistance with exact what needs to be done. I, personally, haven't been using this script, so it would take some time to figure out what to do to fix whatever is broken. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 22:12, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

@Jonesey95, Eddie891, and TheDJ: I think I figured it out after reading Wikipedia:User_scripts/Guide. You can check my changes here which added the jQuery.ready and switched over to using the jQuery.textSelection. Let me know if I screwed something up. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 23:01, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

@Plastikspork: That is about right yes. Official module documentation. Official Resourceloader documentation. There is one small problem, you are making use of the textSelection plugin without ensuring it is available (it is, but better be safe). Change to $.when( $.ready, mw.loader.using( 'jquery.textSelection' ) ).then(function() { instead of jQuery(document).ready(function($){ . So: when both page ready AND jquery.textSelection loading are done then do.. etc. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:14, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Thanks TheDJ! Now changed! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 21:06, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

@Plastikspork and TheDJ: Just to clarify, this change allows AutoEd to work with the 2010 editor, correct? But the 2017 editor is a different story? At least for me when I use the 2017 editor, all it does is open the editor, but I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise considering that the 2017 editor is marked as a beta feature. ChromeGames923 (talk) 03:00, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Exact same for me, it works fine in the default editor, but not in the 2017 one. — Yours, Berrely • ^Talk∕_Contribs 15:37, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

@Berrely, Plastikspork, and Jonesey95: (and possibly others), I had this problem as well—I only just installed AutoEd today. There's a "feature" where if the index.php action is submit, it uses the old source editor. After some difficulties due to my limited knowledge of MediaWiki's userscript API, I was able to hack together a pretty gross ad-hoc solution, but I'm not sure if it's compatible with the other ways AutoEd is used. You can see what I did here. Now clicking the "auto ed" button everything works fine for me. (Worth nothing that this will still use the old source editor, this just prevents needing to enable/disable the 2017 one whenever you need to run AutoEd.) Perryprog (talk) 19:05, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Using User:GregU/dashes.js with AutoEd

I read Customization but it was confusing for me. How can I add dashes.js to AutoEd? Would someone please do it for me? Wario-Man ^talk 08:55, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

is autoed down?

when i click autoed, for few seconds it shows circle and nothing happens. Gi vi an (talk) 04:11, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

It is working fine for me. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:36, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

I just tried it on a random article[6] and it worked just fine. --Guy Macon (talk) 04:41, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Resolved

it seems there are no changes to be made, does not load diff and nothing happens. it behaved for two articles. excuse. perhaps, if it shows message "no changes needed" would avoid confusion. Gi vi an (talk) 05:16, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Error

The 'autoEd's button appears twice, and upon running, comes up with the error:[...] at line 476: Uncaught type error cannot read property 'AddEventLidtner' of null  Qwerfjkl|✉   21:29, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Absolutely useless edits

Can AutoEd be configured to avoid making absolutely useless edits such as this? Utilities such as AWB provide an option to skip if only cosmetic changes would be made, and such an option should be available for AutoEd; as a matter of fact, it should be the default. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:51, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

AutoEd and Redirects

AutoEd keeps replacing unbroken redirects with direct links (e.g., here and here). Per WP:DONOTFIX, there is no fixable issue with linking to redirects. They are fine. Can this action be removed from the script, please? Thanks! — SpikeToronto 13:12, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

The first edit was made with Citation Bot, not AutoEd. The second one was made by AManWithNoPlan using AutoEd, but it is unclear whether that editor was using a custom script. Have you asked that editor? – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:08, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

The redirects are minor edits that help reduce the confusion around the citation templates. cite newspaper and cite website give the false impression to editors that there is a template for newspapers and websites. There are not. There are templates for news and for web. These templates are very rarely used, and exist to catch typos. In fact cite newspaper was eliminated and replaces with the redirect for editors that continued to use it in error. AManWithNoPlan (talk) 15:17, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

@Jonesey95: Thank you for both of your points: I didn’t realize the first one was done with a different tool; and, I also didn’t realize undoing redirects was an AutoEd option the other editor may have customized himself. AManWithNoPlan, I don’t see how your explanation justifies ignoring WP:DONOTFIX. What is the ultimate goal? It seems like a lot of work to follow behind us undoing our use of redirects, especially given that Wikipedia’s stated policy is to leave them alone. — SpikeToronto 06:14, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

The dont fix does not apply to templates like this. There is other guides for that. AManWithNoPlan (talk) 10:45, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

{{realist}}

Autoed appears to be responsible for introducing at least some of these typos (@Adam.Sudo:). Apparently, we get quite a lot of these if the redirect discussion is anything to go by. SpinningSpark 09:07, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

I suspect that the editor made that change manually while previewing an AutoEd edit. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:42, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

Really? Why would they do that? Your commint kind of implies they did it deliberately. SpinningSpark 17:23, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

Because sometimes people make typos. What did the editor say when you asked them about their edit? That is always a good place to start. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:51, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

That's why I pinged them. I can understand a typo when one is putting in a reflist, but that edit changed an existing one. SpinningSpark 12:33, 27 December 2021 (UTC)

Not sure how this happened, but I assure you this was unintentional. I will proof more carefully in the future after using the tool.Adam.Sudo (talk) 22:00, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Auto Ed is not showing up in my "More" dropdown

Hello,

I copied the line of code to my common.js file

There isn't an "Auto Ed" option from my More drop-down. I do have two dashes that appear, though, and when I hover over them I see "fix dashes, hyphens, and minus signs".

I thought, maybe I need to add customization, so I created the monobook.js page here. I used to have a monobook.js page, but it was deleted when trying to get something else to work.

Any ideas? Feedback is much appreciated!–CaroleHenson (talk) 03:58, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

I have this problem as well. ― Qwerfjkltalk 13:44, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

Nor me. Plastikspork any ideas? 5 albert square (talk) 02:49, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

CaroleHenson, have you tried commenting out all of the other scripts in your common.js file, just to see what happens? Have you tried switching skins for the same reason? I use the legacy Vector skin, with a customized set of AutoEd files that I store in my own set of User subpages, and it works for me. I have been using AutoEd for about 8 years in this configuration. – Jonesey95 (talk) 03:58, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

I tried switching skins and no difference 5 albert square (talk) 02:00, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for responding. Sounds like it's a sticky problem.–CaroleHenson (talk) 23:51, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

@Jonesey95: The customised AutoEd's work for me (evil vector). ― Qwerfjkltalk 22:12, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

WP:COSMETICBOT

I added a sentence in the lede, which seems the best place to put it, to drive home the point that automated tools shouldn't be used to just remove whitespace, cluttering up histories and watchlists. I don't expect this to be controversial, but decided to drop a note anyway. This was after an ANI discussion that I had brought up. See article page summary for link. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 12:30, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for that. The sentence was too broad; many exceptions to the statement that you added exist, for good reason. Many syntax error fixes do not change the rendered appearance of the page, and AutoEd is a very useful tool that we have used uncontroversially for years to fix them. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:34, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

Fair enough, good fix. I have no issue with the software, just want to make sure people understand they are responsible for the changes, and that means don't use it to just remove a couple of end lines spaces, as that junks up watchlists and histories. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 15:37, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

Agreed. Those "only remove spaces from the ends of lines" edits do not appear to be useful. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:38, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

Adding spaces after bullets

[AutoEd] adds a space after bullets (*s) and hashmarks (#s) to allow automated screen readers discern list markup. This sentence was added after a discussion in July 2020. However, screen readers look at the HTML output not the wikitext. This may seem obvious to you but the sentence was added due to a misinterpretation of MOS:LISTGAP as the linked discussion shows. There is no evidence that adding spaces after bullets helps users of screen readers. I think the sentence can be safely removed because the whitespace functionality is defined in whitespace.js and thus not even part of the basic profile. Dexxor (talk) 09:28, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

"Minor" edits

Please turn off the default "Minor edit" selection when using the bot. Many edits recommended by the bot are not minor. Thosbsamsgom (talk) 22:21, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia:AutoEd/Customization explains how to set this flag to true or false by adding a line to your common.js file. If you need help, post again here. – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:14, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

Removing trailing spaces in <math> blocks

In this edit [7] to Metabolic equivalent of task the AutoEd script removed the trailing spaces from within a math equation. In LaTex a backslash followed by a space represents a specified unit of space so a\ b is rendered as $a\ b$. In the article the editor has broken up the formula after these spaces leaving a significant space at the end of each line. AutoEd removed these spaces creating a syntax error.

It would be good if AutoEd could be made to not change anything between <math>...</math> tags, as there are many special syntax rules. --Salix alba (talk): 05:20, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Dashes

Has dashes.js somehow been incorporated in AutoEd? I no longer has dashes appear in my "More" menu but there's now autoed instead (which I have never installed). Schwede66 04:01, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

Same here. I've used this for years and now it's gone. Fyunck(click) (talk) 07:19, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

Spaces in chemical names

In Special:Diff/1141520976, AutoEd was used to add additional spaces between parts of a chemical name where there were none before. This is an objectively incorrect change, since spaces are syntactically important in IUPAC nomenclature. This appears to be caused by Wikipedia:AutoEd/links.js; at minimum, it should be fixed to actually recognize external links instead of blindly scanning for square brackets. LegionMammal978 (talk) 05:53, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

Not able to see AutoEd option

Hello,

I added

importScript('Wikipedia:AutoEd/complete.js');

to my common.js file (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:CaroleHenson/common.js), and I have purged my cache. I also went out of my webbrowser (chrome) and loaded it again, no luck.

I have looked for "AutoEd" in

• menu at the topmost and leftmost corner of the Wikipedia screen
• menu at the topmost and rightmost corner of the Wikipedia screen - where there are menu options unique to me (contributions, sandbox, etc.)
• at the "Tools" menu
• at the "Twinkle" menus

I am not sure what is the "More" item on my screen.

Can you help me? Thanks!–CaroleHenson (talk) 23:14, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

I see that my issue seems to be not being able to see the "More" menu on the Read / Edit menu options bar.

I added MoreMenu in Preferences, Gadgets.

I also followed the first two instructions at MoreMenu

• Installing globally (recommended)
• English Wikipedia extension

Still no More menu, but I do now have a Page menu option. Can you help or tell me who can help me? Thanks!–CaroleHenson (talk) 23:35, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

@CaroleHenson, it might only works when you're editing a page, have you tried that? — Qwerfjkltalk 16:56, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, Qwerfjkl. I have tried that. I am not getting the "More" menu for some reason, which seems a necessary step.–CaroleHenson (talk) 17:19, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

@CaroleHenson, in the Vector 2022 skin there is no "more" menu. It was moved into the tools menu. — Qwerfjkltalk 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Qwerfjkl, Thanks so much for helping me out. I am not seeing it there, either. I just posted a message at the talk page for MoreMenu.–CaroleHenson (talk) 17:25, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

@CaroleHenson, I believe issues like this have been around for awhile; you might want to look in the archives to see if there's any mention of it there. — Qwerfjkltalk 18:27, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Qwerfjkl, Thanks much! Will do.–CaroleHenson (talk) 19:03, 12 October 2023 (UTC)