Global message delivery/Spam

Global message delivery is getting a makeover! Check out this note for further information.

1. Access list — make sure you're listed here
2. Update the "Spam" page appropriately.
   • The key is a unique string. It ensures that in case the bot has to restart (due to a Toolserver hiccup or an API hiccup or whatever), people will not receive the same message twice. The string can be anything, but for simplicity's sake, just add one to the current count. If you have to restart the bot because for some reason it didn't work (e.g. because the target wasn't in the correct format), you still have to change the key.
     • At present it is a four-digit number, the simplest thing to do is to increment it.
   • Follow the guidelines at Global message delivery.

3. Update the bot's "Status" page to "Start". The bot's current status is: Completed run successfully.
   
   

   ---

   
   You may want to watch the status page as well. If there is an error or some sort of issue, the bot will (perhaps) update the status page with a description of the problem.
   
   When working on multiple projects, you can use this or this tool to check where the bot has run. If the Toolserver lag is too high, the linked Toolserver tools won't be reliable. You can try to keep track of the bot's global editcount instead (good luck).
   
   If you're sure that you'll not send duplicate messages, you can set the status page to "Really start" instead of "Start", overriding the key check. The bot will check the key on each page and will skip the pages that already have a message with the same key.
   
   

# KEY

0125

# RECIPIENTS (PAGE LIST)

Global message delivery/Targets/Signpost

# SUBJECT

''The Signpost'': 7 November 2011

# BODY

<div style="margin-top:10px; font-size:90%; padding-left:5px; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;">''News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia''</div>
<div style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
* Special report: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/Special report|A post-mortem on the Indian Education Program pilot]]* News and notes: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/News and notes|Wikimedia Norway awarded, Halloween on the Main Page, Wikimedia UK recognised]]* In the news: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/In the news|The Economist assays the encyclopaedia's challenges, Jimbo speaks on net future, and an inclusionist alternative emerges.]]* Discussion report: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/Discussion report|Special report on the ArbCom Elections steering RfC]]* WikiProject report: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/WikiProject report|Booting up with WikiProject Computer Science]]* Featured content: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/Featured content|Slow week for Featured content]]* Arbitration report: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/Arbitration report|Δ saga returns to arbitration, while the Abortion case stalls for another week]]* Technology report: [[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-11-07/Technology report|Full steam ahead on Visual Editor, the avoidance of lock-breaking and 1.18b1 release]]</div>
<div style="margin-top:10px; font-size:90%; padding-left:5px; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;">'''[[w:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost|Read this Signpost in full]]''' · [[w:en:Wikipedia:Signpost/Single|Single-page]] · [[m:Global message delivery/Targets/Signpost|Unsubscribe]] · [[m:Global message delivery|Global message delivery]] ~~~~~
</div>