Feature summary (what you would like to be able to do and where):
Add "Skip blanked pages" checkbox for bots.
Use case(s) (list the steps that you performed to discover that problem, and describe the actual underlying problem which you want to solve. Do not describe only a solution):
Bots have been unintentionally saving blank pages for at least 17 years. See talk archives dating from 2007 to late 2024:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Dev/Archive_1#IRCM_Page_Blanking_Bug
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs/Archive_9#AWB_inexplicably_blanking_page
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs/Archive_12#Blanking,_Incorrect_Tagging,_and_Incorrect_Display
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs/Archive_11#Page_blanking?
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Feature_requests/Archive_12#Skip_blanked_pages
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs/Archive_20#Page_blanking_still_(or_againily)_occurring
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive_28#just_a_heads_up
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs/Archive_31#Page_blanking
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive_32#AWB_bot_starts_blanking_pages
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive_33#Discussion_at_Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)_%C2%A7_AWB_bot_page_blanking
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive_34#Bot_saving_blank_pages
Obviously the best solution is to fix the bug, but since that seems unlikely, the next best thing is to simply check for a blank page after all modifications, and then skip the page if the operator wishes to do so.
Benefits (why should this be implemented?):
To prevent bots blanking pages on large bot runs.