diff --git a/src/earwigbot/tasks/wikiproject_tagger.py b/src/earwigbot/tasks/wikiproject_tagger.py
index c03811e..05151ee 100644
--- a/src/earwigbot/tasks/wikiproject_tagger.py
+++ b/src/earwigbot/tasks/wikiproject_tagger.py
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@ class Job:
     not_in_category: str | None
     dry_run: bool
 
-    _counter: list[int] = [0]  # Wrap to allow frozen updates
+    # Wrap to allow frozen updates
+    _counter: list[int] = field(default_factory=lambda: [0])
     processed_cats: set[str] = field(default_factory=set)
     processed_pages: set[str] = field(default_factory=set)
     skip_pages: set[str] = field(default_factory=set)
diff --git a/src/earwigbot/wiki/site.py b/src/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
index 75f2a3d..ec148c1 100644
--- a/src/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
+++ b/src/earwigbot/wiki/site.py
@@ -710,10 +710,6 @@ class Site:
             args["read_default_file"] = os.path.expanduser("~/.my.cnf")
         elif "read_default_file" in args:
             args["read_default_file"] = os.path.expanduser(args["read_default_file"])
-        if "autoping" not in args:
-            args["autoping"] = True
-        if "autoreconnect" not in args:
-            args["autoreconnect"] = True
 
         if pymysql is None:
             raise exceptions.SQLError(