convert README to markdown (hopefully)

README

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-EarwigBot[1] is a Python[2] robot that edits Wikipedia.
-
-Development began, based on the Pywikipedia framework[3], in early 2009.
-Approval for its fist task, a copyright violation detector[4], was carried out
-in May, and the bot has been running consistently ever since (with the
-exception of Jan/Feb 2011). It currently handles several ongoing tasks[5],
-ranging from statistics generation to category cleanup, and on-demand tasks
-such as WikiProject template tagging. Since it started running, the bot has
-made over 45,000 edits.
-
-A project to rewrite it from scratch began in early April 2011, thus moving
-away from the Pywikipedia framework and allowing for less overall code, better
-integration between bot parts, and easier maintenance.
-
-Links:
-[1] http://toolserver.org/~earwig/earwigbot/
-[2] http://python.org/
-[3] http://pywikipediabot.sourceforge.net/
-[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/EarwigBot_1
-[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EarwigBot#Tasks

README.md

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+[EarwigBot](http://toolserver.org/~earwig/earwigbot/) is a
+[Python](http://python.org/) robot that edits Wikipedia.
+
+# History
+
+Development began, based on the
+[Pywikipedia framework](http://pywikipediabot.sourceforge.net/), in early 2009.
+Approval for its fist task, a
+[copyright violation detector](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/EarwigBot_1),
+was carried out in May, and the bot has been running consistently ever since
+(with the exception of Jan/Feb 2011). It currently handles
+[several ongoing tasks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EarwigBot#Tasks),
+ranging from statistics generation to category cleanup, and on-demand tasks
+such as WikiProject template tagging. Since it started running, the bot has
+made over 45,000 edits.
+
+A project to rewrite it from scratch began in early April 2011, thus moving
+away from the Pywikipedia framework and allowing for less overall code, better
+integration between bot parts, and easier maintenance.