User blog comment:SpikeToronto/The AutoWikiBrowser — Important Tool?/@comment-1674355-20111205011552/@comment-3388044-20111207220253

Hey RockSunner! Approval, as discussed in the documentation, is specific to Wikipedia, and is nonetheless easy to acquire. Here at Wikia, AWB will run without any approval, but individual wikis may ask that you fill out an RfR and have a separate account for its use, a separate account that can be flagged with the bot flag so that its edits do not flood RC.

Moreover, if a task you are trying to perform would require the sysop bit for you to do it manually, then your AWB account will also have to have the sysop bit, which would require an RfR at your wiki.

The interface can be intimidating, but for me, it’s still easier than writing a bot from scratch. I just work through the online manual until I get whatever I’m trying to do with it figured out.

As for being disconnected, that is something I do not understand. This has not happened to me. There may be another setting you also need to take care of. (Sorry, but I do not have AWB on this machine and cannot check for you until I have installed it.)