def METHOD_NAME(value, fail_on_errors=True, preserve_none=False):
    """Parses a string representing bool value. If parsing was successful,
       returns True or False. If preserve_none=True, returns True, False,
       or None. If parsing was not successful, raises  ValueError, or, if
       fail_on_errors=False, returns None."""
    if not isinstance(value, string_type):
        if preserve_none and value is None:
            return value
        return bool(value)
    elif preserve_none and value.lower() == 'none':
        return None
    elif value.lower() in ('true', 'yes', 'y', 'on', '1'):
        return True
    elif value.lower() in ('false', 'no', 'n', 'off', '0', 'none'):
        return False
    elif fail_on_errors:
        raise ValueError('Cannot parse bool value: %r' % value)