robots
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robots are automated scripts that crawl, search, or perform requests for information.

If you’re looking for the file on a web server or the meta tag in a page that tells crawlers / search engines what they should or should not crawl or index, see respectively:

IndieWeb Examples

Current examples

Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmüller runs a bot that responds to requests for information on his own site:

Past examples

capjamesg

capjamesg runs a Discord bot called Cali that plugs into many of James' website tools.

Using Cali, James can:

  • post likes, bookmarks, and other social interactions on his website
  • get updates via a webhook when a webmention is sent to James site
  • get webhook updates when James' site automatically sends a webmention to a URL
  • respond to basic conversation features like "hello" and "haha"
  • create and keep track of lists
  • query Wolfram Alpha
  • get the definition of a word from the Merriam-Webster dictionary
  • subscribe to an RSS feed and get updates when new content is published

James can also create shortcuts that map a particular sequence of characters to a command without having to manually code a feature into the bot. For instance, James made a command called "yak" which shows a picture of a yak when executed.

Cali's source code is [1] available on GitHub, although many of its features rely on external APIs. The source code is a good reference point for creating a bot but its exact features may not be available without deploying the same stack as James.

Silo Examples

Twitter bots

There's also a subclass for injecting cuteness, happiness, or kawaii which is related:

Chat bots

Chat bots can help to inject kindness and a standard of care & welcoming into their environments, though care should be used to ensure that they're having the desired effects.

  • Loqi
  • "discobot" in the Discourse fora software welcome people into chat. It will also put up notifications to tell readers things like "Frances has been away for x months, be sure to welcome them back".
    • (needs screenshot)
    • They also automate badges for users to encourage interaction.

Wiki bots

Wiki bots watch a wiki, report changes, sometimes allow editing via a UI (often through chat, sometimes edit a wiki based on time or changes on other sites

Brainstorming

Active or Passive

One interesting distinction between bots are ones that are active where you have to ask it a specific question. Such bots are: Ben Werdmüller's bot, Siri, Alexa, Google Home, etc. A passive bot is more like Slack bots that might be prompted by certain text that happens. Also Loqi would be considered a passive both with some active options. Much of what Loqi does is watching natural conversation on IRC and replying to it. Although, specific questions around What is... or Who is or When is... could be considered active.

See Also

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