HRWiki:Projects/@StrongBadActual Bot

From Homestar Runner Wiki

[edit] @StrongBadActual Bot

See also Talk:@StrongBadActual

[edit] Twitter Bot General Discussion

I was thinking, since we have a bot that automatically checks homestarrunner.com's XML files and updates the XML Sources page, is it possible to do the same thing for @StrongBadActual? They're usually out of date, and it takes a while to update. After a certain interval of time, the bot could check for new Tweets or replies, and edit the page accordingly. The text, date, ID, and reply username (if applicable) would automatically be added, and fun facts and other information can be added manually. Can it work? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 23:44, 30 November 2018 (UTC)

That's not a bad idea, but unless you want to code it yourself and turn it over to the wiki, I wouldn't look for it anytime soon. — It's dot com 23:34, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

It certainly would be nice not having to visit Twitter to see Homestar Runner Twitter-exclusive updates. I don't understand coding, but the general idea is to have a bot scanning the @StrongBadActual Twitter feed for updates, read them, and then update the HRWiki with the relevant data in the correct format. Sounds like a tall order. But given the kind of site Twitter is, I'd wonder if such a The Tweetbot would either be shut down by or lucratively financed by Twitter if discovered. You think some type of B4KDØR H4XXØR has already written some type of Edgarware that can do that sort of thing? 68.37.43.131 04:46, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

I mean, twitter does have APIs for exactly this sort of thing, and I've seen other bots for automatically posting tweets to facebook or discord, so twitter actually wants people to do this sort of thing, and there's no B4KDØR H4XXØR even required. The issue here is that the admins probably don't have the time to actually do it, what with the whole "they don't get paid for any of this and that would be majorly time consuming" thing... — Defender1031*Talk 11:34, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

I know this is an old discussion, and I don't really spend any time on Twitter at all or know how to use a Twitter bot, but the wiki's Twitter archive pages still aren't being updated regularly. I'm just thinking of suggesting that if someone does create a Homestar Runner Wiki twitter updater bot, could we call it the Fat Bluebird, or some variation thereof? (Gave me a chuckle, anyway). -- 68.37.43.131 00:19, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

That's a clever name, and it fits with other bot names, like The Cheatbot. I like it. And since I know nothing about bots, I'll try to help as much as I can by creating a detailed description to guide the bot-makers.

Guide has been moved here.

Hope it helps! Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:01, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Hi Gfd, I hope you don't mind me pulling your guide into its own separate subsection. I've also copied the wishlist to create a single reference point for bot development. Cheers! --Stux 08:09, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

[edit] Twitter Bot Technical Notes

Things to detect:

• Tweet ID
• Tweet Date and time in UTC
• Number of images
• Tweet text
• If there is a video
• Whether the Tweet is a reply
  • Which username the reply was to
• Whether the Tweet has a link (in a clickable box, not just a URL)
  • The URL of the link
• Whether it is a Retweet
  • Which username Tweeted it originally

Things to do:
{{{Triple brackets}}} represent variables.

{{post
|id={{{POST ID}}}
|date={{{DATE}}}
}}

Examples:
This Tweet would be added by the bot as:

{{post
|id=1078803198125723648
|pic=Nophoto.PNG
|text=Today in obvious news: Videlectrix is suing Boardelectrix for causing Stinkoman Level 10 to be delayed. Naturally, they made a trailer to announce the delay.
|date=28 Dec 2018
}}

This reply would be added by the bot as:

{{post
|id=1089171328089948160
|text=Aw man! You coulda at least linked to my official YT page for that email that has decent sound and less ripped-from-the-web jankiness.
|reply=[[twitter:AndrewDMth|@AndrewDMth]]
|link=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90X5NJleYJQ&feature=youtu.be]
|date=26 Jan 2019
}}

Bot Goals and Requirements:

Wish copied from Tweet Update Progress notice here.

• Wish: A Twitter bot that would automatically update tweets (Fat Bluebird)
  • needs account and API access,
  • would be limited by the free tier.
  • It has to follow rate limiting rules.
  • A python API wrapper can be found here.
  • An article that might help in development can be found here.
  • Advanced: If possible the tweet should also be automatically added to the Internet Archive.
  • There are several bots that can be used as a starting point (see list here). The most popular seems to be Pywikibot.
  • The new bot should be open source except for the API key, that should never be public
  • The bot needs to use the post template above
  • The bot needs to determine the correct time zone and date for the tweet. See this edit for reference. Also, what is the "correct" time zone? Is it eastern time? (If so we must account for DST.)
• Bot behavior:
  • The bot should regularly check with twitter for new tweets by @StrongBadActual (both new tweets are replies)
  • The bot should be able to scour @StrongBadActual tweet history and add missing tweets
  • Advanced: The bot should be able to scour @StrongBadActual tweet history and correct errors and formatting in existing tweets (this should be done manually, and perhaps with a preview feature so that we don't lose existing items such as fun facts and notes)
  • Advanced: The bot should upload images and video from @StrongBadActual tweets (from both missing images and new tweets)
  • Advanced: The bot should link these images to new and existing @StrongBadActual tweets