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It's exciting to have an IRC channel with like-minded people, I wasn't aware of #startups either. The ability to link a HN username to an IRC handle is also nic
by nerdy 12y ago
It's exciting to have an IRC channel with like-minded people, I wasn't aware of #startups either. The ability to link a HN username to an IRC handle is also nice, however the bot is quite verbose in the channel.
Couldn't commands like !username be issued in private messages instead of the public channel? Worse than the bot responding in public, it has two lines when a nick doesn't have a username linked to it. In one example, someone was looking for user information and was drowning out conversation in the channel with bot messages (probably unintentionally), making 4 or 5 queries, most without a linked username.
Another suggestion: stop the welcome /msg from hnguardian for people who either don't have a HN handle or don't want to link it. I realize it may be somewhat counter to goals of HN (since it would likely prefer people to both have a handle and link it) but for those who'd prefer otherwise it would be a better experience. This is probably only possible with registered IRC handles, but would be a step in the right direction.
- bramgg 12y agoI agree with all your points. I made this bot quite quickly when the channel was first made hoping it would keep things more tightly connected with HN, so I didn't have time to think about everything. When I get home I'll try to make those changes, or if anyone has some time it IS on GitHub. EDIT: I've tried to fix/upgrade everything. Now all commands are strictly PM based, except !show which works with both (obviously). Linking accounts should no longer be an issue, the bot is using Algolia and takes into account it's delay. The bot now only PM's people the first time they ever join #hackernews (and only if they're on a registered account) just to let them know about it once. If we end up getting moderators (dang plz[0]) this would also be a good place to put a message about what sort of behavior is expected in the channel and what's considered off-topic/etc. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8254639 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8254639
- ThatGeoGuy 12y agoI'm not entirely sure how you've set up managing sockets / clients, but have you ever heard of pydle [0]? At the very least, it may make hacking on this bot a little easier as it abstracts away from pure sockets. [0] https://github.com/Shizmob/pydle https://github.com/Shizmob/pydle EDIT: fixed reference to [0]
- nerdy 12y agoWish I could help but I have no Python experience (or reasonable way of testing), do appreciate it being open-source though; always fun to take a peek.