ANNOUNCEMENT: Classified BOT

ttf_Matt K · Post by **ttf_Matt K** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 9:03 am

Hi all,

So one of the reasons I joined the team was to built a bot that would help with some of the more mundane tasks that the forum necessitates. One of those tasks is making sure that this area is clean. I've built something that will periodically log itself in and check for new threads and responses to the classifieds. I have successfully deleted a few finished and outdated ads and been running it for a week without anything going wrong, so I thought I'd announce that here!

In order to get the bot to delete your advertisement, simply respond to your ad and make the new reply the following:

QuoteSOLD PLEASE DELETE
(No, it won't delete it if someone else responds to your ad with that text

)

I'm working on adding features, but my June is pretty busy. But I'll be sure to announce when those are finished!

-Matt

ttf_BGuttman · Post by **ttf_BGuttman** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 9:07 am

Thanks, Matt. You have just ended one of the most arduous tasks of working the Classifieds.

It's great to have this feature, but it quickly becomes choked with old or invalid ads unless you spend a lot of time cleaning it.

It may also be the reason we ran out of image space -- I'll bet a lot of pictures from old Classifieds are still stored somewhere and I have no idea how to remove them.

ttf_Matt K · Post by **ttf_Matt K** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 9:51 am

Quote from: BGuttman on Yesterday at 09:07 AMThanks, Matt. You have just ended one of the most arduous tasks of working the Classifieds.

It's great to have this feature, but it quickly becomes choked with old or invalid ads unless you spend a lot of time cleaning it.

It may also be the reason we ran out of image space -- I'll bet a lot of pictures from old Classifieds are still stored somewhere and I have no idea how to remove them.

Its certainly possible! What I'd like to do next is make it so that it can post images to a file sharing site. Looking into APIs for a few of them. Fingers crossed!

ttf_kfdz277 · Post by **ttf_kfdz277** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:31 am

Quote from: Matt K on Yesterday at 09:51 AMIts certainly possible! What I'd like to do next is make it so that it can post images to a file sharing site. Looking into APIs for a few of them. Fingers crossed!

If I may suggest something, imgur is a very easy site to use, even without an account.

ttf_slide advantage · Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:57 am

Quote from: BGuttman on Yesterday at 09:07 AMThanks, Matt. You have just ended one of the most arduous tasks of working the Classifieds.

It's great to have this feature, but it quickly becomes choked with old or invalid ads unless you spend a lot of time cleaning it.

Tell me about it! When I took over as mod in classifieds I spent days deleting page after page (one ad at a time) to get it down to ads less than 60 days old.

ttf_Matt K · Post by **ttf_Matt K** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:02 pm

Quote from: kfdz277 on Yesterday at 11:31 AMIf I may suggest something, imgur is a very easy site to use, even without an account.

. It was first on my list to research! Thanks for the tip, makes me more confident in that choice

ttf_BGuttman · Post by **ttf_BGuttman** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:28 pm

Whatever you choose, please make a detailed explanation of how to do it. Detailed enough that a computer "idiot" can do it. Many of us are not terribly computer literate.

ttf_Matt K · Post by **ttf_Matt K** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:50 pm

Quote from: BGuttman on Yesterday at 12:28 PMWhatever you choose, please make a detailed explanation of how to do it. Detailed enough that a computer "idiot" can do it. Many of us are not terribly computer literate.

ttf_Stewbones43 · Post by **ttf_Stewbones43** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:53 pm

Quote from: BGuttman on Yesterday at 12:28 PM Detailed enough that a computer "idiot" can do it.

Hey, Bruce. How did you know I wanted to post some pictures?

Cheers

Stewbones

ttf_LowrBrass · Post by **ttf_LowrBrass** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 2:05 pm

QuoteSOLD PLEASE DELETE
Does punctuation/capitalization/word order matter?

ttf_Sliphorn · Post by **ttf_Sliphorn** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 3:13 pm

SOLD PLEASE DELETE

ttf_Matt K · Post by **ttf_Matt K** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 3:27 pm

Quote from: LowrBrass on Yesterday at 02:05 PMDoes punctuation/capitalization/word order matter?

For the moment, punctuation does (no commas) but I'm going to update it to be more accommodating. Capitalization does not matter, but SOLD PLEASE DELETE is so much more catchy than sold please delete.

ttf_Sliphorn · Post by **ttf_Sliphorn** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:26 pm

Good work, Matt.