When someone enters a new online community, a typical practice is to have an Introductions Bot. I would like to know what our community wants to ask and offer new SourceCred community members. My take on Introduction Bots is that they should:
Welcome the newcomer
Letting newcomers know we want them there is a way to encourage community-building and future contributions. A humorous tone can help build rapport just by showing we’re a personable and kind community.
Provide information
We want a bot that is useful, not spam. "Visit the Start Here channel to learn how to a) meet community members b) have questions answered c) make contributions and d) earn Cred’"offers key information and is short n sweet (aka is not a block of text that they will disregard because it’s a bot). We can also offer info on how to check one’s Cred when the Cred bot has been made.
Provide actionable steps
The main difference between actionable steps and information, to me at least, is that we suggest or ask the newcomers to do something, rather than just tell them it’s an opportunity that exists. This is where we can ask them to complete the steps in the Start Here channel, tag themselves on Discord, fill out the Contributor Profile Google Forum or look at the Initiatives Spreadsheet to see where they’d like to get started and who to contact.
The specific questions I’m trying to answer are:
What information is relatively short and easy for newcomers to provide and is useful for us to know?
What next steps would we want newcomers to take after joining Discord? (many are already listed in the Start Here Channel, so maybe the Intro Bot can highlight resources listed there to gain the newcomer’s attention).
All that being said, here’s my proposal first draft at an Intro Bot message. Let me know your thoughts and I’ll try to get this up and running (with some technical help) asap!
Bex’s Introduction Bot message draft: Welcome to the SourceCred Discord! I know bots aren’t advanced enough to have feelings (yet), but I’m still really glad you’re here. I’d love to give you some next steps to connect you with the community and to get you earning Cred!
The Start Here channel is your home base. You’ll find our starter resources, how to introduce yourself to the community (we don’t bite) and how to get started on working with us if you’re looking to! Complete what’s listed there, and you’ll be in tip-top shape.
We’d love to know more about who you are and what your skills are. Type ‘something technical’ here to have my friend, the Tags Bot, give you tags for whichever skills you have. Don’t know how exactly to tag yourself? Check out our Discord Tags Document!
Quick update. We’ve designed with @Bex an information Bot. It will help new comers to get information in a different way & enable other tasks too (linking your adress&nickname in the ledger etc).
the Bot is here. Although it will be off (no interaction), I’ve displayed all the information that it can provide.
the idea is to plug the content of our bot into the metagame (prev. aracred) bot and to set it up in a dedicated SourceCred channel as the InfoBot. My suggestion would be to use the #bot-command channel. Maybe we’ll need to move the channel up in the list as well
the exhaustive list of links will be filled late August
Following up the cultivation jam, here is the action plan :
make the cred command working > When asked, the bot will give the weekly & total cred
integrate a few links to the “read / listen / watch” section of the bot. We thought also about including some discourse posts. >> Please drop your top 3 <<@LB@Bex
These posts provide an additional understanding of SourceCred through the ideas, issues or development brought up. It’s also a good way to get to know its contributors. And it can be an excellent gateway to get some fresh thinking too.
show the beta version of this bot in a contributor call to get feedbacks & validation
If validated :
run the bot with Heroku to make it available at any time
deploy the bot in the #bot-commands of the SourcreCred discord
The infobot is ready to be plugged in the SC server to get feedback & be used by the community.
What has been done :
hosting the bot on Heroku to make it 24/7 available
making the command line easier : “!read” for eg.
The last steps:
we may create an #infobot in the “initiative coordination” for the feedbacks
we need also a channel in which we can interact with the bot : create a new one? or use an existing one (#bot-commands)?
regarding the repository : do we fork my repository in the SourceCred repository?
we need to invite the bot in the discord channel (someone with admin rights)
quick task here for creddies : to curate media & links so as to have an on-spot-bot. The bot will help anyone to explore SourceCred & to know better its community
What do you mean by “create an #infobot”? A channel in the Discord? A Tag here on Discourse? An initiative plugin-related project?
Does the bot not interact server-wide, or are you suggesting we only limit its interactions to one specific channel? (If the latter, I would love to discuss this with more people in the Discord about what is actually most desirable)
I can do that, ping me on Discord in private and I’ll bring it in.
When people request information from the bot and it leads to these links being output, does that output go in the channel where they’re asking, or does the bot open a private message with the user and provide output there?
I meant to create a channel in Discord called #infobot
the bot interact server wide, but it’s better in my mind to limit its interactions to one specific channel. It prevents from spamming other channels of links or cred score of other players
I’ve dropped the question in the discord channel : #operation
I’ll do that, but maybe we need to fix where the bot will be available
yes the output are provided in the channel where they asked.
For 1 & 2: I don’t think it is necessary to create a dedicated channel; it just puts interactions out of context all the time. We already have a default-muted #bot-commands channel for interacting with bots without clogging conversations; we can make it a best practice for people to go there if they want to use the bot a lot.
. The bot will help anyone to explore SourceCred & to know better its community
