I'm bumping this request in light of the news that Twitter will begin charging for API access, thereby killing the vast majority of bots on the platform, including all those powered by CBDQ.
To quote Aidan on the subject, "the untimely demise of CBDQ is a huge loss for accessible net art, genuinely. making silly little art bots was such a fun way to learn." I think that is very much in the spirit of Cohost, and it would be great if Cohost would make it possible to port existing CBDQ bots as well as make new ones. (Please don't make me sign up for Mastadon if I want my bots to keep going.)
I also agree with nora that different posting speeds will be needed, though there are existing bots that seem to be doing okay.
@jgs
Unlike its new owner, bots are one of my favorite things about Twitter. I have made many Twitter bots for art and entertainment, and follow many more. Cheap Bots Done Quick, in particular, made bot-making accessible for many people by using Tracery (a simple, easy-to-learn language) and hosting and running bots for free. I would really, really love to be able to both port my CBDQ Twitter bots to Cohost, and to see what an even more robust, integrated toolset would allow new and existing botmakers to create.
At minimum, this would be a simple interface for automating posts using some formula. A CBDQ-style Tracery interface would be great. Supporting other languages would be incredible, if difficult to implement safely. Support for replying to comments in an automated way would also be cool.
For obvious reasons, I know this will be nowhere near the top of staff's priority list, particularly while the site is still growing towards sustainability. (Perhaps this could be gated behind Cohost Plus? It's not exactly a "core feature.") It's probably my #1 "magic wand" feature for social media sites, and Cohost has already shown an incredible willingness to give users more control over their posts than other sites.
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