As we see more and more bots on Lemmy World every day, it’s about time we publish a set of rules for bots and bot-owners.

So here goes:

  • Bots shall not be used for any kind of advertising.

  • The bot accounts must be clearly marked as a bot. Both in the bio and by marking the account as a bot.

  • The owner of the bot and contact details must be mentioned in the bot’s bio.

  • Bots are only allowed to post in communities they have the explicit permission from the community’s owners to do so.

  • Bots from other instances that post in Lemmy World communities must follow the same rules.

  • Bots shall not just be posting Reddit content.

  • Bots shall not be “spammy”, as in multiple posts per minute.

  • Breaking any of these rules will result in a ban for the Bot and, if required, its owner.

  • Commands must use the bots mention as prefix, and not a text prefix like !help

These rules will be updated when needed.

  • Furbland@lemmy.world
    2·
    5 days ago

    I would like to report a rule violating bot @MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world which:

    • Has no author contact info
    • Creates large amounts of comments without any form of consent (nearing 10,000)
    • Is definitely advertising something or other.

    I have already submitted a formal report via the report system, however I am also leaving a comment here with more info.

  • miles@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 year ago

    Good stuff 👍 Right now you’re using “can” and “should” which are somewhat vague. What happens if bots don’t do something they should?

    Consider clarifying requirements using the following RFC-style language: “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL”.

    ref: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119