Open question for all the #bot builders: which is the better platform for building bots, Mastodon or Bluesky?

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac Specifically with Mastodon, creating a bot account is super easy. Just like setting up a regular account, you don't need to verify your phone number, which has been a requirement on Twitter. The Mastodon API is also very easy to use and pretty well documented, at least for my own needs. And I like that you can mark your account as "automated" on its profile page.

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac
You'd think all this would also benefit folks making spam bots, but that really depends on the server where you sign up. The one I typically use does manual reviews of new accounts, so it's really a perfect setup. You get all the conveniences as a developer, without having to pay for other people abusing the platform.

As a matter of fact, I've already made dozens of fediverse bots: https://stefans-creative-bots.glitch.me

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac

(In case you're wondering, yes, I have donated to the server's admin, a few times.)

And something that's really cool that I've seen others do is that you can make bots that are standalone fediverse servers, like https://transit.alerts.social.

Now that's something you definitely can't do easily with Bluesky, as hosting the full infrastructure is too expensive and wouldn't be worth it for just a single bot.

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac
I also like the diversity of fediverse platforms. You can make an image-based bot on Mastodon, and people can follow it from their Pixelfed account, which is better optimized for that format.

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac
And just being able to easily reach relevant people, server admins, the Mastodon team, other developers, has made the whole experience just great.

And finally, I love the fediverse itself. I love how grassroots, scrappy, and DIY it is. How it all depends on folks working together. I love being part of it, and contributing back in several, positive ways, including making creative bots followed by thousands of people.

Nora Reed

@stefan @_elena @ricmac the main thing that i think makes it better is that quote tweets are enabled by default which makes bots much easier to riff on

Stefan Bohacek

@nora @_elena @ricmac Fair point, but Bluesky won't have that advantage for much longer!

"Quote Posts: We are resuming work on this long-awaited feature, and it will be our main focus for the rest of the year."

Trunk & Tidbits, September 2024

Engineering updates from the Mastodon team for September 2024. Behind-the-scenes of the 4.3 release.

Mastodon Blog (blog.joinmastodon.org)

(In case anyone missed that announcement.)

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac This might also be relevant: https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/113373575101768690

botvolution

@stefan @_elena @ricmac

I find their API opaque, but there is someone working hard to refine a Python API interface ('atproto')

There's no (current) requirement for a key - API access is available to anyone with an account, and auth is simply acct name+pass.

Elena Rossini ⁂

@stefan @ricmac This reminds me that I need to interview you for my blog about your bots… and maybe have you do a little tutorial about how to create one (I’m so eager to make one and this interoperability sounds amazing)

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac I would definitely love to help with that!

Richard MacManus

@stefan @_elena Thanks Stefan, excellent feedback!

Stefan Bohacek

@ricmac @_elena My pleasure!

Richard MacManus

@_elena @stefan I’m also keen to make a bot, so a tutorial would be awesome

Andy Piper

@stefan @_elena @ricmac the fact that Mastodon had designated "automated" accounts for bot type purposes was one of the reasons that we eventually (!) added that as an option in the twilight years of the Twitter API. I think it is a great, transparent option.

Stefan Bohacek

@andypiper @_elena @ricmac That's right, I remember the conversations around that!

Those were good times!

Stefan Bohacek

@ricmac @_elena Definitely happy to help put something new together for Elena's newsletter, but in the meantime, if you're interested: https://botwiki.org/resources/fediverse-bots/

And the Glitch project I shared earlier is fairly easy to use, with a few people reaching out just recently to set up their own bots, so definitely worth a look as well!

Creative Bots | Stefan Bohacek

A project template for making creative online bots.

(stefanbohacek.com)

Elena Rossini ⁂

@stefan @ricmac This is such a phenomenal resource, thank you Stefan!!!

Stefan Bohacek

@_elena @ricmac You are very welcome!

Richard MacManus

@256 @darius Not a single comment to this post on Bluesky yet. They weren’t kidding when they said Bluesky is like the Twitter experience…unfortunately, it’s like the post-Musk Twitter when your distribution gets severely throttled if you don’t pay up!