Would this be allowed?

[SpamChart]

I've been experimenting with some code recently.

Would a bot that posts charts about users of the forum upon request be allowed? I'd give the bot it's own thread (probably in off-topic) so it doesn't clutter important boards and also doesn't get taken advantage of signature campaign participants.

[1714164749]

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[1714164749]

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[TECSHARE]

IMO your safest bet would be to host the results of your data requests on your own host and simply link it here. IMO this would be within the forum rules. Of course they aren't written down anywhere so who knows what rules they will or will not enforce at any given time.

[Muhammed Zakir]

Read these rules: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0

A response from theymos:

The rules are the same as for humans. But keep in mind:
- No one is allowed to access the site more often than once per second on average. (Somewhat higher burst accesses are OK.)
- Every post must be on-topic. Any bot response to a topic is almost certainly off-topic. Changetip's behavior of responding to user commands publicly would not be allowed, for example.
- If someone complains about an unsolicited PM you send them, then you're probably going to be banned.

[theymos]

The problem is that if it gets (ab)used too much, it might push other topics off of the front page of its section and clutter up "recent posts" and "unread posts since last visit". If you prevent the bot and its users from making the thread an annoyance, then it's OK.

If people can post someone's name and your bot will posts stats, then that sounds fine in general, though I wouldn't want to see people posting a single person's name all the time to see how their stats change. If you warn people not to do this, then it seems reasonable for us to moderate the people who are making too-frequent requests and not the bot, though.

[Muhammed Zakir]

You can put a limit per user basis and open a self-moderated thread, so you can moderate the thread effectively.

[SpamChart]

Guess I'll lock this. The plan is off for now.