Bot Coding Progress and Thoughts on a Treasure Hunt Bot

in #steemit6 years ago

I’ve completed an initial version of my lightyBot.py code that seems to run somewhat reasonably in Python and votes automatically on the Steem blockchain although it has been crashing every so often.

Just a reminder that I’m not selling votes with the bot. Please don’t send me links to posts to upvote to either of my accounts @lightsplasher or @litesplasher.

I’ve managed to achieve my intended goal of increasing my steam power a thousand by November as well – a big thanks to all of you who have been voting for my posts and resteeming them. I’m feeling happy about doing this in less than a month.

I’m still not fully sure where I want to go with things at this point but I’m used to just taking things day by day. If I can get the bot code working consistently for my voting bot, I’m thinking about doing something like a Treasure Hunt Bot. It would give clues and reward comments made in older posts that are selected to be part of the hunt. The nice thing about older posts is that comments can still pay out on them as far as I have heard.

I’m not sure of the details but it could involve getting clues from the bot about which older posts might have additional clues for solving the treasure hunt. People that want to participate might have to pay a fee into the pot that gets awarded to the winner. The bot could possibly watch specific older posts and upvote the first correct comments on them. The first person that solves the hunt by commenting on the last post in the sequence that is designated by the bot as the ‘treasure’ gets the pot. It is just something I thought might be fun for us to do to hopefully promote some of the older posts and build community support. At this point I’m not familiar enough with how things work to know if the idea is really possible and what exactly can be done.

If I do a more advanced bot project I might end up using my @litesplasher account to post comments generated by the bot.

waterPipes.jpg
Water pipes that would be fun to design a robot to go exploring into – click for viewing full screen

Why run your own bot?

At this point a full strength vote by me generates somewhere around the price of one steem or approximately 80 cents at the time of this writing. I can vote about 10 times a day at this level. I like to hand vote and it generally doesn’t take that much to do ten votes a day, however, if the price of steem rises I’m not sure if it would be best to rely on just manual voting.

For example if steem was worth ten dollars, it seems reasonable to assume that each of my 100 percent votes would be worth around 10 dollars. Would it be best to just stick to voting ten times each day or spread out the votes over a larger base of people? There is always an opportunity cost with everything and whenever you vote for some post you are in effect not voting for other posts. With so many quality posts it does become an issue and I’m not sure what the best solution is.

With my own bot code I can have much greater control over how and when the voting gets done and it is kind of fun to see if I can write something that works to my liking. At this point though I’m not sure if it is better than just delegating out some extra steem power to other groups that could use it wisely.


I know bots are very controversial and automation is not always the best solution. What are your thoughts on this? Also, is there any interest in seeing a Treasure Hunt Bot being developed?


Thanks for reading! I always value your support and comments. The pictures were taken by me with my Galaxy S9+. Text and graphics copyright 11/03/2018 lightsplasher & litesplasher.

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I strongly support your planning to make automatic bots for treasure hunting in the future. But I'm sorry because, I can't give an opinion on your question @lightsplasher, [for this Bot planning]. Because I also don't understand very well about the procedure (bot). In fact, I am very interested in seeing the Treasure Hunting Bot that you want to develop with the @litesplasher account. keep the spirit in work and try, good goals must get better results. may God bless your good efforts, my dear friend @lightsplasher.

Thank you much dear friend. I'm going to keep working on it but don't as yet know exactly how I'm going to do it. I'm just in the general planning stage and trying to learn as much as I can about how well the system works so I know what is possible to do. I'm glad you like the Treasure Hunting Bot idea.

yes, good luck, step by step, enthusiasm continues.

I always prefer to have control of my voting. I actually look forward to seeing what my friends like you are up to. I agree if Steem went to $10 you would be able to greatly reduce the voting percentage and still leave a meaningful vote...you would just be able to do many more of them that way. It is cool to hear the progress and sounds like you will have it all ironed out soon!! Well done and have a great week!

I prefer control over my voting at this point as well - for the same reasons. It is fun to see the automatic voting being done though and it works without crashing now and I can start and stop it whenever and don't need to trust my posting key to anyone. There is still a lot of room for improvements however. I guess I'm kind of making plans for going into Benevolent Whale Mode, just in case the crypto system takes off again. Thanks and have a nice week too!

Well if there were a way to vote for Benevolent Whale, you can count on my vote :) You will get there and will make a good one.

Thank you! You got me laughing and smiling on that comment. :)

In general, I am not a huge fan of bots but I realize that I am in the minority here. I like to hand curate because I want to read what I am voting on (especially when you have a small amount of voting power) When steem goes up or I grow enough to autovote, I may change my opinion on that.

The treasure hunt sounds interesting and I would not mind paying to play something of that nature.

Good luck in your adventure. I look forward to hearing more about it!

Tip!

I actually like to hand curate too but I also occasionally enjoy automated processes as well. Setting up a personal voting bot seems like a lessor sin, lol. (It's not like I made a automated system for distributing wealth globally or anything, lol) It seems like most algorithms and software can be used both for a tool that adds benefits or something that acts in a malicious or annoying way, and lots of software does a bit of both at the same time.

I guess my greatest dislike for automated bot processes stems from having to answer a long series of seemingly insignificant questions just to get the attention of a human being in some of these big corporations. When you finally get a human, they then proceed to ask you for some of the same questions over again sounding very much like another automated processes. Thanks for your tip and personal curation!

Yes!!! I wouldn't have been able to come up with that, but, I have a personal distaste for the automated bot system, especially the ones that run you full circle and you never seem to get the person/place you need. This is especially true for my parents and many older and younger people (oh, yes.. sometimes even me!)

I understand using a voting bot on someone that you have built a relationship with or that you are familiar and like their style... So, in that way, yes. But, when you start distributing it globally, just know I'll be watching you! LOL

I think they have their place, I do. I guess my mind has been corrupted by the vote-buying bot systems. It has all but ruined how things are counted around here.

I'm excited that this is a reality for you. I can't even wrap my head around putting that into a reality. :) Good luck! I truly mean that.

Making a steem bot for some purpose of upvoting a particular set of persons or groups is a good idea because it requires you to get an automation done which is convenient. @lightsplasher and I congratulate you for making a bot and I wish you success on about what you would do in it in the future.

Thank you, it is coming along nicely and I fixed the crashing problem at this point. I still like to do most of my voting by hand at this point but it was a very fun learning project for me.

.hi, my friend, how are you tonight, friend, hopefully, my friend, my friend @lightsplasher is always healthy and not lacking anything ... oh my friend tonight I send you some photos of the fruit, hopefully my friend likes it, thank you.

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I'm doing fine thanks, how are you? The pictures kind of remind me of pears and mulberries although I know that is not what they are. You have some interesting looking fruit growing where you are.

I really support your project, my friend @lightsplasher because this is a very good idea in my opinion. best regards from me @hamdan12.

Excellent review, and of course there are pros and cons in bots, but you can even try it in certain cases! Thanks @lightsplasher

That is valuable article and useful .thanks for sharing
@lightsplasher
have a great day

It is a really amazing idea. You are doing a very nice job. From this idea, success is always your. I appreciate you at your success. Your photography is also very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Very good idea. Dear friend @lightsplasher. I likes.