mbot - the forum contest bot
 

I've got to hand in a little "internet programmation" task in a week or 6, and i've come up with a neat idea.

Those "show me your highest 3Dmark/Pifast/....' threads are very popular on forums, but it's a b*tch to maintain them manually.

How about a bot, that maintains the first post? It skims the pages for expressions like [ mbot ]<nickname> - <time/score> - system specs - ...[ /mbot ], and updates the first post manually.

If someone wants to start a contest he should fill in a form on the madmark website containing the url of the first post, the type of contest and the team name, from then on the mbot updates the thread hourly.

Pretty easy to do, any comments/suggestions?

a verification system would be very usefull, otherwise some jokers will do

[mbot]the best - 999999999999999 - P8 9ghz [/mbot]

Such entries should be removed manually. It's not an anonymous entry, you'll still have to be registred at the forum where the contest takes place.

won't removing entrees manually f*ck up the bot?

how will the bot the able to update the 1st post btw?

Editing the first entry is just an HTTP Post request. However, you'll need to give your password and login if the mbot isn't the owner of the first post.

You've got a point about messing up the bot with manually removing the entry. I could blacklist the user who posted it.

that's quite a security risk, maybe always let the bot make the 1st post?

That would simplify things. : )

or maybe 1st post by the user with explication and details
and then you go to the bot, specify the thread and hit go, the bot will then reply with a first basic list and rules you gave the bot.

the only reference you need for updating from then on is the unique post id

Good idea, i'll get to the coding asap. : )

Nice idea!
Janssens will like you so much. :-)