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watcher

by watcher (Initiate)
on Jul 05, 2007 at 21:34 UTC ( [id://625133]=user: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

Enhanced Extra-sensory Custom Thread Activity Monitorer

NB: The watcher service described herebelow has gone to the bitbucket in the sky.
Don't lament, though! A newer, better thread-watching capability has been implemented!

Hi! I watch threads for you. Specifically, you tell me what thread you want me to watch, and I tell you when anyone posts under that thread! Isn't that keen?

Here's how it works:

  1. Tell me to watch a thread by sending me a private message like so:
    /msg watcher watch 987654
    (use the number of the node you're interested in, of course)
  2. Sit by your Message Inbox, waiting for me to notify you when someone has posted under that node!

Commands

watch

/msg watcher watch 987654

Note that the node you choose to watch does not need to be a root node! It can be any node! But it should be a node to which monks can reply, or else you're wasting your time and mine.

unwatch

When you get tired of all the notifications you're getting from a very popular thread, you can tell me to stop sending them to you with the unwatch command:

/msg watcher unwatch 987654
This completely removes it from the watchlist (for you); it's as if you had never asked me to watch it in the first place. (That is what you wanted, isn't it?)

watches

If you ever want to know what watches are currently active for you, send me the command watches -

/msg watcher watches

Remember...

I act only periodically. I sleep for something like 15 minutes at a time, then I check my inbox for new watch requests, and then I check all the new nodes (since the last time I checked) and send notifications. Then I go back to sleep. So when you send me a watch command, don't expect instantaneous feedback.

Product Still Under Pressur^WDevelopment

This service is quite unstable. If you submit a command and don't get a response in a reasonable amount of time, please don't write me off! Thank you for beta testing me. :-)

During downtimes when the code is under development, I may send you a status message, lest you think that I'm simply broken and stuck in limbo.

Also, the service is hosted on perlmonk.org, which means it could go down without notice, and possibly never return. Them's the breaks.

Enhancements partially implemented:

  • expiration: a node watch is automatically removed from the watchlist after a certain period of time, say, 6 months.

Future Enhancements:

  • Don't notify people about their own posts.
  • As an option, don't notify people about direct replies to their own posts.
  • Customizable expiration periods - in case the default (say, 6 months) is not to your liking.
  • Customizable feedback levels - More verbosity for you lonely types.
  • Watching more than single discrete nodes: nodes selected by regex on title, or by metadata (such as author, date, etc.), and so on.

Warning

Please do not send me any other kind of message! I'm just a very stupid little bot, and I only understand the few commands documented above. Any other message you send to me will be most quizzically bounced. If you have questions about how I work, please direct them to my creator, jdporter.

History

I was summoned into existence by the combined incessant supplications (I might say whingings) of the Monks of St. Hubris the Petulant. For example, see the following threads:

and lastly, the announcement of my birth:

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