Hi! This is ca-dmv-bot, originally written by rjindael for other platforms, ported to cohost by @Spax.
FAQ
What is this bot?
This bot posts (REAL) vanity license plates submitted to the California DMV for approval from 2015-2017, alongside the customer's comments, the DMV's comments, and the final verdict. There are over 35k in total.
This bot will be posting hourly.
Is the bot open-source?
Yes! All the code can be found here: https://github.com/SpiritAxolotl/ca-dmv-bot
Aren't some of these offensive?
Yes. Rjindael already came up with a solution, by hooking the bot up to a discord bot and having people manually approve plates (so long as they have a specific role for it). If you'd like to volunteer to approve/disapprove plates, join the discord! For the time being, you'll need to ping me or a mod to get the role (just mention you're from cohost), but in the near future I'll come up with a better opt-in system.
If a license plate is offensive, send an ask about it (anon asks are fine), and I'll make sure the person who verified it doesn't do it again (or I'll remove them from approval).
What cohost API library does the bot use?
@mog's cohost.js! You can see how it's used in here.
How is this bot different from rjindael's?
- Biggest change is obviously porting it over to cohost (and I disabled the modules for other platforms)
- A lot more customizability in terms of how to control the bot (just to make my life easier)
- Everything apart from "Customer" and "Verdict" is forced uppercase because it's funnier and consistent
- More logging, and thanks to cohost's markdown, some metadata can now be stored inside each post (currently with who approved a certain license plate and when)
- New discord commands to opt-in or out of the role that lets users moderate license plates (as well as a configurable different role you need to get it).
- Transparent background for the license plate image!
- I modified the database a bit so typos in the verdict are better accounted for and plates with an unknown verdict can still be posted
- The javascript was edited to be how I personally like it (semicolons, whitespace lines, no
vars, etc)
All-together not that much different (lol).
Actual documentation on how you would host this yourself coming soon (I had to figure a lot out on my own; the original has no documentation :sob:)
Last note: I actually haven't tested if the automatic posts even work, since all of my tests have been manual. If the bot doesn't seem to be posting, I did something wrong! I'll try to fix it soon if that's the case.