Mastodawn

Waldo Jaquith Apr 19, 2024

I made a new Mastodon bot, called "I Hope This Email Finds You.” Twice a day it proposes a novel way to conclude that sentence that opens so many emails. (It uses phrases from Google Books that include the phrase “finds you.”) I've been having fun reading these, so I turned it into a bot because you, too, might have fun reading them. https://botsin.space/@thisemailfindsyou/112295528875440987

I Hope This Email Finds You (@[email protected])

I hope this email finds you under a balcony and kisses you in the shadows until there's nothing left of you but sparkling fairy dust, and in your weakened state, you ask if she wants to hang out next weekend, and her face clouds and she goes, “Ohhh."

botsin.space

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Waldo Jaquith Apr 19, 2024

1,300 people have followed my new bot in the past 12 hours, and I was really nervous that the next post it made might be boring or nonsensical and then everybody would say "we've made a huge mistake this bot actually sucks.” Instead it's this, which I'm delighted by. https://botsin.space/@thisemailfindsyou/112298380614532978

I Hope This Email Finds You (@[email protected])

I hope this email finds you wherever you go, and lands right in the center of your brain.

botsin.space

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Waldo Jaquith Apr 20, 2024

I’ve subconsciously put together a little post-Horse_ebooks code of ethics for generative text bots, at least for myself:

1. The text can only come from the cited source.
2. The source text can’t have its meaning changed. OCR errors can be corrected, case can be adjusted, but don’t mess with meaning.
3. The source code must be published to allow others to see how it works.

Serendipity isn’t serendipity if it’s faked. Joy built atop a lie ends in disillusionment and disappointment.

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Waldo Jaquith

Those rules don’t apply to informative bots, like my .gov-registries bot. If I had some mechanism to review and edit these beforehand, and if doing so added more value to the list, I’d for sure do that. That’s all upside.

The delight in generative text bots is from the odd post that’s funny or clever or insightful for reasons that are basically random. https://botsin.space/@dotgov/112304215933003586

Botgov (@[email protected])

The following .gov domains have been registered in the past 24 hours: abcks.gov cityofeyotamn.gov cityofwalnutridge.gov clerkpbc.gov climatecore.gov climatecorp.gov commodorecoveimprovementdistrict.gov harrisburgnc.gov knoxcitytexas.gov laredo.gov redlandspd.gov saratogaca.gov thermopoliswy.gov vermilionsheriff.gov

botsin.space