Set the display name of the bot to the web site for transparency

[bkil]

Right now, this should be https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-public-archive but after #219 is fixed, this could be simply https://archive.matrix.org

It might also be included in the user avatar as well if some platform fails to forward the display name.

The top of the web page and the readme should link to the FAQ that answers something like

Why did @archive:matrix.org join my room?

Background

Certain communities have a policy about only allowing bots that identify themselves, share their source code and the result of their activities. Some ask that bots respond to !botlist, !rollcall or if the bot is @-mentioned.

• https://tilde.chat/wiki/bots
• https://rfc.tildeverse.org/rfcs/2

Alternatives

This could be achieved in multiple ways. The least intrusive of which is to make it trivial to find information about the bot, such as running it under its own subdomain & domain with information about it. The second best is what I suggested above.

Another possibility is vocally announcing itself after joining, but some may actually find that creepier and more intrusive.

[MadLittleMods]

Ideally, we'd have something like extensible profiles to add a proper explanation and links but that isn't available yet.

The best we can probably do is update the display name. #219 will be fixed in any case so we should be thinking of names in that context. Here are some names that have come up:

• archive.matrix.org observation assistant
• Read-only user for archive.matrix.org
• Non-archiving user for archive.matrix.org
• Exploratory user for archive.matrix.org
• archive.matrix.org permissions check

It would be best if the name could preempt assumptions and wrap the kind of explanation I gave yesterday.

Having some avatar would be good but ideally would just be the custom logo of the Matrix Public Archive which doesn't exist yet.

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I don't think we'd be able serve any bot commands since that would require it's own infrastructure just to answer a rollcall command explaining itself. Something that's really just better served by some profile information anyway.

[bkil]

Thanks. !botlist & !rollcall should be separated to another issue, just mentioned it for completeness sake.

From the looks of it, I don't think that extensible profiles are going anywhere. Neither do I see an obvious way how you could filter the member list to gather presently joined bots.

If you moderate a room with thousands of users and you plan announcing a change in bot policy for example, you issue a !botlist to see which operators need to be negotiated with first. Or you could similarly query for log bots to see whether the room is off-the record.

And when I'm inspecting membership, I can safely kick out ones who are neither documented bots, nor humans who respond after @-mentioning by a mod within a reasonable amount of time.

[Mikaela]

archive.matrix.org observation assistant

I prefer this one as it clearly communicates that it's observing me and my room non-consentually.

[jonaharagon]

Ideally, we'd have something like matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals#3795 to add a proper explanation and links but that isn't available yet.

Could you just set the display name to https://archive.matrix.org/bot or /faq or /about or whatever, and host a proper explanation on that page?

[MadLittleMods]

@jonaharagon Sounds workable. We could just add a redirect from /faq to the FAQ on GitHub. PR welcome ⏩

[MadLittleMods]

A /faq redirect was added in #265

And the display name for the @archive:matrix.org bot user has been updated to archive.matrix.org/faq