User Guide

General Guide

• All commands to the bot must be prefixed by /bot, e.g. /bot help
  • Bots will also respond to their first name as prefix. The bot called Oto Matik will respond to commands that start with /oto' e.g. /oto help`.
  • Some bots have special prefixes such as !bot and other special combinations. The bot admins should inform you of any special cases.
• Different bots have different features. You can list available commands with /bot help.
• Most bots will use a "1-to-1" channel to talk to you on sensitive things. 1-to-1 channels are basically private hangouts between you and the bot. The bot will send alerts and notifications via this channel.
• To opt-out of all bot features use the command /bot optout in a 1-to-1 with the bot. To opt-in again into bot features, toggle it on again with the same command. The bot will inform you whether you have toggled it on or off.
• If you wish to temporarily disable bot messaging for a limited amount of time i.e. snoozing alerts, use a Do-Not-Disturb command instead.

Commonly-Encountered Features

Mentions

Most bots support @mentions i.e. saying a username prefixed with an @ symbol will trigger an alert to that specific user. The name following the @ symbol can be the user's first name, last name or their nickname (more on setting this later). For example, if a user is called "Foxy Brown", you can @mention them with @foxy, @foxybrown, '@foxyb', and so on anywhere in your message.

In very "chatty" group hangouts, some users use this as a way for peace-and-quiet by turning off notifications for those group hangouts, and having the bot alert them when their name/nickname is @mentioned by others.

In the event that the @mention matches more than one user, the bot will list out all users in a 1-to-1 with you and remind you to be more specific.

As mentioned previously, users can set a nickname: to set your own nickname, use this command /bot setnickname <nickname> e.g. /bot setnickname jarjarbinks. In addition to your first name and last name, users can now mention you with @jarjarbinks as well. To unset your nickname just use the command /bot setnickname (without a nickname).

You can only @mention users in the same hangout as you.

You can turn this feature off for yourself temporarily with a Do-Not-Disturb command.

Word/phrase subscriptions

Sometimes, you only want to monitor a hangout for specific words and/or phrases. One common scenario is "swag" ;)

You can tell the bot to alert you every time the word swag is used in any conversation that you are participating in with the following command: /bot subscribe swag

To turn off the subscription, just use /bot unsubscribe swag

Every time you call either of these two commands, the bot will list your current subscriptions. It is highly recommended to use these commands in a 1-to-1 chat with the bot. This is to prevent other users from seeing your word/phrase subscriptions and trolling you by saying them repeatedly in a chat.

You can turn this feature off for yourself temporarily with a Do-Not-Disturb command.

Do Not Disturb (DND)

To turn off alerts for @mentions and subscriptions temporarily, you can issue a Do-Not-Disturb (DND) command to the bot. This will temporarily stop any alerts and notifications.

By default a DND will last for 6 hours and can be extended up to a maximum of 72 hours, or toggled off earlier.

To issue a default 6-hour DND command, use this command: /bot dnd

To issue a DND of varying length, you can specify the number of hours /bot dnd 2 will allow the DND to expire in 2 hours.

If a DND is active, you can toggle it off by simply re-issuing the standard command: /bot dnd

Everytime this command is issued, the bot will inform you of the duration of the DND, and whether or not it has been toggled on or off.