The Discord channel #what-i-am-writing is, in my opinion, misused. Instead of helping each other while writing, the channel is used almost exclusively for self-promotion.

Requests for help, be it spell-checking, content proofreading, finding markdown formatting errors, and more, are mostly ignored.

I now have the following ideas to make the channel attractive for authors who are just about to write an article or want to finish it.

There are now enough tutorials on how to develop bots for Discord. Hashnode is always giving out new badges. So my idea is to combine both.

Discord bot commands

The bot shall support the following commands:

• .need-help Hashnodian signals he needs help with a story. The command requires a Hashnode preview link in the following format: hashnode.com/preview/000000000000000000000000. Using the command .need-help without a Hashnode preview won't trigger the rewarding process. Otherwise, the bot needs to be smart enough to find your Hashnode preview link. I'm not familiar enough to judge if bots could put the puzzle pieces together.
  • Example: I need help with hashnode.com/preview/000000000000000000000000 Please check for typos. .need-help
  • Example: .need-help hashnode.com/preview/000000000000000000000000 Please check for typos.
  • Example: .need-help hashnode.com/preview/000000000000000000000000
  • Example: hashnode.com/preview/000000000000000000000000 .need-help
• .cancel-help Hashnodian cancels help request.
  • Example: .cancel-help no help needed anymore.
  • Example: no help needed anymore. .cancel-help
  • Example: .cancel-help
• .offer-help Hashnodian offers help. The command requires a mention to let the bot recognize involved Hashnodians. Same as with the .need-help command.
  • Example: I can help you out .offer-help @sandeep
  • Example: I can help you out @sandeep .offer-help
  • Example: .offer-help @sandeep
  • Example: @sandeep .offer-help
• .cannot-help Hashnodian signals that despite offering help is unable to provide his service.
  • Example: I'm not experienced enough with your Topic Syed. .cannot-help
  • Example: .cannot-help I'm not experienced enough with your Topic Syed
  • Example: .cannot-help
• .help-received Hashnodian signals that he received help. The bot shall reward the helping Hashnodian.

These examples assume that helpful Hashnodian always helps only one other Hashnodian.

To keep the topic short, I deliberately left out multiple helping.

Rewards

I have not worked what kinds of rewards Hashnodians shall receive. Thinking out loud:

• A badge with a dynamic counter showing how many times he/she helped other Hashnodians
• A badge with a dynamic counter showing how many times he/she helped other Hashnodians in the last month/year
• Maybe give away temporarily Ambassador status
• Maybe grant VIP temporarily Discord VIP status or permanent for helping out say X times
• Embeddable widget listing all the Hashnodians (clickable links) he/she has helped out so far

What do you guys think? Hashnode Does it make sense to call the community and get them involved in programming the bot?