Insane Castle Bot


@InsaneCastleBot (ICB) likes to randomly hurl out-of-context quotes at you when you tweet #castle. It also responds to @replies, although if the tweet also includes a #castle or a link it will not see it as an @reply. We monitor it to make sure it’s not being overly annoying and add more quotes on a regular basis.

The bot will only respond once to #castle and once when you tweet @InsaneCastleBot (with above caveats) within a set 12 hour period.

If you want the bot to stop talking to you, reply to the bot with “optout” (all 1 word) and you should receive no further tweets.

Any problems, or you know of anyone else having problems, tweet @CastleInsanity and just let us know.

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Quick FAQ:

Why don’t I get tweets from ICB?
If your tweets are protected ICB can’t see when you tweet #Castle. If your tweets aren’t protected and you still don’t get replies then it’s usually for one of the following reasons:

  • You’re opted out of #Castle tweets (either by replying to the bot with ‘optout’, or because we added you to the list after seeing your replies to the bot).
  • ICB already sent (or tried to send if the tweet limit was reached) a tweet to you within the last 12 hour period.
  • ICB can’t see your tweets in a twitter search. That usually resolves itself in a couple of days, but we can check if it’s happening to your tweets.
  • Someone else tweeted #Castle around the same time you did, and ICB saw their tweet rather than yours. This happens regularly, particularly when twitter is busy.

    • If you don’t understand why it isn’t replying, let us know via twitter.

    How does it work?
    ICB runs from our server using our app, which is built using php, OAuth and the twitter APIs.

    How can I make one?
    You need hosting with mysql, php and cron, and be fairly comfortable writing php. This OAuth library is a good place to start. You’ll also need to put something in place to allow users to opt out or unsubscribe to the service, and to limit the number of tweets sent to individual users. If you’re from another fandom and need some help setting one up, let us know.

    How do you tweet via 12th Precinct?
    12th Precinct is the name of our twitter app. It isn’t available for download.

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    We don’t store any data from twitter, beyond a list of who opted out (so we can stop the bot from sending more tweets), and a list of who the bot tweeted in the last 12 hours (which is deleted every 12 hours). No one has access to this data besides the admin. We know there are bots out there which use the data from their bots to make money. We don’t, and never will. It exists purely to keep us entertained.