https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/13jostq/remindmebot_is_now_replying_to_comments_again/
created by Watchful1 on 17/05/2023 at 02:30 UTC
1778 upvotes, 254 top-level comments (showing 25)
About a month ago, reddit announced some vague changes[1] to the api that bots use. They announced a date of June 19th that changes would come into effect. Then abruptly about two weeks ago they shut off access to pushshift[2], which the bot uses to find the comment commands. So the bot continued to reply to messages and send out updates, but was no longer able to find comments.
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/12qwagm/an_update_regarding_reddits_api/
I've spent the last two weeks frantically writing code to be able to reliably find the trigger comments across all of reddit and it is finally done. Fortunately the method I'm using is able to go back and find all the comments with the trigger word in the last two weeks that it missed. But unfortunately it's somewhat slow, only processing new comments roughly 3 times as fast as they come into reddit, so it will take another week or so for it to catch up. Also, since I was rushed to get this working, it might break and stop at any point. So even in the future when it's caught up, the bot might fall behind again at times.
If you are directed to this post by the bot because it's replying to an old comment of yours, I apologize for the delay, reddit kinda screwed everyone over. For what it's worth, they personally apologized to me.
I will strive to keep the bot working to the best of my abilities far into the future so that hopefully those long reminders everyone makes will still get sent.
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If the time of the reminder you requested has already passed, you'll still get a message about it. And if you posted the trigger multiple times because the first one didn't work, you'll get a confirmation and message for each one. Sorry if this results in a lot of duplicates, there wasn't an easy way to avoid that.
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I've had a personal policy of not accepting donations for my bots for many years now, but the way this code works ends up needing a more powerful, and expensive, server, so my costs have gone up a bit. If you'd like to chip in, you can donate here[3]. It's absolutely not necessary, I'm fortunate to be well off enough to cover the costs without help, but I do appreciate it.
3: https://ko-fi.com/watchful1
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If you post a comment in reply to this post with the trigger (since I know a bunch of people will), it still won't get to them until it's caught up a week from now.
Comment by QuakAtack at 17/05/2023 at 02:49 UTC
45 upvotes, 5 direct replies
good bot. Amazing human.
Comment by gaobij at 17/05/2023 at 02:40 UTC
21 upvotes, 0 direct replies
No worries, robot friend. Things can be hard sometimes.
Comment by ConceptsShining at 17/05/2023 at 03:20 UTC
20 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Also, kind reminder to all users: I think it's a good idea to periodically get your list of reminders from the bot (just send the bot a PM containing in the body `MyReminders!`). That way, if the bot goes down for any reason (hopefully not, but we can't predict what Reddit will do to their API/the bot), you at least have access to all of your pending reminders. And if you *really* care about your reminders and want to play it safe, you can screenshot/save that list just in case you lose access to your Reddit account.
I personally do it every time I set a new reminder.
Comment by Cat_Of_Culture at 17/05/2023 at 03:07 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It's back baabyyy!!!
Good work bro!
Comment by ConceptsShining at 17/05/2023 at 03:15 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Awesome! Thanks so much for maintaining this bot. This has to be my favorite non-moderation bot on this site, I've been using it for all sorts of matters (including for personal life) for years.
If I may ask, out of curiosity: how are you going through old comments? Are you iterating through the comment IDs (which I believe are assigned sequentially by Reddit)?
Comment by 64_0 at 17/05/2023 at 03:16 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thank you so much for repairing the bot. Your intensity of service is remarkable. We're so lucky to have you behind the bot. I can't imagine all the hours you've put into RemindMe Bot, but I appreciate all of that and all of you.
Comment by badlyknitbrain at 17/05/2023 at 02:47 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Glad everything worked out in the end
Comment by TheNe0nGuy at 17/05/2023 at 02:54 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My mate, you're the shit, sanks
Comment by WhatAmIDoingHere05 at 17/05/2023 at 02:50 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Good bot to us human friends.
Comment by Llamazing13 at 17/05/2023 at 02:56 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
OMG YAY THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are amazing!
Comment by Optimus7591 at 17/05/2023 at 03:01 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Thank you, I was wondering what the hell happened
Comment by TheMarionberry at 17/05/2023 at 03:02 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks person behind the bot!
Comment by dcormier at 17/05/2023 at 03:05 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I saw the original post, but the bot just woke up and sent me one of the missing reminders, pointing me here. Happy to see it working again. Nicely done!
Comment by Mentalpopcorn at 17/05/2023 at 03:09 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks for all your hard work dude! It's a thankless job that you don't even get paid for, so let me say it again, thank you!
Comment by HeartMassive7182 at 17/05/2023 at 03:12 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thank you very much
Comment by Get_a_Grip_comic at 17/05/2023 at 03:38 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
thanks, I wondered what happened, thought maybe the comment command changed to activate it.
Reddit really should have something like this as a default option anyway
Comment by blaze1234 at 17/05/2023 at 03:45 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
YAAAAY
Comment by Kumquat_conniption at 17/05/2023 at 07:50 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Ohhh this is such good news!!! I thought the bot was broken, and I missed it so much!! Reddit is really fucking over a lot of people with this change to Push Shift. It's so annoying. It really affects mods quite a lot. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work!! You are awesome!!
Comment by SecondWorld1198 at 17/05/2023 at 03:01 UTC
2 upvotes, 6 direct replies
u/Whoo1ops IT’S BACK BABYYYY
The Game
Comment by ohmyblahblah at 17/05/2023 at 03:16 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I never got the hang of using it correctly in the first place 😅
Comment by mcon1985 at 17/05/2023 at 03:55 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I appreciate this so much I won't even tag the bot in the comments.
But seriously, great stuff and you're universally appreciated
Comment by indigoHatter at 17/05/2023 at 04:00 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Hey, you're doing a great job buddy. A HUGE service. You make Reddit better, and Reddit knows it too or they wouldn't have bothered to reach out to you.
Great work! Thanks for all you do!
Comment by [deleted] at 17/05/2023 at 04:27 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
hey man thanks for the bot i understand how the technical fuckery goes
Comment by RutherfordTheButler at 17/05/2023 at 04:37 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thank you so much. :-)
Comment by SamyMerchi at 17/05/2023 at 04:48 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thank you so much. Your service is so good I was surprised to learn it wasn't an official functionality. You're basically doing many paid peoples' job for free. I can't believe how good a person you are. Thank you again so much.