[tor-bugs] #22011 [Applications/GetTor]: Implement telegram bot for gettor

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#22011: Implement telegram bot for gettor
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 Reporter:  hellais              |          Owner:  alwayslivid
     Type:  enhancement          |         Status:  assigned
 Priority:  Low                  |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/GetTor  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal               |     Resolution:
 Keywords:                       |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #28231               |         Points:
 Reviewer:                       |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by alwayslivid):

 I have started working on this and I have prepared the "boilerplate" code
 for it, which means that it's nearly feasible to shift the focus on
 developing the bot itself on top of that.

 I spent some time studying the source code as I was working on this, and I
 think I understand that the way gettor works is by checking up Twitter and
 e-mails and responding to them once every 10 minutes.

 However, since Telegram is solely an instant messaging service, one could
 make the bot in a way where someone simply sends a message and gets a
 reply (even after a given interval), but I'm not sure whether that would
 be the most optimal way to go, as I'm an outsider that's not way too
 familiar with the project coordination, and as such, I'm not really very
 aware of the long-term goals of this project.

 For instance, Telegram is home to some very user-friendly bots that
 provide GUI menus (inline keyboards, which are essentially buttons, see
 more [https://core.telegram.org/bots/2-0-intro here]) and the way they are
 structured reminds of desktop programs, which is a very good feature that
 could make the bot far more accessible. Should the responsiveness be
 overlooked, the bot would not seem as consistent with the rest of the bots
 offered by the service.

 With all of that in mind, I'd like to pose the following questions
 regarding the direction that I'll need to take:
 - Should the Telegram bot make use of fancy features that could make its
 use much easier and more widely accessible, such as the inline keyboard?
 - Should the Telegram bot respond instantly? Should the Telegram be always
 available? (If so, the interval system would have to be revamped or
 changed completely, sacrificing consistency. Private messages on Twitter
 could also count as a form of "instant messaging".)
 - Since Telegram is used by populations in sensitive areas, would it make
 sense to provide an option for multiple different languages? (This would
 work way better with an inline keyboard, in my opinion)
 - With all of that in mind, should
 [https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI pyTelegramAPI], which is
 the module that I'm currently using, be avoided in favor of requests and
 JSON? (again, for consistency)
 - Would it be perhaps a good idea to create a secondary project that's
 separate or simply related to the original source code of gettor?

 The design that I initially came up with before shifting my attention to
 gettor itself after being recommended to do so by the IRC
 [https://github.com/AlwaysLivid/OnionSproutsBot here], which is also the
 design that I'd like to propose.

 The work that I've done so far as of the time of this writing can be found
 [https://github.com/AlwaysLivid/gettor/tree/9dc08345c258533af8662939d04303f6922b3606
 here]. (The interval options do not work and are simply a placeholder--
 moreover, the actual Telegram implementation has not been completed yet,
 due to the aforementioned issues.)

 My tree can also be found [here
 https://github.com/AlwaysLivid/gettor/tree/telegram].

 I tried to explain everything I could in detail-- I hope that I didn't get
 too redundant. I can provide screenshots, in case that I wasn't concise
 enough. All sorts of feedback is immensely appreciated.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/22011#comment:9>
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