Discord webhooks — an explanation to the 'talking bots'
carrd made by @ghostboyalexz on tumblr!
P.S ; read the whole thing to better understand.
What are discord bots?
A discord bot is a member on discord that is not actually controlled by a human being — instead, it has sets of commands that can be used by anyone. They can help in many ways such as server making, fun games, and even moderation.
Here are some screenshots of discord bots.(Currently, discord has gone through a major shift involving bots and slash commands. Most, but not all, discord bots now are operating with slash commands.)
...And many more.
What are those talking, sentient 'bots' i see?
Now, you may be seeing many messages from "bots" that may look similar to these ;
The thing is, These are not bots.They are webhooks — which I'll explain later, commonly used by DID/OSDD systems. They are made using bots such as PluralKit and Tupperbox to make it easier for seperate alters to talk on discord. Unlike the earlier examples with the discord bots, these are controlled by real people with real emotions and feelings.
If they're controlled by real people, why do they say "Bots" next to them?
The reason their messages are accompanied with a big, noticeable "BOTS" sign is because of discord's webhook limitations. Basically, they're just a discord feature. They don't mean these people are actual bots.
What the hell is a webhook?
A webhook, in simple terms— is a 'fake' discord message that isn't actually sent from a real discord account.The way that TupperBox and Pluralkit work, is that it reads your message (a real message from a real discord account), copies it, deletes your original message, and creates a webhook which makes a 'fake' message with the same content as the original. You can include videos, images, files, etc.
How should I talk to them?
You would treat them as any other person.Do NOT call anyone who uses these webhooks "bots" or "sentient robot" or anything of that sort— it is extremely dehumanising and disrespectful to the actual people who use them.
TL;DR — these "bots" aren't actual bots, they are people using accessibility tools for complicated things (such as system alters), and should be treated as you would anyone else!