Should a moderation bot have a GUI?

[rabbit]

Or you got disconnected for a game patch?

[wires]

Or you got disconnected for a game patch?

You don't always get disconnected, hell I think sometimes you can use the older version for a while even after the new patch.

[Eric]

Oh I don't know.... maybe USABILITY?  FLEXIBILITY?

Like Newby said, as long as it's coded correctly and the priorities are in the right order, adding a GUI doesn't hurt anything.

You should only be capable of accessing the bot through the medium in which it was designed to operate on—Battle.net.  Keeping this in mind, I don't understand what kind of flexibility or "usability" you'd need here.  Perhaps you wish to leave room for in-bot game and ladder listings?  Clarify, please.

What if you need to access the bot locally and don't want to waste the time going through Battle.net servers to access it?

What if someone else using your computer decided to do the same?

What if the bot disconnects and it won't reconnect? Perhaps you'd like to have some sort of interface to manage it?

The logs would allow you to determine the cause of the problem and automatic reconnections should handle the rest.  I suppose that in some cases you may need to restart the bot, the same as you would restart a failing system service.  The goal is, as MyndFyre so elegantly put it, to not program like a "fucktard" and to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.  That should be your goal for all programming projects, whether they have a UI/GUI or not.  The best bots are the ones that can function without significant user intervention.  That's why they are called "bots."

[Newby]

What if someone else using your computer decided to do the same?

Uhm, I don't let people use my computer when I'm not on it. It's called a screensaver with a password.

I could also have the interface require a password to re-draw itself after being minimized. Or something to that extent.

The logs would allow you to determine the cause of the problem and automatic reconnections should handle the rest.

A "logging" interface, as in the one similar to pf and pflog? (I've had to tcpdump on pflog0, it's pretty neat) Or do you mean opening up notepad after you realize your bot has been offline for a few hours to scroll to the bottom of a noisy log to find out what the problem is?

[iago]

You guys are crazy. 

A bot should have an optional GUI.  People who want to can use it, people who don't won't have to. 

Better yet, make the GUI completely decoupled from the program, to the point where you can use it over a network.  Because most people don't run moderation bots on their own machine but they would still like to see and configure it. 

So yeah, OPTIONAL.  You fools.  Let the user decide. 

[Furious]

What if someone else using your computer decided to do the same?

Uhm, I don't let people use my computer when I'm not on it. It's called a screensaver with a password.

I could also have the interface require a password to re-draw itself after being minimized. Or something to that extent.

The logs would allow you to determine the cause of the problem and automatic reconnections should handle the rest.

A "logging" interface, as in the one similar to pf and pflog? (I've had to tcpdump on pflog0, it's pretty neat) Or do you mean opening up notepad after you realize your bot has been offline for a few hours to scroll to the bottom of a noisy log to find out what the problem is?

The bot(s) I currently use log different situations in different files.  All login information is logged in one file, chat is logged in one file, and commands logged in another.