FOSSbot for beginners - How to create a voting bot algorithm

In this post I'll explain for beginners, how to create a custom algorithm for the open source Steem voting bot "FOSSbot"

FOSSbot a free and open source, highly customizable Steem voting bot created by @personz. 

To install your own FOSSbot see these instructions 

https://steemit.com/voting/@camb/fossbot-free-open-source-steem-voting-bot-instructions-for-beginners

Or go straight to the FOSSbot Github page

https://github.com/Steem-FOSSbot/steem-fossbot-voter/blob/master/docs/installation.md

The bot works by scanning a set number of posts every time the bot runs.

The bot will use the arguments/metrics in your algorithm to assign each post a score and will then vote for the posts with a score that is above the average threshold.

Here is a basic example of an algorithm that tries to find and vote for "good" content. 

    post_num_words in range 200 to 600, weight = 0.5

    post_num_links_image in range 0 to 5, weight = 10

    post_num_links_video, weight = -25

    author_repuation, weight = 1

    post_has_english_language_use, weight = 50

Here is what each argument does:

post_num_words in range 200 to 600, weight = 0.5

If the post has between 200 and 600 words   

Then the bot will add 0.5 score points to the post for every word that is more than 200. 

If the post has less Than 200 words 

Then no score points will be added

If the post has more than 600 words

Then no extra score points will be added after the 600 word limit

post_num_links_image in range 0 to 5, weight = 10

If the post contains between 0 and 5 images 

Then 10 score points will be added to the post for every image  

If the post has more than 5 images 

Then score points will only be added for the first 5 images 

post_num_links_video, weight = -25

If the post contains links to videos

Then 25 score points will be subtracted for every video

author_repuation, weight = 1

If the author of the post has 55 reputation points for example

Then 55 points are added to the score of the post

post_has_english_language_use, weight = 50

If the post contains English 

Then 50 points are added to the score

The bot will consider a post to be good if: 

• the post is at least 200 words long
• the post has a few images
• the post has few or no video links
• the author of the post has some reputation
• the post is in English

Fossbot provides lots of other metrics and settings that can be added to make your bot better. These are only the basics, but if you understood how this example works, you will be able to understand the rest. 

I will be posting more algorithm examples soon. Join the FOSSbot project on Github and add your ideas. https://github.com/Steem-FOSSbot/steem-fossbot-voter 

Suggestions are welcome and feel free to ask questions in the comments. 

Good luck out there!