Release v1.3 - Forum Post Automation & Scraping

🚀 Release v1.3 - Forum Post Automation, Scraping Enhancements, Wikipedia Search

🔥 Key Changes:

✅ Forum Post Automation:

• The bot now automatically creates Discourse forum posts when links are posted or triggered by a keyword.

✅ Scraping Enhancements:

• BeautifulSoup4 is now a required dependency.
• Reddit scraping now extracts:
  • Title
  • Author
  • Statistics (upvotes, comments)
  • Media (text, images, videos, external links)
• Twitter scraping is implemented via snscrape, allowing tweet summaries.

✅ Improved Link Summaries:

• Bot responses are more structured and easier to read.
• Bypass links are displayed cleanly without markdown.
• Debug logging added for tag generation.

✅ Privacy & Blacklist Enhancements:

• New blacklisted storage URLs added for better filtering.
• Blacklist settings for social media, forums, and wiki links can now be configured in .env.

✅ Wikipedia & MediaWiki Search:

• The bot can now fetch summaries from Wikipedia and other MediaWiki-based platforms.

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📌 Installation Requirements

🔧 BeautifulSoup4 must be installed in the Maubot container.

Option 1: Install via Ansible

If managing Maubot via Ansible, add the following to your configuration:

matrix_bot_maubot_container_image_customizations_enabled: true

matrix_bot_maubot_container_image_customizations_dockerfile_body_custom: |
  RUN pip install --break-system-packages beautifulsoup4

Option 2: Install Manually in Docker

If manually managing Maubot, install inside the container:

docker exec -it <maubot_container_name> pip install --break-system-packages beautifulsoup4

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✅ Next Steps:

1. Ensure the bot is running properly and verify forum post automation works.
2. Check BeautifulSoup4 installation:

   docker exec -it <maubot_container_name> pip show beautifulsoup4

3. Confirm Wikipedia & MediaWiki search is functional.
4. Test new link summary improvements and blacklist handling.

v1.2.1: Improved URL Handling and Tag Generation

What's New in v1.2.1

Commits since v1.2:

• Generating tags for bypassed links is now functional
• Improved logging for tag generation
• Fixed handling of links and title generation without target audience context
• Enhanced duplicate link detection logic
• Added better handling for posting in specific categories
• Processed incoming links dynamically
• Updated documentation for category ID usage

This release focuses on improved handling of bypassed links, better tagging logic, and enhanced duplicate detection for smoother operation.

v1.2: Enhanced URL Handling and Summarization

Release v1.2: Enhanced URL Handling and Summarization

• Added Features:

  • URL Tagging: Posts now include bypass links to URLs and attempt summarization.
  • Target Audience Integration: Added the ability to specify a target audience for generating more relevant summaries and titles.
  • Enhanced Summarization: Improved summarization capabilities for better tag generation and more accurate summaries.

• Improvements:

  • Foundation for scraping URLs added.
  • Posts now respond to URL-based triggers.
  • Support for summarizing a range of messages based on number or time parameters.

Update:

• Includes additional fixes and enhancements committed after the initial release of v1.2.

Matrix to Discourse Bot v1.1

Version 1.1 includes new AI API options (OpenAI, Google, Local, None), config updates, and various bug fixes.

Initial Release

Effortless Posting

With the !fpost command, you can now easily create forum posts using messages from your Matrix chat rooms. Simply reply to a message with !fpost and optionally include a custom title. The bot will take care of the rest, ensuring that your important discussions are captured and shared with a broader audience.

Configuration allows for linking certain rooms to certain forum categories and has a gutter to catch unspecificed rooms where the bot is called.

Example Usage:

Reply to a message in Matrix with !fpost [Your Custom Title].
The bot will create a new post on your Discourse forum with the content of the replied-to message.

Advanced Search

The !fsearch command allows you to perform detailed searches across your Discourse forum from within Matrix. Whether you’re looking for specific topics, posts by certain users, or posts with particular tags, !fsearch has you covered.

Example Usage:

!fsearch matrix bots will search for all posts related to “matrix bots” in your Discourse forum.
Current members in the IrregularChat community can get started by simply typing !fsearch in the IrregularChat rooms to search for topics in the forum.

Seamless Integration

This bot integrates natively with Matrix and has been thoroughly tested with bridged Signal rooms, making it versatile and reliable for various setups. Whether you’re running a tech-savvy community or a casual discussion group, this bot can enhance your forum engagement and content management.

Applications for Community Building

This bot is particularly beneficial for:

Community Managers: Easily promote important chat discussions to forum posts, ensuring valuable insights and information are preserved and accessible.
Event Organizers: Post event announcements and follow-up discussions from chat to the forum, helping to keep the community informed and engaged.
Support Teams: Quickly search and reference previous discussions and solutions from your forum, improving response times and support quality.