Twitter banned a bot that was spoiling other users' fun by responding to tweets about Wordle with a spoiler for the next day's mystery word. — Getty Images
Twitter has killed a killjoy, a bot that replies to tweets with the solution to the viral word puzzle game Wordle.
Wordle challenges players to guess the five-letter word of the day in six tries or less. After each try, the web-based game highlights the correct letters in green if they are the right position or in yellow if they are not.
Part of its popularity has been attributed to people sharing – or boasting – about how hard it was to solve the puzzle, including showing the number of tries it took them to figure out the word.
The Verge reported that the bot @wordlinator, made in response to the game’s popularity, was designed to post a rude reply to users’ tweets about the game and, even more rudely, reveal the next day’s word for Wordle.
It did so by digging through the site’s code where data for the next day’s word is stored.
The Verge reached out to Twitter before the bot was banned to check if it was in violation of any of the platform's rules.
Though it did not get a reply, the site speculated that it broke the automation rules against bothering other users with spam.
Meanwhile, Google has also jumped on the Wordle bandwagon by displaying an Easter egg when users search for “Wordle”.
The word Google becomes an animation that mimics the guessing game, except that it’s six letters instead of the usual five.
Wordle challenges players to guess the five-letter word of the day in six tries or less. After each try, the web-based game highlights the correct letters in green if they are the right position or in yellow if they are not.
Part of its popularity has been attributed to people sharing – or boasting – about how hard it was to solve the puzzle, including showing the number of tries it took them to figure out the word.
The Verge reported that the bot @wordlinator, made in response to the game’s popularity, was designed to post a rude reply to users’ tweets about the game and, even more rudely, reveal the next day’s word for Wordle.
It did so by digging through the site’s code where data for the next day’s word is stored.
The Verge reached out to Twitter before the bot was banned to check if it was in violation of any of the platform's rules.
Though it did not get a reply, the site speculated that it broke the automation rules against bothering other users with spam.
Meanwhile, Google has also jumped on the Wordle bandwagon by displaying an Easter egg when users search for “Wordle”.
The word Google becomes an animation that mimics the guessing game, except that it’s six letters instead of the usual five.
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