Make it more discoverable

[schiessle]

I think the talk summary bot is one of the "hidden" Talk features with a lot of potential. But it is really hard to know what it does just from the bot description in Talk, so I assume hardy anyone tries it out. After enabling it you are more or less lost and don't know how to use it unless you find the github readme which explains all the magic commands.

But who will ever find it? I assume most people who manage to do the first step, finding the bot setting, considering the bot description interesting enough and enable the bot will be lost with the second step (how to use it?) and disable it again.

Two ideas I have in my head:

Easy one

After enabled the bot could post a welcome message to the chat room. Explaining all its features and commands.

More advanced one

context base the bot could hook itself into the "+" menu next to the chat message input field and the smart picker. When not in the call it would offer a easy to discover option to add a agenda item.

While in a call the option to add a agenda item would be replaced with the actions available during a call: add a note, task,...

[nickvergessen]

@miaulalala just today had the same problem :D
I guess we would need a list of options that we render then into the + option cc @Antreesy
Should allow to group them generally (submenu) as otherwise the list is getting out of hands.

After enabled the bot could post a welcome message to the chat room. Explaining all its features and commands.

I had this on my list as well yeah

[schiessle]

Drawback of the welcome message: People who join the room later will not see it and users might forget about it again. That's why the "+"-menu is probably the better option.

[miaulalala]

Why not have a 1:1 chat with the talk room bot when you start out (if it is installed and enabled) which allows you to send it messages that explain its features? Sort of like the "Let's get started", only interactive? This would allow us to set up a room with every user with the available features and people can delete or archive it if they don't need it. But they can still message the bot in a 1:1 later to get help.

Is the bot on a room by room basis? If so, we could also place a visual hint somewhere as to it's availability.

[nickvergessen]

But they can still message the bot in a 1:1 later to get help.

We could add a "help" command, but I think the plus-button entry and improving the description in the bot list makes most sense here:

Is the bot on a room by room basis?

Yes all of them are. And additionally bots can't create rooms with users.