Clarify the Usage Self & Userbots in the Terms of Service

[MrLar]

I know there have been made multiple statements about not using selfbots and such and even a support article now. But I personally believe and so do a few of my firends. That Discord should make an Official and final statement in the Developer Terms, as we as much as I hate to admit it do hear different things almost on daily base's. I also think it should be clarified (in the Terms) whenever calling /api/login and /api/auth/mfa/totp and automating them is allowed or not, I'm pretty certain it isn't judging by the latest statement I found from Jake.

This would make things more clear for us all and also give everyone a better idea of whenever it's allowed or not, as some of us still tend to be very unsure due to earlier mentioned decision changes between different Devs.

[Rapptz]

What exactly is ambiguous about this?

Discord's API provides a seperate type of user account dedicated to automation, called a bot account. Bot accounts can be created through the applications page, and are authenticated using a token (rather than a username and password). Unlike the normal OAuth2 flow, bot accounts have full access to all API routes without using bearer tokens, and can connect to the Real Time Gateway. Automating normal user accounts (generally called "self-bots") outside of the OAuth2/bot API is forbidden, and can result in an account termination if found.

[msciotti]

The docs are clear on this. Self botting and user botting are not allowed.

[Kodehawa]

I'd like this being added to the Developer ToS to avoid further confussion.

[LikeLakers2]

@msciotti Without trying to cause a big argument here, I need to ask... if self-bots are disallowed, then why are so many people publicly using self-bots without being terminated? I've seen lots of people in the Discord API server (among other servers) use self-bots without repercussion. Not to mention, I imagine it'd be pretty freaking easy to track down self-bot usage without even needing to access channel logs (literally, just look at the user agent)..

User-bots, on the other hand, I can understand why Discord might not want those. I'm not going to dispute that.

[Rapptz]

I don't understand why you guys are debating something that is so explicitly stated as disallowed.

Just because something is disallowed doesn't stop other people from doing it (repercussions or not), just how making something illegal doesn't stop illegal activity.

[Kodehawa]

I have exactly the same question. Also, this matter is not clear on the Developer or User ToS, as the stance from discord on that matter is posted on a separate article, which makes everything very fragmentated and way harder to find.

[msciotti]

@LikeLakers2 if you believe that you see users using selfbots, you can report them to abuse@discordapp.com with ids, screenshots, message ids, etc.

Much like in-server abuse, we do not monitor every user on every server. If you see something you believe is violating our TOS in some way, you should report it.