I own the largest meme bot on Discord app, with 1.3m+ servers using it. Dank Memer. AMA

Why did you create the bot in the first place?

Is it alot of work to maintain?

Does it generate any income?

Why did you create the bot in the first place?

I was fresh out of dropping out of college and wanted to learn programming, found a programming discord server, learned about Discord's API, and just started teaching myself to program by making a bot!

Is it alot of work to maintain?

It is, it's really a full time job. A lot of people would be surprised how much work goes into running the bot. It's really a full blown business on the back-end.

Does it generate any income?

Yup! We have some AWESOME patrons that support us each month. It pays all our bot bills, pays for me to hire developers, and puts diapers on my baby's butt each month.

EDIT: I believe this is my first gold, I really appreciate it! Ya'll are the best!

I think it’s great how becoming a donator or buying boxes has plenty of benefits, but the bot will have the exact same functionality even if you don’t donate

That's really a major sticking point for me.

Bots that lock 40% of their features behind a paywall have no servers for a reason, no one likes that! In the future as we adapt new patron features, we also plan to retire old ones into being free!

When you say you started learning programming did you have any experience at all or was it really a new thing to you when creating this?

I knew the basics of HTML and that's it! This was my first real programming project.

Did you ever think you'd make it this far?

Not even for a second. I was amazed the day we were added to our 1,000th server.

How have you personally been lately?

Hi Nate, I've been good and I appreciate you for asking.

If you were to, hypothetically, receive a Christmas gift, from a secret admirer, what would the best gift be? Asking for a friend...

Hypothetically, probably more anatomically correct pepe dolls.

If you were to, hypothetically, actually receive those dolls, what would you do with them... hypothetically?

And to addition to that, will you hypothetically have enough space for 100 of those anatomically correct pepe dolls?

I think it would be a REALLY cool room decoration to literally have 100 dolls pinned all over my walls. I'd make my wife agree to rename the room to "the meme room" instead of the office.

How much is server costs for such a big discord bot?

It varies from bot to bot. For instance, I'm sure rythm is paying WAY more than us bc music is terrible to upkeep.

It also depends on how well you can write code, and we have a great backend developer.

So more than 1$ and less than a million?

Thats too vague. More than $100 and less than 100 million.

Wait...

How many people do you / have to block on a daily basis?

I actually rarely block anyone, I just don't accept friend requests and have my DMs off. Sometimes I open them for fun just to see what people want to say though.

Why did the gambling algorithm change? I feel like it was easier to make money before the update

Someone actually did the math on this recently. I haven't completely fact checked it, but the guy seemed pretty smart. He says there's a `45.83%` chance to win at the gamble command when factoring in all the possible ways it could go.

Before we rolled die, it was ~40% chance to win and it was all one random roll. Basically we picked a number between 1-100 and if it was 40 or lower you'd win. Our new way is actually easier to win, AND more transparent about why.

How did you begin your journey?

With a cheap laptop and free online tutorials on how to learn programming.

Where specifically did you learn to program? Or was it just random videos

free code camp is pretty good for learning the basics of web development!

How does it feel to get your own creation out there for the world to see and truly get recognised for it?

It feels amazing! I never expected the bot to grow, and I recently spoke with a CEO from a larger company (that will stay anon) and he said his daughter uses the bot. I felt like I was about to pee my pants honestly.

The other day I was playing Destiny 2 (I love Destiny btw) and someone in a public space recognized my name. It was insane, because I'm not even a large part of the bot's content or anything.

I'm so grateful that people enjoy the bot and have been sharing it with their friends, I can't say that enough.

Well, you know what they say, you deserve all the appreciation, but remember that wether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the cabal on mars so let's get to taking out their command one by one, Valus tu'arc from what I can gather, commands a legion of siege dancers just outside of rubicon. With the right fireteam we can take out his grip on freehold

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie but Taniks has no house, he kneels before no banner, owes allegiance to no Kell. He is a murderer, and very good at what he does. I have been tracking him since Wolves broke their chains, yes? Now Taniks works for Wolfpack, but not for long. Taniks has come to plunder the Hive. Avenge the dead. Stop him from stealing the dark. Lift field distortion! Ketch just above you. Ooooh, Taniks has called you out, Guardian. You have been challenged in the ways of old. Taniks is jamming our comms. Fight well, Guardian. Fight for honor. Notorious mercenary dead. No small matter. You will be rewarded treasure from the Queen— and my respect as well.

I truly believe you should be more recognized for the work you’ve done for your bot.

Thanks, I really appreciate that!

Why did you choose pepe as the dank memer bot profile picture?

This is probably going to be more in depth for an answer than you expected but

I chose pepe because it has ALWAYS been an iconic meme to me. Sure, people say it's a dead meme, but you look at pepe and you see what it is. A friendly memey frog.

Now about a year ago, we REALLY considered changing it because of the climate around pepe. I had a large amount of people asking to change it, and even the official Node organization's discord server wouldn't let me post about it because it had pepe. But it bothers me that a few assholes can make the entire creation of pepe "Racist". Pepe has been such a good thing and used in such good ways for years. The creator of pepe does NOT deserve for his baby to be treated like this, and I won't give in to the idea that pepe itself is racist.

Our bot (as much as we can control with user input and random apis) will NEVER have racist content. Not even as a low brow meme. Pepe can still show the best in people, and I really truly believe that and will continue to fight for that.

what command was the most pain in the ass to program and maintain?

All of the music features before YouTube killed us off.

If you were to make a new bot, do you think it'd get the same recognition Dank Memer gets?

Not a chance! Dank Memer grew because at the time it was the only bot doing what it did. Memes and all things memey. A ton of Dank Memer's early growth is due to luck in timing. I could go more in depth with all those factors if you'd like.

Do you feel like a dad?

I actually am a dad! I have a 9 month old son who will hopefully enjoy memes!

But even before my son was born, yes. Dad is a common nickname for me in our support server, and I try and treat all our users like my children in the sense that I really respect and care for their needs to the best of my ability.

What is your absolute favorite command to use?

pls pickle

how do you decide what to update?

Sometimes I look at user feedback, sometimes I look at backend data on what's not getting used, and sometimes I just personally get bored with some commands and decide they need changed.

What language did you use? What type of model did you design your app on?

It's 98% Javascript, with 2% python being our image generation server.

how many people ask a day for something "free" like the Pepe coin or the rare coin? thanks I love the bot I use it every day

a minimum of 3 probably

What was your favorite feature to develop?

My favorite features will ALWAYS be the image generation commands. That's why there's so many! Something about putting someone's face in a meme within a text chat just really makes me laugh.

How long did it take you to program Dank Memer?

We've never finished, so... 2 1/2 years!

I meant how long before the initial release? (Also how do I get pink phallic objects)

A few days probably, it only had three commands at launch LOL

you get them from buying them, they're back in the shop after the last update

Where did the idea of making this bot originate?

Like I said in another comment, I wanted to learn programming. So I saw that reddit and discord both had easy to use APIs, and I mixed them up. Get memes from reddit, post them to Discord under a bot account, what can go wrong?

What did the bot start off as, and do you make a living just by the bot?

The bot started with cleverbot, pls meme, and pls triggered and grew from there.

I do make a living from the bot! I own a business that owns the bot, and the other part of my business is videography, which is something I'm REALLY passionate about.

What is your favorite feature of the bot?

Image generation commands!

Why am I wasting my life collecting imaginary coins?

I have no clue, it baffles me how many people use our currency system. But I appreciate that people care and enjoy it!

Forgive me, but I’ve never heard of a meme bot before. Can you explain what it actually does and how people use it?

It's a bot that does basically what any other Discord bot does, but in a memey way. Posting memes is the most common use case usually, but if you ban someone with the bot it'll say something like "x is banned, good riddance" etc. Errors insult you, currency is weird, etc.

What's you favorite meme format?

I still really like the floor format

What is the most interesting complaint you've gotten about the bot?

This is a hard one.

Top two would probably be:

1. "stop wasting all my time with this bot you fucker give me my life back"
2. "This bot doesn't support x political candidate enough"

How do you make a bot?

With programming, JavaScript or Python will be the easiest to learn if you're interested!

What got you started with developing and specifically developing discord bots?

Discord API seemed really easy at the time that I wanted to start learning programming!

Do you use dank memer yourself?

Honestly yeah, but not the currency. I'm one of those people who feels like "Welp, since I have all the cheat codes I'm bored now". I don't feel the need to grind coins since I could just give myself coins. So I stick to primarily image commands and memes.

How much coins do you think Dank Memer has from all of the betting?

Dank Memer just throws them away when you lose a bet, what a jerk

How do you generate profit from the bot?

Patreon is the main source! We have some really cool patrons that support us monthly and help me put diapers on my son's butt.

I love your bot! And also won a Zuckerberg Tshirt in one of your contests on discord last year!

Do you have any new projects you’re working on or wanting to create in the future?

Thanks!

My business itself is a new project I'm working on. Used to be called Dank Memer LLC but I'm starting to go towards film-making and commercial videography. As far as discord projects, nothing yet, but I'm always open to new things!

What is the next big update for Dank Memer? Or if you don’t have one planned, what are some ideas you have?

As far as BIG updates, nothing is currently planned. I'm working currently with a temporary developer to bust out some new currency QoL updates in the next few weeks though!

I'm one of those developers that thinks of an idea and implements it on the same day most of the time, rather than planning too far ahead.

How have you stayed to encourage yourself to keep going?

There's definitely been times that my mental health in association with the bot has struggled. What keeps me going is the passion the community has for the bot, and the devoted and loving volunteer staff team in the support server. Without them, the bot wouldn't be where it is today, and I wouldn't be around on Discord.

Was there some times that the bot went over Discord's API rate limit?

Yup! We actually got API banned at one point and had to have our ratelimits personally raised.

How long have you been developing Dank Memer?

-c0unt sp0cer

Since January 2017!

What feature do you think is most attributed to the bot's popularity?

It was the (now deceased) music feature that originally got me to add the bot but I can see the moderation tool or currency mini game being a bigger draw.

For the first year, the meme command. Since then it's been about currency more than anything.

The music got us some strong growth for a while, but once YouTube killed us off things went downhill for a bit.

No promises, but we're going to try and work around YouTube in the future and bring music back!

On a scale of 1-10, how difficult is this and how much time have you truly put into this bot?

it varies from 1-10 constantly, and I've been working on the bot full time for just over 14 months now if that tells you anything!

Are you happy with your creation?

No. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to what I make (which is why filmmaking is a VERY painful passion of mine), and I'll likely never be happy with the state of the bot. BUT that definitely drives me to be better and make better features for everyone!

Why did you decide for the prefix of the bot to be “pls” instead of others that use one character prefixes such as “!”?

Every bot and their mother had lame prefixes when Dank Memer was created. I think pls is PERFECT for a meme bot.

Do you ever look back and think maybe I should have done a few things differently?

Every day. Heavily contributes to my rapidly declining mental health.

Counseling is a good thing, anyone reading this should know that if you need help, get it. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Will you answer any of those questions?

Not a chance.

I don't mean to offend but I am just genuinely curious..

How do you feel about the thousands of people, and a vast majority being of them underage, who are addicted to your bot's gambling system? I know it's just fake coins but lots of people are actually addicted, lol.

No reason to be offended! It's something that I've struggled with morally, I'm not sure I can honestly give you a straight answer on this. I like to believe that the bot is meant for 18+, but I literally have no way to enforce that, and I'm not an idiot that will pretend that no one underage uses it.

my question is: what made you decide to unblacklist everyone?

my friends and i were all blacklisted for botting and we all got unbanned and we’re enjoying the bot so much again lol

We were really strict on blacklists, and I really believe in giving most people second chances. Congrats on being unblacklisted! No more botting please lmao

Have you ever considered adding meme style Artificial Intelligence to your bot?

Yes, it would certainly be interesting. Like a memey cleverbot.

How hard was it developing the bot? Did you start alone or already had a team?

It's been rough, but I've always surrounded myself with smart and helpful people. My current backend dev has been there since day one.

What is the one feature people keep requesting, to the point where it annoys you?

A meme stock exchange. It would be SO complicated to make and use, it would absolutely flop as a feature, but it's still requested constantly.

Pls roast....jk

Where do you see dankmemer in 5 years?

On new platforms. Slack, twitch, twitter, and whatever replaces Discord.

Is there anything about the bot that you think you could have done better, but it would be too hard to integrate well in the current state?

localization, I want more than just English available but it's going to be an entire backend rewrite to make that happen (and it will happen if it's the last thing I do)

When will you realize that Warlocks are true masterrace?

You're the worst of the worst. Titans are where it's at, 1v1 me irl.