[REQUEST] - Blocked User feature

[nhcarrigan]

[REQUEST] - Blocked User feature

[YashKandalkar]

Hey! I came across this repo, I'd like to contribute but have some questions.

Create an array to store IDs of blocked users. This should be stored in the .env file to allow updates without requiring a rebuild.

Will updating the env file be enough? I don't know how the bot is hosted but after every restart/rebuild the ids stored in env file will be lost right? Or is the data preserved?

[naomi-lgbt]

I'd be happy to assign this to you!

The bot is hosted on Heroku, so .env values are preserved across builds. However, I'm actually thinking a better approach would be to store an array of blocked IDs in the config.json file, then have the bot check if the message author is included in that array. If it is, skip the command (or send a message response explaining the user is blocked).

[YashKandalkar]

AFAIK the heroku restarts it's dynos often (once a day?), so editing files doesn't work, the changes will disappear after restart. And this SO question suggests that the app will rebuild if we update the env vars. The best option is to use a database (heroku has a postgres db with 10k rows limit).

[naomi-lgbt]

The bot is already configured to a MongoDB instance, so we could leverage that existing database.

However, this does not necessarily need to be a command that a user can call, but a configuration option that can be set manually in the code base (for people running their own instance of the bot).

Adding it as a command would be something to do in #144 - so server admins can lock out users on a per-server basis.

[YashKandalkar]

Oh so for this issue we just have to add IDs in config.json. Got it, will make a PR on 1st 😄