I see it regularly. Female friends sharing how dudes they barely know text them cringey pick-up lines, send pics of their junk, or ask for nude photos.
One of my female friends recently showed me all the guys on Tinder asking for her number right after matching. Another said she reluctantly gave her number out to a guy she met, only to receive a string of gross texts.
Now, you may be familiar with the Rejection Hotline. Created by Jonah Peretti and Chelsea Peretti in 2002, it was a phone number you could give out that, when called, would play a message essentially saying, ?Sorry, whoever gave you this number wasn?t into you.?
Well, my friends and I thought the idea was due for a 2017 update:
It?s a fake number you can give out to creeps; and when they text it, they?ll be interacting with a crazy chatbot instead of bothering you.
Just give any fuckboy this number (1?626-GOODBYE / 1?626?466?3293), and this SMS chatbot will take it from there?
When creepy guys text it (thinking it?s you), the chatbot will reply with circular logic, bizarre questions, links to Jezebel and Reductress articles, and will urge them to donate to Planned Parenthood, among other fun things.
Or maybe you already have someone in your life hitting up your phone: Just tell them you?re getting a new number/phone, and text them this number.
Conversations will be posted to BoyByeBot.com
Of course, the fun part is seeing the ridiculous interactions people have with the bot! So we?ll be posting those to BoyByeBot.com, as they come in (identifying information removed, of course).
See it in action (DEMO)
Bot replies (left) vs. Creeper texts (right)
Try it for yourself, too: Text 1?626?466?3293
More Info
Since making Botline Bling (a Drake chatbot), I?ve been obsessed with bots. Specifically, how bots can be useful and entertaining. The attitude for Boy Bye Bot was no different: a chatbot that?s a tool/service of some kind, while also being fun along the way.
I owe a ton of credit to my awesome female friends who helped workshop and brainstorm this project. Madeline Dowling, Maya Mariner, and Lauren O?Connell all get extra-special shoutouts 🙂
Also, making Boy Bye Bot wouldn?t have been possible without the help of David Hu and the team at Dexter. The bot was created using Dexter?s easy-to-use bot-making platform. If you?re a tinkerer with limited coding skills like me and interested in making bots, definitely check ?em out. So good. I?m already planning my next bot using their platform. (I promise this isn?t a paid/sponsored post, haha!)
And of course, lastly, shout-out to Beyonc.
Enjoy!
