Fun-hater makes Twitter bot to spoil future Wordle puzzles, gets suspened
One of the fun parts about daily puzzler Wordle is cryptically sharing your results with your pals. I don't bother much with the sharing part myself, but I've enjoyed quietly comparing my vocabulary victories to other people on my Twitter timeline. Apparently not everyone enjoys it as much as me, because one anonymous sourpuss decided to create a Twitter bot that spoils the next day's answer.
It started when software engineer Robert Reichel successfully reverse-engineered the game's code earlier this month, which can be used to reveal what the next day's word will be. He shared his process in a super interesting blog post, along with the method for others to replicate. Unfortunately the casual curiosity that inspired Reichel to reverse-engineering the code gave another programmer the tools to cause mischief.
Note: if you like tweeting your wordIe scores, someone’s made a bot you should block as it auto-responds with tomorrows answer pic.twitter.com/u62kBaTivnJanuary 24, 2022
Twitter bot The Wordlinator popped up earlier this week, with its bio claiming to be "sent from the future to terminate wordle bragging." It would automatically reply to anyone who shared their results, chewing them out for "bragging" before spoiling the next day's answer (thanks, Kotaku.)
The bot—whose creator I'm sure is super fun and cool—has now been suspended by Twitter. It seems like it was already suspended a couple of times in its short lifespan, but this one appears to be sticking. I wouldn't be surprised if more bots like this crop up in the future, though, so keep an eye out if you're an avid Wordle sharer. If you're worried about a pesky spoiler bot sliding into your replies, consider turning your results into Townscaper projects instead.