A Discord suggestion bot that collects ideas, counts votes and answers

Suggestions without a bot

You can already run a suggestions channel with what Discord offers. Each option has a catch

• A text channel and reactions

  Members post, everyone reacts with a thumb. Someone adds the reactions by hand, and nothing shows what staff decided

• A forum channel

  One post per idea, with tags like “accepted” or “rejected”. Tidier, but the vote is still a reaction and the follow-up is manual

• Discord polls

  Handy to choose between options staff picked, not to collect ideas from members

Setting up a Discord suggestion bot with Kotbo

The Suggestions module takes one command to set up, or the Suggestions page of the dashboard. With no channel set, /suggest falls back on a text channel whose name contains “suggest”

1. 1

   Create the channel

   A text channel, #suggestions for example, where only the bot posts. Members vote there with the buttons

2. 2

   Turn the module on

   Type /suggestion-config enable with that channel. Suggestions get posted there

3. 3

   Post the form

   /suggestion-config send-embed posts a message with a button that opens a form, for members who don’t know the commands

4. 4

   Announce /suggest

   Members send ideas with /suggest or through the form, from 10 to 1,000 characters

The suggestion commands

One command for members, one for admins

/suggest suggestion:<your idea>

Posts the idea in the suggestions channel, with the author’s avatar and name

/suggestion-config enable channel:<channel>

Turns the module on and sets the channel suggestions are posted in

/suggestion-config send-embed channel:<channel>

Posts the message with the submit button

/suggestion-config status

Shows whether the module is on and which channel it uses

/suggestion-config disable

Turns suggestions off: /suggest then returns an error

How voting works

Each suggestion comes with two buttons, up and down, showing the live count

• One vote per member: clicking the same side again removes it, clicking the other side switches it
• The member gets a confirmation only they can see
• Once the suggestion is decided, the buttons grey out and the score is frozen

Answering suggestions: the statuses

On the Suggestions page of the dashboard, staff filter ideas by status and answer each one. A reply is required, so the community always knows why

• Pending

  The starting status, until staff decide. Votes stay open

• Approved

  The idea is in. The Discord message turns green, with your reply

• Rejected

  The idea is out. The message turns red, with the reason

• Implemented

  It’s done. The message says so, and the community sees its ideas land

A lighter idea box

If you’d rather have a channel where members write freely, the Featured messages module adds the vote emojis to every new message in the channels you pick. The best-rated ideas get reposted in a dedicated channel. On the staff side, a suggestion can also go on a tracking list so it actually gets built

Keeping a suggestions channel alive

A suggestions channel dies when ideas go unanswered. A few habits keep it going

• Explain how to suggest right at the top of the channel, or post the form with /suggestion-config send-embed
• One idea per suggestion, otherwise the votes stop meaning anything
• Answer rejected ideas too: your reply shows under the suggestion, with the final score
• Unanswered suggestions show up in the tasks on the dashboard home, so staff don’t forget them