Revamp Slash Commands
I apologize if this has been covered before, but:
I want to propose a revamp for slash commands. They're a nice addition, they definitely make things a bit more standardized and has a graphical element to it. That's great and all, but it's really clunky to use, and doesn't really feel fluid whatsoever. Even I'm making a bot for my own personal server which uses standard prefixing rather than slash, because of how unorganized and horrible slash commands feel to actually complete. Here are all of my gripes with it:
1. The bot that I would like to use slash commands with is usually around 5 bots down the list when typing the slash command
2. Whether or not the slash command registers is inconsistent, I have to press tab or click the bot I want to use in order for it to actually register as a slash command, otherwise it just sends as a normal message regardless if I fulfill the argument requirements
3. I often can't use them in a way that I want to. For instance, pressing space after a slash command is recognized automatically puts even optional argument holders into the chat box for me to type in, rather than me being able to type freely such as the case with standard prefixing
4. Since the bot order in the list is inconsistent and unorganized, I sometimes type a bit too fast and end up using the wrong bot
With that out of the way, here are my suggestions for a revamp:
1. Make slash commands automatically be recognized upon entering "/command" at the beginning of a message. This makes performing a slash command a lot quicker to do and it would feel more similar to standard prefixing
2. Make argument fields an optional tab-completion rather than something you have to press space/enter for or have to click. This takes speed away from typing, especially when moderating a server during a raid or heavy spamming, creating angry people due to impatience. Many email clients have this feature, where they predict your next word or even phrase and allow you to tab complete it. This would be similar but less AI-oriented, but some simple auto-completion for often-used commands would be helpful
3. To combat people saying "oh but how do you know which bot the slash command is going to use?" in response to the 1st point: Make it to where you can prioritize a bot to use slash commands over any other. That way, any slash command that isn't a duplicate (i.e. used in another bot) would be automatically executed through the prioritized bot, removing the need to even pick it to begin with. If there is a duplicate, allow the user to choose between the bots that have duplicate commands AFTER the command is already typed and ready to be sent. More as like an "are you sure?" message before it's officially sent. That way, the command can be fully typed or even copied and pasted and it'll still work, and still be faster
Overall,
Slash commands are very clunky and slow to use, in my experience. They seem like a very lackluster approach to standardize command prefixes. They succeed, but they're not fluid or fun to use by any means. Not to mention, they're even harder to use on mobile devices. I would like to see this changed in the future.
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