@FortheRecordBot

Twitter's tiny stenographer, preserving your comments #ForTheRecord.

@FortheRecordBot is an open source Twitter bot created by Quinn Heraty.

Author notes:

When I hear “For the record” colloquially, I am hearing an individual say, “I have something to say, and you will take note of what I am saying.” Sometimes it’s jokey, sometimes it’s angry, sometimes it’s picayune, sometimes it’s interpersonal inventory-taking, but it always (to me) sounds like, “I want to be heard.”

With @FortheRecordBot, when someone’s tweet uses the phrase “For the record,” the @FortheRecordBot (aka FTRbot) retweets that tweet, and adds “It’s been noted #fortherecord.”

For example, I tweeted this at 1:34am on the day the bot was made:

for the record, we made the bot #ORDcamp –> @ForTheRecordBot

— quinn (@quinnheraty) January 24, 2016

Then, @FortheRecordBot picked it up and retweeted it:

It’s been noted #fortherecord https://t.co/idQhUgCdbR

— For The Record Bot (@ForTheRecordBot) January 24, 2016

As you can see, some people might change their mind about being “on the record”:

It’s been noted #fortherecord https://t.co/9Ufcvmkq1p

— For The Record Bot (@ForTheRecordBot) January 24, 2016

So this bot can not only act as an unofficial “record” but, unintentionally
on my part, is also a reminder that Twitter is public and a kind of
“record.”

People are sometimes delighted when the bot picks up their tweet: