Alright, you asked for the details, here they are. First, here is my tentative plan for the transition to the new paradigm as well as how the bot would function:

1. 1-2 weeks prior to the new season starting, create a thread in which people can request which shows they want to turn on discussion threads for.
2. I will manually enable these shows with the bot, causing a discussion thread for Episode 1 to be created once the episode airs.
3. In the following weeks, before creating a post for a new episode of a show, the bot will check the previous episode’s thread to see if people are still engaging with it (upvotes/comments). If the previous week’s thread doesn’t meet the thresholds I set (it’s a secret), then no new post will be made and the show will be disabled for future weeks.
4. If there is a show/episode that did not have a thread created, a user can request that one be made by pm’ing the bot. This will create a thread for that specific show and episode as well as enable that show for future episode posts (also subject to engagement thresholds). The exact formatting that pm’s will need to follow will be documented later.
5. (Not yet implemented) A stickied thread will be maintained by the bot that provides links to all the most recent discussion posts it created. Something similar to the stickied thread now, but without linking all the history of all the shows, making it easier to maintain in an ongoing manner.

Some limitations about thread requesting via pm are that if a more recent episode discussion thread already exists, then the bot won’t create older episode posts (e.g. can’t request an episode 2 thread if an episode 4 thread already exists). Another limitation is that posts aren’t going to be made for episodes that aired too long ago (exact timeframe tbd).

Some other information is that shows that are marked NSFW by AniList are not going to be added to the bot’s database, so threads will not be able to be made for them. I have tried to come up with lots of ways to abuse the bot and tried to put in safeguards, but if I see anybody abusing it, I will probably just have to intervene manually with a block/ban as appropriate.

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There is one show that I will be handling a bit differently next season, Dungeon Meshi, as it is continuing from this season. The threads being made in the !dungeonmeshi@ani.social community have been quite active, and I don’t want to stifle a burgeoning, active community on the fediverse. So, I will be manually adding the Dungeon Meshi threads to the bot’s database as they are made/stickied to the dungeonmeshi community. This will cause them to be listed in the stickied thread on /c/anime. Additionally, I will try to manually make a post to /c/anime linking to the episode’s thread in the other community from the bot account.

The other show continuing from this season is Tsukimichi Season 2. I am going to transition to the bot making posts once the new season starts. I am also going to manually add the post history I made to the bot’s database so that they show up in the other episodes link table.

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One thing I am going to miss from the current, user-made discussion post model, is the screenshots that people have selected to represent the episode. I know I have had fun picking out silly or funny screenshots. Unfortunately, switching to bot-made posts is going to remove this. I thought about ways to enable this in an automated way where people replied to the post with images and then the bot replaced the post image with those. However, I felt it was too ripe for abuse and decided against it.

So, in place of this, I am going to offer a compromise. In the discussion posts, if you want me to consider a screenshot for the lead image of a discussion post, then @mention the bot in your comment with the screenshot. The lemmy web ui nicely separates @mentions in its own tab, so it will be easier for me to manually keep up with those comments that have candidate screenshots. If I am available and able to, I will try to add screenshots to discussion threads. If I find a user is abusing this system by providing irrelevant or spoilery screenshots, justice will be swift. Please use the report function in lemmy if needed.

This is by no means a promise that I will always be able to do this. By default, the bot will create posts without artwork as the post url. I am still deciding whether to include an embedded image in the post body (it would be either the AniList banner or cover image for the show).

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I am planning on writing more complete documentation of the bot and rules surrounding it before the season starts. It will likely live in the newly-created wiki for the community (it is currently just a placeholder page). The wiki represents another set of projects for my future self. I think I am secretly just trying to work myself hard enough that I die and get isekai’ed.

If you have read this far and want even more details, then I will point you to the github page for the bot. Following the tradition established by holo and then shinobu, I have chosen an appropriate anime waifu as the namesake for the new bot. The user profile has already been made as well.