Things We Saw Today: Some Deeply Unhappy Person Created a Bot To Ruin Wordle

If you spend any time at all online, you’re likely seeing a lot of Wordle, the daily word game that challenges players to guess a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses. The game prompts you with an option to share your results after you finish, which many people then do, and for those not interested in the game, I get why it would be slightly annoying to see it take over your social media feeds.

However, while most detractors would simply mute “Wordle” and move on, one presumably miserable person decided to create a bot that responds to tweets of Wordle results, spoiling the following day’s word.

“Guess what. People don’t care about your mediocre linguistic escapades,” reads one response from the “Wordlinator” bot before spoiling tomorrow’s word in order to “teach you a lesson.” Another response reported by Kotaku’s John Walker says it wants to “terminate Wordle bragging.”

It turns out that the game’s code includes its word list so anyone who really wants to could cheat pretty easily, although cheating at Wordle seems like a perplexing use of one’s time. There’s little to gain beyond a few seconds of bragging rights over a simple word game. Still, cheating makes more sense than what this person has chosen to do with the code, with their attempt to ruin everyone’s fun.

Again, yes, I understand that Wordle can be a little annoying for those who aren’t interested. But the trend popped up suddenly (as internet trends will do) less than three weeks ago and it will surely pass soon. Just mute the word and move on. This bot is peak “let people enjoy things.”

Also, Wordlinator’s claim that it’s targeting “bragging” seems misguided. Personally, my timeline is full of all sorts of scores, not just the impressive ones. It seems less about bragging than about enjoying a communal activity, since a key part of the game is the fact that everyone gets the same word.

Fortunately, this killjoy didn’t last long.

Here are some other things that we saw today:

• Netflix is getting into the long-form improv game with Murderville. (via AV Club)
• Watch Jennifer Coolidge react to celebrities doing impressions of her. (via Pajiba)
• The trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is here. (via Polygon)
  See more

  Happy birthday to Inkpot Award winner, Will Eisner and Joe Sinnott Hall Of Famer, former Marvel Comics art director “Amazing Spider-Man,” “Captain America” and “Daredevil,” penciller, a true giant of the industry, John Romita Sr. pic.twitter.com/0FnPlXFwbz

  — I Have A Nerdy Mind #Blacklivesmatter (@blaksheepno1) January 24, 2022

• James Gunn reveals Hasbro is the reason why he couldn’t use Bug in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. (via WGTC)
• Peloton would really like fictional characters to stop having heart attacks on their bikes please. (via THR)
• Sarah Palin is being allowed to move forward with a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, but her suit is being delayed because after saying last year that she would only get vaccinated “over [her] dead body,” she’s tested positive for COVID-19. (via NPR)

What did you all see out there today?

(image: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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