EliBot.gg: What Happened?
About four to five years ago, I was part of the team behind EliBot.gg, or just "Eli." This Discord bot was a huge deal back then, reaching somewhere between 250,000 to 400,000 Discord servers! It had tons of awesome features and commands, and they were all free. People even called it the "most used" bot on discord, competing with MEE6 and Carl-bot.
Screenshot from Eli's old website found on Russian Archive
So, Why Did It Go Downhill?
Even though Eli was super popular, a lot of problems popped up that eventually led to it shutting down. It was a tough situation, especially because of how things went with the other devs involved.
- The Owner Situation: The biggest issue was when Eli's main owner got banned from Discord for messaging minors. This meant we, the development and support team, sadly couldn't get into Eli's hosting or the Discord developer page. We were unable to fix anything or keep the bot running. After a few months of the owner still paying for hosting (even though they were banned), they just stopped, and Eli became totally unusable.
- Team Troubles: When all this went down, our development team kind of split up. Me and some others decided to leave because we didn't like how things were being handled, especially with staff and other developers trying to hide what the owner did, saying it was for "unknown reasons." The rest of the team who stayed, partnered with Eli's original owner and their girlfriend to make an offbrand bot, "Mio" that never took off and eventually died out.
- Tough Competition: On top of everything else, the Discord bot world was getting really competitive. Bots like Mee6 and Carl-bot started charging for their best features, and we were stuck trying to keep everything free with Eli. We hit a wall because keeping it free meant we couldn't really grow or make enough money to cover the costs. We eventually made some commands premium, but it wasn't enough, and the owners had to pay out of their own pockets.
My Takeaway:
EliBot.gg had a huge impact on the Discord community, and so many servers relied on it. It was sad to see it shut down after all the work we poured into it. It was a great learning experience and where I first learned Node.Js and discord.js and as sad as it was, Im more happy the owner got banned and that those who stayed by their side never got another project off the ground especially after whatt happened. Dont talk to minors guys!
Want to Know More? Check These Out:
If you're curious about EliBot.gg's history, here are some links to what people were saying back then:
Archived Eli Information/Showcase (Russian) |
WayBack Machine Snapshot of Elibot.gg |
Koncord Fandom Wiki: The Death of Eli |
Reddit Post: Replacement for Eli Bot |
Reddit Post: How is EliBot still around? |
Reddit Post: Eli Bot
You can also find some old info about Eli's hosting and stats here:
Site Indices on EliBot.gg