Best MonkBot

What is the contest?
Each entry will run a bot in the Perlmonks Chatterbox. The goal is to provide the best bot at the following services:

Provide Wall-ism on demand.
Provide Haiku on demand
Answer any Perl FAQ, PerlMonks FAQ, or near-FAQ with a reference
Not speak up if there is nothing useful to say (random haiku or sayings every now and then when quiet is fine).
As a fun option, it can perhaps be told to "chatter" or "converse" and it can enter Eliza-like (or whatever), and will cease when told to "Shut-Up", "Be Quiet" or "Be Silent"

Special Note: To prevent horrible crimes, all MonkBots should follow these rules:

They should use the XML interface vroom supplied at
- http://perlmonks.org/index.pl?node=chatterbox+xml+ticker displays all current public messages
- http://perlmonks.org/index.pl?node=private+messages+xml+ticker
- http://perlmonks.org/index.pl?node=other+users+xml+ticker
They should not be in the chatterbox for most testing (they can get info from the above slots, and "speak" to STDOUT for most testing.
If and when "real" testing is necessary, the bots should either be usernames with "bot" at end, or speak "(bot)" in each post.

Judges will be fully justified to penalize you when scoring comes if you practiced bad manners during testing. Entries may make use of any modules, but note that tempermental, complex, or platform specific modules may hurt you when it comes to judging your code

How will entries be submitted?
On a specified date, all Monkbots will be run for a 24 hour period. THe next day the bots code can be posted, and judged over the next 24 hours.

How will the entries be scored?
Judging should be based on achievement of listed goals, how pleasant the bot is to be around (everyone hates a loudmouth or inaccurate bot), and the elegance of the code. (and of course, adherance to good manners during testing)

Who will score the entries?
Judging will be done by any and all Perlmonks who wish to vote.

When/will submissions be viewable by everyone?
Following the Demonstration date.

Comment on Best MonkBot

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: Best MonkBot by nuance (Hermit) on Jun 06, 2000 at 23:04 UTC
I like this idea a lot, I have one small criticism. Not all monks have access to a machine connected 24/7 to the internet, of those that do, how many are allowed to run background processes for 24 hours straight. Alright I admit it, this is a post about me, I don't have access to these. :-( *Nuance*	[reply]
RE: RE: Best MonkBot by PipTigger (Hermit) on Jun 08, 2000 at 03:39 UTC
I think helpful fellow monks with constant connections might be glad to host another's bot. In particular, if you were to write a bot, Nuance, I'd be glad to leave it running for you on either of my machines for the duration of the contest. I don't know how many monks I could do this for but probably lots of help could be enlisted if there was need. My concern for the contest is the number of submissions. Maybe an addendum (sp?) could be made to only accept 16 (or some reasonable 2^n \|\| 2^n-1 threshold) entries so that the chatterbox isn't oversaturated and worthlessly cluttered/unusable for the duration of the contest. If somebody asks some FAQ question which clearly is the point of the contest, all the bots are gonna respond and that can be a lot if lots of bots are spouting. Sounds like fun though. TTFN & Shalom. -PipTigger	[reply]
RE:(2) Best MonkBot by swiftone (Curate) on Jun 07, 2000 at 00:22 UTC
A very good point, but one to which I have no good answer. Selecting any period of time hurts people on some section of the globe. Certainly running for all 24 hours wouldn't be REQUIRED, but it'd hurt your chances not to be seen by everyone. Anyone want to donate a server connection?	[reply]
RE: RE:(2) Best MonkBot by Ozymandias (Hermit) on Jun 07, 2000 at 02:28 UTC
I think we could find a way, although those donating server time probably shouldn't be participants. If I weren't going to participate (and that would depend on too many factors to list) I'd probably be able to donate a small server for a few days. Enough for, say, 5 to 10 bots - if they were relatively low traffic. The main problem is that you'd need people with the time and resources to donate, AND who weren't planning to participate. Not only that, but those people would have to know they weren't going to participate far enough in advance to be able to organize the event. Perhaps they should be rewarded with small amounts of XP (less than any of the prizes) or those really cool Perl Monks tshirts/hooded sweatshirts/cowls we've been yammering about. <G> - Ozymandias	[reply]