Automated agents?

I have been thinking about this for a few days, discussing it with a few members of the community, and have decided to place it's fate in the hands of the the entire community.

Once upon a time it occurred to me that it might be neat to have an informational 'bot' in the chatterbox. Something that would provide general information such as:

Current time
last time a particuar user was seen on the site
general site statistics
brief help with the various topics relating to the use of the site and more
and whever else that could be though up and be usefull

I don't imagine that it should post to the chatterbox, but rather respond directly back to a user's /msg to it via another /msg.

Unfortunately I can also see potential for abuse of such a thing, and am hesitant to "open pandora's box" so to speak. I won't go into alot of detail here, but if it were to run at the mouth, it could be annoying to say the least. (this is definitely not my intent tho)

So what I am asking here is, do you think this is a bad/good idea, what would/might make it a good idea, where should it's limits begin/end, and what sorts of things would you like to see something of this nature do if it were allowed/wanted?

Thanks ahead for the input.

BTW, the following linked discussion is slightly related.
A Chatterbox Archive

Comment on Automated agents?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: Automated agents? by Corion (Patriarch) on Aug 25, 2000 at 11:58 UTC
I have also wanted some improvements to the chatterbox at some time or the other. But we should not make the chatterbox into something it cannot be. The chatterbox can never be a full replacement for `irc`, neither is it intended to be. The information you seek is either available on your desktop (current time), on the specific user node (last time a user was seen), on specific pages (Perl monks statistics) or already in other nodelets (brief help). I don't think we should put more burden on the chatterbox than there already is, and remember, there are even people who have their chatterbox turned off !	[reply]
RE: Automated agents? by Adam (Vicar) on Aug 25, 2000 at 21:30 UTC
I'm not sure I see the need for this. Current time Um... whose? Your's? Doesn't your computer know it? last time a particuar user was seen on the site this is shown on the user's home node. general site statistics This would be nice as a page... much too much for a chatterbox /msg. Check out jcwren's work in this department. brief help with the various topics relating to the use of the site and more There are lots of pages with this information. Check out the 'information' nodelet for a good starting place. (also, too much data for a chatterbox /msg) and whever else that could be though up and be usefull nothing comes to mind. Sorry, I don't mean to trash your idea, but I don't see a need for a data bot in the chatterbox. Update: Check out Perl Monks FAQ. (negative votes are welcome with out explanation)	[reply]
RE: Final Decision? no-go by bastard (Hermit) on Aug 29, 2000 at 01:38 UTC
I would like to thank the two people who took the time to post replys. In light of the good points brought up by these two people I have decided that I will stop development. It started mostly as a "can it be done" type of thing I think. (And I did manage complete the first two items on the list.) But as they have mentioned, all the funcitonality is already on the site currently. Perhaps a better place for some of this the functionality would be in a client instead of an bot (for circumstances where a browser may not necessarily be available or running). Maybe i'll look into building an enhanced client sometime. BTW- I was looking for comments not ++ or -- on the original question.	[reply]