Sorry about the confrontational subject heading. I read many topics here about how “my bot will do this”, “my bot will do that” and “I am writing an algorithm to…..”

So far all I see is theory and discussion. I challenge all people here who maintain a chatbot to enter this year’s Chatterbox Challenge at: http://www.chatterboxchallenge.com/

Time to see what you have. Enough of the talk, let’s see the proof! Anyone can write a topic about how my bot will “understand natural language” or “process verb/noun construct”. I could write a topic claiming my bot can land on Mars, time to cut the chat, let’s see the proof!

hahaha. Actually the proof is the pudding.

We have a directory to list all live chatbots, so we can try ourselves.

Competition is always good. We do stimulate new chatbot competition and we might even organize one ourselves.

Sorry, Steve. The Loebner prize acted as an impetus to get me involved in writing my own bot, but since then, my focus has shifted some. (Though I think the Chatterbox Challenge and the Loebner competition are excellent. I’d love to contribute someday.) I don’t expect to have an interactive bot in the next year. Unless you’re a verbose user and enjoy being summed up…?

Well, I’ve already “put up”, as it were, and entered Morti. I’m not certain how Morti will do against the stiff competition that’s already entered, but we’re both gonna give it our best shot! And Steve, thanks very much for Mitsuku’s promotion of Morti. As near as I can tell, I’ve already received a couple dozen visitors that said she sent them over. My chat log overflow~eth! :D

I’m all in.

Me too (or is it to ) Unfortunately, the CBC site seems down for the moment.

Dave Morton - Feb 17, 2011:

And Steve, thanks very much for Mitsuku’s promotion of Morti. As near as I can tell, I’ve already received a couple dozen visitors that said she sent them over. My chat log overflow~eth! :D

My pleasure. Hope they were of some use and not just, “Are you gay?” type chatlogs. You realise that if you win the $1,000, I will require 10% as a ermm.. chatlog generator fee!

I really enjoy the CBC. I get some great conversations and learn a lot each year. I would recomend that every one enter. There is nothing to lose, it’s no work, and lots of fun.

Steve Worswick - Feb 17, 2011:

My pleasure. Hope they were of some use and not just, “Are you gay?” type chatlogs. You realise that if you win the $1,000, I will require 10% as a ermm.. chatlog generator fee!

Actually, those proved useful, too, as it’s added to my spellcheck list, too. I find it funny just how many ways a person can misspell a three letter (supposedly) word! (gggay?!?! gae??? {sigh!} Children!) As to the “chatlog generator fee”, I’m thinking more like 5%, thanks.

Patti, I’m really excited (and more than a little nervous, too) to be matching Morti’s wits (and my botmaster skills) against Bildgesmythe (and you). Even before the contest has begun, I’m having more fun than I had ever thought possible. :D

By the way, folks, since I’ve been improving and streamlining Morti’s code, I’ve also moved him to a new home. He’s now at http://www.geekcavecreations.com/Morti/. Separating Morti’s code from my pChat chatroom script has improved his response times by over 60%!

Steve I agree 100%. Peter Cole (sponsor) and myself (founder) can’t enter but we sure wish we could. Having my bot perform badly last year only makes me want to work harder on it. The Loebner contest only has a handful of bots entering, the CBC is where the competition is at. We can’t offer the nice cash reward like them but the winner has the satisfaction of knowing it won in a contest where the best bots are participating.

@Wendell:

I’d like to help: we can do a lot of publicity for the winner announcement by using our SEO network. This implies we (you and our team) would write an article with the highlights from the CBC 2011 which would then be spread it over many websites and even end up on national news. It’s something we have to pay for as well and we’ll use this mechanism for other articles as well in the coming months. Costs are usally about 350 euro. I’ll offer this for free, if Chatbots.org could have the premier of the news (you can always publish the results on your own site obviously). The advantage for both you and me would be publicity. That would be a win-win wouldn’t it?

What do you think?

Wendell Cowart - Feb 18, 2011:

Peter Cole (sponsor) and myself (founder) can’t enter but we sure wish we could.

Fear not Wendell. I am thinking of creating a chatbot contest of my own (with a twist) possibly for the Summer. You (and indeed everyone else) will be more than welcome to enter.

cool. What’s the twist, or is that still a secret?

I’ll keep it a secret for now Jan. I thought with the CBC in March/April and the Loebner contest towards the end of the year, having a Summer competiton may break the year up nicely.

I’m all for it, Steve! If there’s anything I can do to help out, just let me know!

Steve Worswick - Feb 18, 2011:

Summer competiton may break the year up nicely.

It’s summer now in Sydney