New 8pla.net forumbot
Being built on an all new, customized forum:

http://www.8pla.net

Off forum interface:

http://www.8pla.net/forumbotpage.php

Forum registration is temporarily closed
while the forumbot is being trained.

Read only test thread…

http://www.8pla.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1

No disrespect intended but has anyone ever found a good use for a forum bot ?

Roger,

Refactoring a legacy code base presents a challenge.

Thank you, so much for your precious support.

For forums based around a question/answer format, an expert system could be very useful. 8pla, how do your forum bots decide whether or not to respond to any given post?

Hmm, I am not convinced.  But if it’s a challenge to you; then I wish you joy

Actually, I take it back.  I was mulling it over for a while, thinking I probably upset 8PLA by my question.  I thought the least I could do is give it some more consideration.

I remembered that a long time back when I was first getting interested in forums that I thought it would be handy to have a bot that could be addressed in certain situations.  Say someone posted a question about some technical topic… rather than explaining it probably for the umpteenth time, I thought how about if I could just type :

‘MyNiceBot please define widgets’.

Then the forum bot would happily oblige with a definition.  I think that would be great, but I never got around to coding it, maybe I will at some point.  I guess that’s the kind of thing C.R.Hunt was talking about too.

But yeah, I do still have reservations about bots in forums.  When I go to a forum it’s because I mostly want to discuss things with other humans.  I’ve seen bots on forums that disrupt the conversation and ultimately only have curiosity value.  So that’s why I am cautious.

Always happy to be proved wrong though

On some forums I read, the regulars find themselves replying to FAQs with “this has been asked before, did you use the search function?” with varying degrees of rudeness.  A forum bot could be programmed to look for posts which haven’t been answered and, after a certain delay, jump in with a polite set of suggestions.  If the regulars know this is coming, they can ignore such posts, which is not helpful, but better than being rude.

I think it would be both interesting and useful, given the scenario that Oliver outlined, to have a “moderator bot” that could not only answer the constantly asked “noob posts” (usually providing links to the FAQ page, or to threads that dealt with the poster’s specific problem), but also to move those threads into a special place, where the poster can easily find it, and where it won’t “muddy up” the forums for the regular users. I know that the bot can be made to answer specific (or even general) questions in the manner I described, but to give the bot the ability to move posts, and then email the user with the new location; THAT might just be a bit of a challenge.

C R Hunt - May 22, 2011:

8pla, how do your forum bots decide whether or not to respond to any given post?

@C R:

I am attempting to mod the forum as little as possible.  So, I went with a simple “Call Forumbot” button. Members decide when the forumbot replys. When called, the forumbot will read all the new posts and respond in a single post to them all.  If there are no new posts, it will mention the forum is quiet, without posting a reply to the forum.

Do you think semi-automated is a good approach?

There are a variety of other ways to automate the forumbot. Running a cron job from the webhost works well. A built in forum cron function, when the users visit, works well, and there are other ways too.  Bots may struggle with appearing human in conversation, but they are really good at being automated. Today, I just taught the forumbot to do forum statistics. 

Take a look at Morti the chat-room chatbot able to talk to multiple users in real-time simultaneously, remembering all their names perfectly.  The other day, I saw Mitsuku on facebook, with the crowd there basically in love with her. According to source code comments, in the link I gave at the top of this thread, I think forumbots may have been around nearly a decade, since 2002.

Maybe it’s for the best that users have to call the forumbot. Knowing when/if to reply to a thread might be a highly contextual question and users probably know best when the bot would be useful and when it would get in the way.

8pla.net registration opens

Forumbots are rare.  Try and find one on the web and you’ll see.
( Please post links here of any forumbot websites you find. )

Curious to see how a real forumbot works?

Check it out at: http://www.8pla.net

Make some posts to the forum and

click the “Call Forumbot” button to call the forumbot to the forum.

Off forum interface:

http://www.8pla.net/forumbotpage.php

>> Hi.
<< Hello there.

>> Are you new
<< I am 1 years old.

>> You look new.
<< Thank you my friend you look very nice too.

>> The pleasure was all mine.
<< I like you because are so polite.

>> Hello, ALICE.
<< ” Hi there! “? it?