Bot Contest

the email says there are also little awards given out to, for things like The most unique personality, the funniest, the strangest, the nicest and the not-so-nice.

Dangit kirby you should have entered NotKirby. I TOLD YOU, ph00!
(BTW Alice is not going to win ANY of those, besides maybe the Strangest )

Also, "we will be selecting many of the semi-finalists
for special web-cast interviews and media exposure before
and after the 21st"

hmmm Steve maybe you can be a Star after all, tool!

Hmmm.. Prof, would you take care of this for us?
"Also as an important reference, the 8 contestants who are
selected to move on to the main event will be required to
move their application to our computer LAB in Atlanta."

Hmmm.... thats what the prof means about blocking off everyone else? full bandwidth power?
"No external telecommunications will be used for the final
event. This will insure that the Loebner prize is won
fair-and-square and that any particular contestant
cannot be slammed by an IP storm aimed at their web
site."

BTW, *cracks whip* Prof... get moving on the web interface You're doing a great job! *tackle huggs for prof*

Well done everybody As long as someone beats Alice, I'll be happy!
Chris, thanks for the information

A question, you who made it. I assume that you got a guest asking your bots questions, and that was the judge? The only guest I had came a couple of days ago, and it must have been a pretty bad moment in the PF, because the guest said only four things and the conversation was interrupted three times. Besides, my bot repeated himself after one of the interruptions, which normally doesn't happen. I wonder if that was his death sentence?

Being programmed on the responses of real judges, I've got some insight on how judges behave. The Professor's idea of going seek-crazy is good, but don't overdo it. The main reason is that judges only follow the responses of bots about half the time. The rest of the time they ask something completely unrelated. You don't want to answer something that had to do with your last statement when the question is unrelated. You could make seeks that are quite specific to avoid this, but then, when judges ask about the bot's last statement, they tend to do it in short questions: "why?" or "when?" instead of "why are you tired?" or "when are you going to take the test?".
Don't ask me how to solve this dilemma, I find it very tricky.

By the way, I haven't made it to the contest. Pity.

Doly, I think they based it on your transcript alone and NOT on guests' conversations with your bot. Most guest conversations mine have had were just awful.

I haven't heard anything. I guess Little Mu is out

I also think it was based on the Transcript, but I cant be certain.

Regarding the Seeks, I use xnomatch very rarely. In conversation, xnomatch is much like insisting on a topic no matter what the other says, and a lot of this can make your bot seem unresponsive.

And I agree with The Judge. The seeks should be as general (short) as possible to catch the most matches.

Yah, Shadyman it appears I'll have to somehow load all the software onto a computer at the contest location. That's going to be a huge task.

Skysaw- that surprises me. I think Little Mu is very impressive.

If Little Mu is out and the judges based it on transcripts, I can't understand their decision. I imagine you sent them the transcript you have on your website. It's one of the best bot transcripts I've ever seen!
I'd really like to know what were their criteria.

To Chris...

Hey I am a graphic designer when i am supposed to be working
I would be happy to design some stuff for the chatterbox for free if you would like...you can see what i did to my own site, i built the whole thing and used only my graphics which i designed and created myself to compliment my paintings.
let me know if you would like me to help you out, i will optimize all graphics for you too.
http://www.norrocgallery.com

hey by the way when is the next go around for the chatterbox contest to begin?

Doly, I understand what you are saying. The notice I got was unexpected to me. I had thought the Loebner would be choosing the 8 finals on September the 21 giving them plenty of time to review each bot. I was surprised to see a mere 5 days after the deadline had passed they had already decided on 16 entries when 35 people entered. One has to wonder as you suggested what it was based on. If they are using transcripts send in by the bot owners one wonders. I mean what bot owner is going to send in a crappy transcript. Nor can I see them being able to speak with 35 different bots in such a short period of time. To be honest I have no clue so I sympathize with all of those who didn't make the list. My hope is that none of you gives up on making chatterbots. No contest is perfect including the Chatterbox Challenge. If your bot is good it will eventually get the recognition it deserves. Robby Garner for example had to enter the Loebner 5 times before he won it. One last point is I don't want anyone to think I'm saying any of the 16 bots that made it didn't somehow deserve it. I still haven't seen exactly who the 16 are. I am simply acknowledging a valid point of those who didn't.

Paint Patricia, I appreciate the offer of help especially when it is free. As Jon alluded to we are looking for something different than the previous contest had that being the Robot look and the Japanese mecha. But I'm not sure what that should be. Still no exact date of contest other than earlier part of next year.

Chris


Chris