Oh Bot

If you had been using Y! Messenger for a very long time, you would have come across several bots. Some of them are simple bots asking you to visit a site. Some are advanced bots that makes you wonder whether it is a human. I came across such bots several times One of those bots were so cleverly created that it took me a while to actually find out that it is a bot. I vaguely remember a conversation between the bot and myself. I knew it was a bot right from the time it greeted me. It was cleverly created but not clever enough to expect unanticipated replies. Lol.

Once upon a time, a convo between the bot and myself went something like this.

/* indicates comments (like C 😉 )

Bot (It had some name): Hi sweety J. There?

Myself: Hi. (/* The bot doesn’t care whatever you type. It just waits for your reply.

Bot: asl?

Myself: 167/m/Mars (/*Again it doesn’t care whatever is the reply. It would just assume that you typed the reply and also asked back the same question)

Bot: Me 18/f/nyc. Ok Alright. I am really bored. Wanna do something exciting?

(.* Even if you didn’t reply, it may send a link asking you to visit)

Bot: Ok. View my profile at link. See you there.

These bots are dumb as you may think but some bots were even programmed to recognize the word ‘bot’ and reply accordingly. Once I asked a bot:

Bot: Hi J

Myself: Hi Bot! How are you?

Bot: Bot? Those automated programs that chat with you, right? Ha Ha J. Do I look like one? J

Programming enthusiasts experiment with these kinds of works. Though not cleverly done, it executes perfectly.

Bots doesn’t end there. Many companies have bots that send automated mails or replies to customers. Bots are often used in Data mining. For example, bot may send a mail to people who don’t visit their site regularly.

Long back, there was this Gaming website called Gamespot that I had subscribed to. I was receiving mails from the site. I never bothered to visit it or click on any links. But one such day, I received a mail that was really nice. It was like this.

“Newsletter Renewal Notice

Dear GameSpot newsletter subscriber,

We have noticed that it’s been a while since you last clicked within a GameSpot newsletter, and we want to make sure you’d like to continue receiving your subscription. We know that unwanted e-mail can be a real headache, so if you want to continue to receive your GameSpot newsletters, please click the link below. No other action or forms are necessary: simply by clicking, you will let us know that you would like to remain a subscriber. Otherwise, we’ll unsubscribe you and help keep the clutter out of your in-box. You will always be able to resubscribe by visiting us again.

Click here to continue your newsletter subscription.
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Thank you,
Gamespot.