http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=101425

Vote on this poll

Never wrote one
[bar] 233/48%
Wouldn't write one
[bar] 144/30%
Wrote one used it ++/--
[bar] 16/3%
Wrote one used it ++ only
[bar] 14/3%
Wrote one used it -- only
[bar] 4/1%
CowboyNeal
[bar] 75/15%
486 total votes
Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Votebots
by suaveant (Parson) on Aug 01, 2001 at 21:46 UTC
    Domo Arigato, Mr. Voteboto, Domo... Domo...
    Thank you very much Mr. Voteboto, ++... ++...
    For placing those votes so I get the XP...

    Ok, this is just getting silly... can I have another poll answer, 'Spoofed a song about a votebot?' :)

                    - Ant

Re: Votebots
by agent00013 (Pilgrim) on Aug 01, 2001 at 21:36 UTC
    Personally, I think it's kinda unethical to use any votebot. If you don't care enough to look at the post and vote ++ with the click of a mouse, you're either lazy or... well, I suppose you might write it if you had a lot of free time =) Still though, how is it useful?
      You could always create a vote script if you have a tendancy to vote too often.

      For example, I don't have many votes now :-( What if I see 7 things that I want to vote ++ and one --, then I have to do it over a couple of days. On the other hand, I could write a script for which I could enqueue the sites and my votes. As time passed this script would automatically vote as I told it. (Thus I could work far ahead of the number of votes I actually have and it would catch up while I was on vacation or something).

      Matt
Re: Votebots
by Anonymous Monk on Aug 02, 2001 at 10:21 UTC
    Odd, it seems worse to make a Votebot that would only -- rather than --++. When in reality, I think either would be just as bad. You're not reading the nodes...? They're being randomly picked. That actually gives a certain measure of error to XP. There's no point or feedback with them. Course, someone could create a votebot that would actually leave a comment.. that may help. ;)
      There is a realy danger to having a votebot that leaves comments. Presumably the point of a votebot is to garner XP for its owner; however, if the votebot creates comments, these comments could be --ed. Thus a vote bot that comments must either be smart enough to say something worthwhile (which I imagine is somewhat difficult) or the owner of said bot would probably lose more XP then she gained.

      On the other hand if she were smart enough to write a votebot that leaves comments that get ++ed, she could probably write a bot that would pass the Turing Test, and a node about something that passes the Turing Test would be an XP goldmine...

      Matt
        ... or even a node that attests to the goldmineness of such a hypothetical Turing node automagically writting itself by the (obviously recursive) code which can satisfy said Test =)

        -PipTigger
        p.s. Initiate Nail Removal Immediately!
        Speaking of Turing Tests, i once ran into a FAQ-bot that had me going for at least a few minutes on some IRC. I really couldn't tell if it was a terse, holyier than thou Admin type or a Bot. Anybody have the source code for one of those? I had it once but that computer died and took it's data with it. Thadius Dan, the dataDrone.
Re: Votebots
by mr_mischief (Monsignor) on Aug 02, 2001 at 03:41 UTC
    I've written a votebot or two, but never one for slashdot or PerlMonks. In the world of text-only dial-up or telnet BBSes, I've used bots to downvote users automatically for 133t5p33k and for double posting. I think those are reasonable enough criteria for a downvote, and they aren't difficult to detect.

    Of course, when you're an admin with unlimited votes, it's easy to get carried away with that. I used to have so much fun sometimes upvoting a person one day only to downvote them the next. Ah... the good old days.

    Chris
Re: Votebots
by beretboy (Chaplain) on Aug 03, 2001 at 04:48 UTC
    I forsee bots that use other replies as input to a markov chain algorithm to create a new reply with every vote.

    "Sanity is the playground of the unimaginative" -Unknown
Re: Votebots
by Beatnik (Parson) on Aug 05, 2001 at 03:22 UTC
    I'm sure all regulars remember my vote bot episode, if you don't... don't bother asking for the code coz I wont give it to ya

    Greetz
    Beatnik
    ... Quidquid perl dictum sit, altum viditur.
      oh can you please give me the code? sometimes i'm surfing, and reading, and the time passes, and i get the new votes without spending my old ones. i would give money for a quick botebot, that i can fire up in the last few minutes before the votes change, and if i've spent them all by then, then it wont do anything (even if i only have two so far)
(jeffa) Re: Votebots
by jeffa (Bishop) on Aug 05, 2001 at 21:48 UTC
    My sister made me write a votebot once . . . .

    once

    i did think about it when i first started perusing the monastery - but what do i need a votebot for? i _AM_ a votebot! ;)

    jeffa

Re: Votebots
by jlk (Hermit) on Aug 09, 2001 at 21:11 UTC

    I believe that if you are going to be a part of something like PerlMonks, and you are going to vote, you should read what you are voting on.

    You will learn more about what is going on if you read about eveything you vote on, before clicking ++ or --.



    #jlk

    "Learning Unix sometimes involves Pain, PaIn, PAIN!!"
Re: Votebots
by Starky (Chaplain) on Aug 08, 2001 at 23:07 UTC
    This topic is just asking for trouble ;-)

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