|
|
BotSpot® Bi-Weekly Newsletter December 4, 2000 Holiday Housekeeping at BotSpot By Brian
Proffitt There is nothing in the rule books that says that all major cleaning must be done in the Spring. Though I certainly wish there were. If that were the case, I could put off getting the BotSpot site in shape for another three months or so. Still, in my hemisphere, Fall is winding to a chilly close, which means that south of the Equator, it's Spring, so any way I try to rationalize this, I'm stuck with the cleaning job. If you are not familiar with running a Web site, let me assure you that despite the electronic format, a certain amount of clutter builds up over time. Files linked to nothing, extra images lying about in directories, bad links, that sort of thing. No one has yet to build a totally clean Web site yet, because the clutter reflects the nature of the human brains that created them. That, I think, you be a good candidate for the Turing Test: a chat bot that suffered from the all-too-human brain fade every once in a while. So, I am in the electronic equivalent of my apron and dust mop, sweeping the nooks and crannies of the BotSpot Web site for things that are out of place. I should mention at this point that several of you have pointed out errors that I missed or had not come to yet, and for that I am grateful. Errors on the site were not the only topic of discussion mentioned in the correspondence to me. A good number of you took my entreaty for feedback at my word and sent in a number of suggestions. I won't bore you with all the gorey details ("NudeBot" comes to mind), but I will relate a prevalent theme that came up. Many of the notes expressed a concern with the sheer number of shopping bots discussed on the site,and why weren't other categories represented as well? A few suggested the shopping bots paid some kind of fee to make it on BotSpot. Trust me, nothing could be further from the truth. No kickbacks or special advertising rate is part of any listing of any bot. No free software, either. No, what has gotten shopping bots on the site in so many numbers is the fact that shopping bot sites have something many other bot projects do not: a marketing staff. Love 'em or hate 'em, they get the word out on the street and will hammer you until you cough up a blurb or something. Journalists like myself often develop a reflex story-writing mode just to keep PR folks at bay. The solution to this problem is two-fold. As time goes on, I hope to become more immersed in the Bot community and learn what's going on where. In the meantime, there is the second solution: using the eyes and ears of you the reader to get me the word about a new bot you've seen. So far, it seems to be working, as a number of non-shopping bots made the site this past week. With your help, BotSpot will easily become the definitive Bot site on the Web once more. BOT2001 Coming Soon! Are you going to be in the Bay Area in late January? If so, come on over to the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco on January 25, 2001 for BOT2001. BotSpot, along with BotTechnology.com, is pleased to be hosting BOT2001, a one-day seminar crammed with information on bots. Presented by BotSpot Creator and Founder Marcus P. Zillman, BOT2001 will be the event of the year for bot developers and implementors, new or experienced. At BOT2001, SearchBots, ChatterBots and KnowledgeBots will be discussed in specific defined presentations from the leaders in the field. Case studies and implementation strategies will take you deeply into the bot arena to take back specific recommendations for both marketing and research. Conference proceedings will cover all aspects of bots and intelligent agents allowing the most inexperienced observer to the seasoned professional to have a better understanding of this field. Experts will diffuse the latest hype and give you specific information on how to implement bots and intelligent agents into your marketing or research plans. For more information, visit the conference site, where you'll find a full agenda, travel and lodging information, and a list of conference participants. We look forward to seeing you there! If anything, you can watch this Midwestern boy struggle to deal with all those hills in the city! News Highlights New AI Chat bot
Contest Announced Do
Be a DoBot Talking
with Billy and Daisy PriceGrabber.com Rbots GoTo
Shopping |
