Carl B - Jun 19, 2013:

Peter Wolff - Jun 19, 2013:

In spite of all that (near-) flaming, I don’t give up hope that - with a bit of indulgence, forgiveness, and common sense, and maybe a bit more - a good relationship between Wendell and Steve can be restored.

Whatever it is, there is no doubt that Mitsuku is one of the best chatbots on the Internet, and that Wendell is doing a really, really great job with the CBC.

Wise and thoughtful words indeed.

I couldn’t agree more.

I don’t think we’ll all be sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya anytime soon.  Although I don’t have a dog in this fight, I do have some knowledge and experience with the contest and the people already mentioned in this thread.  If anything I’m about to say is in error, or if my recollection of history is off, please correct me.

First, I thought the CBC was done and closed.  That’s why both Dave and Steve began talking of starting a contest that would take it’s place.  Steve put one out there and Dave, who is busier than anyone I know, graciously backed away citing that there just weren’t enough hours in the day.  Steve didn’t enter his own contest, Wendell did, and always has.

Secondly, I’m under the impression that, with the exception in 2010 when I and some others here became involved after the “Ehab fiasco” (I still have all of the emails) that created a second round, the CBC has been a one person operation, where the same person made up the questions, judged the contest, as well as entered his own bot… which, by the way, won in 2001, 2002, and 2006.

Lastly, while I haven’t paid much attention to the CBC other than in 2010, I do recall that one botmaster was displeased with the scoring of one of the questions.

“Name something you would find on a beach?”
Bildgesmythe: Fun in the sun on the sand, and frolic in the surf. LOOK OUT beach here I come!

The botmaster thought the bot deserved a higher score because you’d find fun, sun, sand, and surf on a beach.  By the way, Bildgesmythe will respond with the same answer if you ask questions such as, “Which way to the beach?” or “Can you go to the beach?”

That’s why I was surprised to see that one of the questions in the wildcard round this year was:

“do you prefer the beach or the mountains?”

Bildgesmythe: Nothing is better than to kick back on a sandy beach with palm trees…and a fancy drink in your hand.

Bildgesmythe will respond with the same answer if you ask questions such as, “When do you go to the beach?” or “Is there a beach nearby?” or “Have you heard of the Beach Boys?”

Peter - I wouldn’t worry about making an account at the forum. WC has already made a couple of false accounts in the last couple of days to posted his venom, no botmaster is called Sarah or Ray Bennett. I tried to make an account there to see if I could have the right to reply but have so far been denied access.

The money part was a serious question and wasn’t meant to be sarcastic or insulting. From what I remember, he was going to charge entrants $50 of which $30 went into a prize pot and $20 went to expenses. I was genuinely interested in what these expenses were, as I couldn’t see why he need so much money to run a contest. I ran Chatbot Battles last year and it cost me $10 to register the domain name and $20-$25 to get some webspace. That year he had 43 bots which would have made him a cool $860. If he had been honest and said he had wanted to make some money from the contest, I would have had no problem with that.

I have been using Flash for around 10-12 years and believe me, no template would create the 2 or 3 different style of videos he has made. The fact that it now says the video template came from Kevin Giordano also makes me wonder about the relationship between the two of them.

My issues with the ICC were more than just that and you can read it for yourself on the locked thread should you so wish.

Thunder - If you remember as well, one of the questions in the previous contests was “I like ice cream” said 3 times to detect repetition. This was quite lucky really, as PF bots don’t detect repetition UNLESS the statement starts with “I”. Try it yourself on Bildgesmythe.

If Patti is reading, I don’t believe you are any part of this apparent conspiracy but are merely an innocent pawn in a larger game. I am sure you will win this contest but again for reasons I am not willing to discuss here.

I have nothing personal against WC and will gladly give him a virtual handshake but have no intention of entering any contest which is not fair, honest and transparent and so the CBC banning is moot.

Thunder Walk - Jun 18, 2013:

And, that’s why I’ve stayed with Pandorabots, and why I’ve made the AI Nexus Forum my home. 

By the way, Knyte Trypper was once banned from the RAB forum and wore it as a badge of honor.  I wonder how they’re doing these days?

Thanks for sharing Thunder!  Said in a polite and respectful manner that shows regard for Knyte Trypper, may he rest in peace: It was fun to just learn that 8pla.net and Knyte Trypper share something in common… Both banned from a forum.

8pla.net is still banned from the AI Nexus Forum for posting a video of a 3D chatbot wearing a T-Shirt, which took a few hours to render by computer.  And more recently, sadly after five years on the Robitron list, 8pla.net has now been placed on the moderator’s queue after three members secretly complained about posting too frequently.

After things cool down, perhaps fellow contestants may request Mitsuku be unbanned from the CBC.  Mitsuku is one of the best chatbots around to compete against, and the CBC is one of the best chatbot contests around to compete in.  Otherwise, fellow contestants may take a vote to have Mitsuku compete in the Chatbot Battles contest.  Just a few ideas.

All very exciting. I vote with my feet. I won’t enter a contest which would ban Steve.

Thunder Walk - Jun 19, 2013:

Secondly, I’m under the impression that, with the exception in 2010 when I and some others here became involved after the “Ehab fiasco” (I still have all of the emails) that created a second round, the CBC has been a one person operation, where the same person made up the questions, judged the contest, as well as entered his own bot… which, by the way, won in 2001, 2002, and 2006.

Yes, this was what I was referring to in my post above (although straight after I posted another interesting post appeared which may have sent mine unintentionally to forum landfill   )

But was it 2010? I thought it was earlier than that. Or have you helped save the CBC twice?

I am thinking of the time when, after a CBC forum meltdown that was not helped by WC, he requested the help of me, you and Steve, and we obliged (only to be sent rude emails at the end - a copy of which I also have and does not paint WC in a good light at all).

Oh, and it’s me, by the way. No idea what forum name I was using then.

It was definitely 2010. It was when there nearly wasn’t a second round and I too kept the rantings of WC from that year. I remember because it was the same year he disqualified me and then asked me to help him set up a new site for the contest!

I know what you mean, Mike.  I thought it was farther back than 2010, I had to research it.  I don’t know that I helped the CBC, but I learned quite a bit.  Wendell was everything I’d always heard he would be.

In spite of the fact that Wendell opened a private forum for us to discuss the continuation of the contest, communication was an issue for me.  I think that was the problem with Ehab, also.  If you’ll recall, Wendell had hired Ehab, and when he didn’t like the product, he fired Ehab before he had all of the results in hand.  On top of that, he publically ridiculed Ehab so harshly that Ehab refused to provide the missing conversations.  I emailed Ehab and tried changing the tone, and that’s how we obtained the missing parts.  Eventually, I got to experience what Wendell had put Ehab through. 

Wendell formed a “committee,” to save the contest, and the first question was, “Is the contest was worth saving?”  At the time, the only contests I knew of were the CBC and the Loebner.  With the new contests that have come online since then, I’d have a different answer today.  I recall that Patti was also an original member of the committee, but may have dropped away at some point.  I’m not certain.

Anyway, it’s clear to me that the founder of the Chatterbox Challenge could use some human resources training.  Imagine if he treated his sponsor the way he treats his people.

By the way, I thought Wendell entered the CBC this year, but it looks as though I was mistaken.

I think this thread has gone off topic far enough.
If you don’t want to discuss the CBC 2013 please take it elsewhere.

That’s fine. I think everyone knows how I feel about WC and if he still wishes to insult me on his board without allowing me to reply then so be it.

Well done on making it to the final Ken.

Thanks Steve.

Semifinals

Half of the questions could have been answered by a bot that was well-prepared for questions that were quite obviously to be expected from previous CBC questions and the quarterfinals questions. And the other ones were by far not as surprising as some of previous CBCs, so I think in total they were quite fair.

(I know that Personality Forge bots are notorious for having difficulties with arithmetics that is not very basic, and a couple months started to take “and” and “or” as phrase separators like the period. But the usage of the underlying technology is part of the contest, and I fully approve that.)

Congratulations to Louise Cypher and Skynet-AI!

Thanks Peter.

Congratulations to Merlin on his win at the CBC. I just flicked through the questions and although Skynet was well behind at one point, it came back to take the narrowest of wins. Well done also to Louise Cypher also for putting up a great fight.

Congratulations on the win Merlin!
VLG