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bot n
[common on IRC, MUD; from `robot'] An IRC or
MUD user who is actually a program. On IRC, typically the
robot provides some useful service. Examples are NickServ, which
tries to prevent random users from adopting nicks already
claimed by others, and MsgServ, which allows one to send
asynchronous messages to be delivered when the recipient signs on.
Also common are `annoybots', such as KissServ, which perform no
useful function except to send cute messages to other people.
Service bots are less common on MUDs; but some others, such as the
`Julia' bot active in 1990-91, have been remarkably impressive
Turing-test experiments, able to pass as human for as long as ten
or fifteen minutes of conversation.
Note that bots used to be `robots' when the term first appeared in
the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now habitual.
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