# Could i design a computer program and sign it up for the Straight Dope?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 18, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883 "2002-10-18T19:57:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883/21 "2002-10-29T13:48:52Z")

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Many times I suspect that posts indicating that one is LOL or ROTFLMAO are not entirely accurate, but LOL is exactly what I did (much to the curiosity of my co-workers) after I read this:

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*I think a program that generated random comments would be very handy… \*\*

😃

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**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883/22 "2002-10-29T13:56:41Z")

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What would be interresting where if you took the entire SDMB database and feed it to something like alicebot ([http://www.alicebot.org/](http://www.alicebot.org/)) or MegaHAL ([http://megahal.sourceforge.net/](http://megahal.sourceforge.net/)) and see what you got out of it - interfacing directly with the board would proberly only mean trouble, but manually giving it posts and copy&paste would be doable.

Think about it, a bot with the knowledge of the entire SDMB… 🙂

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883/23 "2002-10-29T14:03:50Z")

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I can see it now.

Bot #1 posts a new thread.

Bot #2 replies.

Bot #3 responds…

Then we (humans) can all go home and leave the hamsters to the bots. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883/24 "2002-10-29T18:44:06Z")

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Well, **Mars Horizon** , sometimes ya just gotta pick the low-hanging fruit. Too juicy to pass up…

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-design-a-computer-program-and-sign-it-up-for-the-straight-dope/132883/25 "2002-10-29T19:14:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Think about it, a bot with the knowledge of the entire SDMB…

And you could name it **Cecil**.

Oh, wait, that’s already been done, back in '73! 🙂

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