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AOL Has Decided I Don't Have Enough Robotic Friends

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the why-are-you-here? dept

Wed, Nov 16th 2005 9:36am — Mike Masnick
AOL recognizes that a lot of people only touch the company's services through AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), and has worked hard to try to squeeze money out of that usage in the way of increasingly intrusive ads. It looks like someone at AOL has figured that if they're already bombarding you with ads around the IM window, why not put them directly in your buddy list? Like plenty of others, when I logged into AIM this morning, I was told that the company decided I was too lonely and added two AIM bots that I certainly didn't request and really didn't want in my buddy list. They put them up top, too, in case I missed them. To be just that much more insulting, they added a little "don't worry, you can just delete them if you don't want them." Seems a bit like buddy list spam, actually. "You can just hit delete if you don't want this spam." Instant messaging bots are nothing new, of course. They've been around for years -- and for years I've never really seen the point. Why would I suddenly want them in my buddy list if I've never requested them myself?
14 Comments

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  1. identicon
    giafly, 16 Nov 2005 @ 9:50am

    Premium-rate SMS services use bots

    ...is this what AOL is working towards?

    "Regular users of pornographic SMS chat may be shocked to find out that they are swapping dirty talk with machines rather than young women and men.

    But it's a fair bet that they are because the Natachata chatbot, written by former rocket scientist Simon Luttrell, is so widely used by porn chat merchants. At its busiest Natachata handles 15 messages per second. A typical "session" lasts about seven or eight messages and each SMS costs more than £1." More (BBC)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    COD, 16 Nov 2005 @ 9:59am

    No Subject Given

    I use GAIM(on XP) and although I got the message about my new bot friends, they are not actually showing up in my buddy list.

    I hope it stays that way.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Erin, 16 Nov 2005 @ 10:05am

    AIM bots

    I noticed them this morning as well. Totally annoying. At first I was going to delete both but decided to the movie one might come in handy so I kept it.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Sohrab, 16 Nov 2005 @ 10:56am

    No Subject Given

    ok hahaha Glad it wasnt me. I just turned on my Comp and jumped on Aim and they were there. YAY I finally have 2 friends?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    thwoom, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:07am

    powered down

    I also have these two added, but, neither of them are responding to my repeated hello's, I feel lonely again...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Mike P, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:12am

    Re: No Subject Given

    I dont see why people would use straight up AIM anymore...I'd think most people would switch to at least the AIM Ad Hack, or GAIM.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Chris H, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:17am

    No Subject Given

    Found the two bots in my Trillian contact list and freaked out until I asked my friend. Didn't get the message though, I think because I have AOL blocked.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    thwoom, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:29am

    Re: No Subject Given

    or trillian

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    thwoom, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:31am

    removed

    just got a message from aim saying they removed the bots from my buddy list (5 minutes after i deleted them)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    everqueer, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:35am

    AIM Bots

    My privacy settings seem to have superceeded this.

    I don't allow IMs from anyone NOT on already my contact list.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    UnbwogabL, 16 Nov 2005 @ 11:45am

    Fun with bots

    I had some fun with these bots, swearing at them, cussing them out. Yeah, I'm bored... But, at least was entertained for a moment before I deleted them

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Sissy Pants, 16 Nov 2005 @ 12:10pm

    Sooo-ny?

    Next thing we'll know teh damn bots are loading root kits on our computers and sending all traffic to our bosses / significant others unless we agree to sell our souls to Bill Gates

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    GOD, 16 Nov 2005 @ 6:04pm

    No Subject Given

    so i have been logged into aim for about 3 days straight...this goes back to the idea of setting the world's longest up time for a PC. anyways. i had to reset, and when i did, AIM decided it was gonna put some crap on my computer. well when that happened, it all of a sudden gets really really slow. i couldn't pull up my task manager, so i had to use free ram XP pro to see what the new task was. all kinds of spyware was just loaded on my computer. when just 20 min. earlier i ran a scan and there was no instance of any. so i am gonna blame aol and time warner for this. they are gonna get it. u just wait and see. cable internet is gonna take over, and their dial up is kaput. and people are gonna get smart and figure out how much AOL does suck and use firefox.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    jdw242, 17 Nov 2005 @ 11:09am

    tracking clients?

    what if the bots have the capability of reporting back to a central server the client in use, whether it is AIM, or Gaim, Miranda, Trillian, etc.?

    Anyone thought of that??

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


Newsflash: Kids Can Watch Porn On The Video iPod
Group Finds Prior Art On JPEG Patent; Hopefully Not Compressed As A JPEG
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