Contest Rules and Guidelines

PLEASE STOP and READ


The Chatterbox Challenge is open to all kinds of Chatterbots - Website Bots, 
Downloadable Bots, and IRC Bots - written in any programming language. Your bot 
doesn't have to be set up in any particular way to enter. It only needs to be 
available so people can talk with it. All botmasters are invited to enter their bot. 

Rules for entering are:
1) The is no entry fee.
2) Only English speaking chatterbots are allowed to enter.
3) Only one chatterbot per person. This means you can't enter different 
versions of the same bot. 
4) Although the Chatterbox Challenge welcomes all bots originality is a key
factor in how successful a bot will be. Blatant clones will be disqualified
from the contest.
5) AIML Bots - you are free to enter a bot using AIML(Artificial Intelligence 
Markup Language). However, you can not enter a bot that uses Alice's data base. 
Clones such as these will not be allowed to enter the contest. Clones however 
maybe hard to detect. If during the contest a bot has identical or virtually 
identical responses that bot will be disqualified. 
6) Accessibility - your bot must be easily accessible to the judges. 
a) We can not accept bots that are only available on CD ROM. They have to be
available for download on the internet. 
b) We can not accept bots that require the judges to download a 3rd party
chat program such as Mirc to access your bot. 
c) We can not accept downloadable bot that are enormous in size(10 megabytes or more). 
It's simply not practical for judges using a dial-up connection.  
d) We can not accept bots that require additional downloads of various programs
that are not already install on Windows XP unless they are relatively small and easy
to install. 
e) We can not accept bots that are not available online 24/7. With judges coming from 
all over the world and in different time zones it's not possible to schedule times 
for judging. 
f) If you are running some type of blocking filter on your bot to prevent user abuse
it must be removed during judging or you must provide a method where the judge can re-
establish contact instantly. If the judge can not complete the conversation your bot
will be disqualified. Seeing how a bot reacts to foul language or abuse maybe a part 
of the judging process.  
G) In short you are responsible to provide the judges with a bot that is easy to 
access or install.

To enter your bot into the contest please submit the following information to
d_cowart@yahoo.com.



Deadline to Enter

Deadline to enter - 03/15/08. 
Read the above rules before entering.


Your Name
Website address of Bot
E-mail Address
Country you are from
Bot's Name
Type of Bot - Website, Chatroom, Downloadable, etc.