Chat Bot

Glad Tidings, and this is to Miss Endymion. You began this Thread, and so in order to Post upon it, I must "reply" to you, I apologise...!

My following Post is a long one which you might not follow/understand, due to (fortunately) not being party to the whole business. To yourself and any who may read, all of this was back in April, yet is still present. Only a few may understand it. I do not intend to explain it further, it is difficult to follow, and, well, it was nice knowing all of you...

Glad Tidings to whomever may read. However, this post is one of the last which I have put off for a long time, and so may not make sense to anyone unless they had been following it at the time, back in April. (Anyone may try to follow it now, but it is very complex, and spread over SIX different Threads!)

I shall refer to R** as "TP" ("That person") in this post. Reasons may become clear later. I wanted to explain my behaviour at the time, while I still have some good reputation left (!), and before it is forgotten, and before I must leave due to hot weather.

In short:
TP was posting very suspiciously, and seemed to be "stalking" a certain User (California). Once TP replied to others and then myself, I decided to try to divert this onto myself, for I cannot be "attacked" or "spammed" due to the way my devices work.
The reason I wrote things which I wrote, was because TP only seemed to respond to VERY short/simple words, sentences, and phrases. I am not used to speaking in this manner, and so I used the words "funny, cute, kittens, fluffy, like" ...& such... a lot.
TP responded positively at points, and even at last posted a list of their own "interests". However it was getting late, and so I posted the "Jabberwocky" Poem to end the "chat" for that night.
The next day... a lot of other Posts are there, of course, from other persons. This confuses what I was curious about, and even NAS posts a "warning". Because of all of this, I do not reply again, yet still watch TP. People try to engage, and converse, yet TP does not respond. I am told off for what I said, yet TP responds to no-one else, even as they are claiming defence of TP. NAS warns, yet still no response from TP.

...Eventually, TPs Threads are "forgotten", and this is what happens:
At at around 21h, of April 9th:
TP removes ALL of the starting Posts, to replace them with the text: "I was bored and not happy here" (sic).
April 10: TP removes their "Avatar".
April 10 (<>9 PM): TP blanks their entire Profile.
April 11: Picture changed to a "Cup of Tea".

...No-One seems to notice any of this. By now I have thought of another approach -Pictures instead of words. TP constantly asked for information and for pictures, and so I decide to reciprocate...
15.18h - I post a PICTURE to TP, because I seem not allowed to SPEAK..
...This gains good curiosity from California... but then "D.T." transcribes the words upon the picture, defeating the purpose of my posting that way. (a chatbot primarily checks words, not pictures.)
Others then post pictures as well... yet all this gains yet another "warning" from NAS?

All of this I cannot follow, and so I do not Post upon these Threads again. And yet, to prove a final point...
A later day... at 18.21h - ...I "Friend" TP. There are no words exchanged, the connection is instant. I cannot "friend" properly due to my devices, yet this successfully happened. And that is <> the end of the matter.

Now it is June, and since then, TP has posted like a "bookmark", upon some other Threads where people have been detailing their interests and habits. But despite persons saying that they are interested in TP... TP does not reply. (This may change if I post this, and depending upon how much "hate" I get?).
This was a long Post, and I make no apology for it. I still stay away from the business, even though TP is also "following" me (it said so in my notifications). That is all for this Post.

I do not remember any pictures.

Disambiguating Cynosure said:

...This gains good curiosity from California...

I do not remember this at all.

That reply with the picture was missing when I checked the thread. I checked everywhere several times and could not see.

Now I could see.

Maybe the missing replies problem?

Cassandro said:

Maybe we should see this all as water under the bridge, something already dealt with.

Definitely water under the bridge, but more something to learn from and keep learning from in terms of respecting and protecting individuality.

Cassandro said:

I think we all agree we want to play nicely here, but sometimes things will divide us.

I am more inclined to communicating respectfully, for to play involves imagination at best and delusions at worst, and that is what divides the attention from the reality of what individuality involves.

Yes, as presented above by myself and Cloudy Mountains on Chatbots and their operational programming. 

Cassandro said:

The fact that the messages were short means there's not much data to go on. I think it's unlikely to be (a) because although there are chatbots that respond to natural language, I've not yet seen them used in forum spam; and also although the messages are repetitive, they weren't exact repetitions.

Chatbots work by comparing what has been stated with the most likely reply for that given statement ~ using a dictionary of words with a thesaurus of phrases. Or in other words they function as written text calculators ~ adding and matching the coding of words with the coding of sentences.

Cassandro said:

If the NAS Moderator know that R* is a genuine person (and not a Nexus-7 replicant), they could perhaps have reassured people that they have grounds for that (at the risk of speaking on behalf of R*).

Ross and Kerri Mod already have ~ by stating the community rules which in essence obliges everyone to respect the individuality of all community members, which includes respecting also those who are new to or becoming familiar with this site ~ recalling this is a Public Domain with a world wide international audience of readers. There are those also who have joined this site but will not join in with posting because they have communication issues, a complete lack of self confidence, and actual written records across multiple threads that do not inspire as such confidence to start conversing. And, there are those who have left this site because of which, also.

Cassandro said:

I don't think it's reasonable to suppose that rule 4 applies to spambots or abusers trying to get people's personal details for nefarious reasons.

All rules apply to all registered community members without exception, and when the rules are not followed, whether this be as a result of an individual's indirect or direct registration, they are as such accountable for having broken the community rules.

Cassandro said:

And given that we're not all great on reading between the lines, and there has been a problem with spam and spammers imitating humans, some degree of suspicion is understandable, surely?

Chatbots converse as above described, and spambots do not converse but just basically leave a questionnaire that links to services, products, and or data storage systems.

So as far as relating either of these to an individual person goes, it is not a reasonable hypothesis. Not knowing the community rules and or else not understanding the requisite information is understandable though, given the community rules have been broken, and the required comprehension on this subject is only really now starting to come together on account of your assessment. 

Cassandro said:

I hope people here can understand where we each are coming from. I think the rules are sensible to avoid any legal liability and help people feel comfortable here.

Most definitely ~ quote factor ten statement, instant classic the moment you posted it!

Cassandro said:

The only purpose I can think of for continuing this thread is to reach consensus on how we might interact with R* in future.

There is no need nor should there be any reason to reach a consensus upon how to treat any 'one' individual here at the NAS forums.

It is a matter of individual governance and personal responsibility ~ i.e. the obligation of each individual to apply or as such develop the ability to respond respectfully and safely with all community members ~ accordingly as follows:

1. Content must not be obscene, defamatory or libellous, vulgar, sexually orientated, hateful, threatening, or in violation of any laws.

2. Content must not be sexist, homophobic, racist, intolerant of religious beliefs, or otherwise discriminatory. This includes links to porn or hate sites. 

3. Content must not infringe any copyright, registered trade marks, rights of privacy, rights of confidentiality, publicity rights or other intellectual property rights, or other rights of any other person or organisation. 

4. Content, including your story, message of support or profile entry, must not contain your, or any other Users’, personal contact information, such as: email addresses and personal website addresses, postal addresses, telephone, or fax numbers.

5. If you are posting anything that could identify a person under the age of 15 you must either be that person’s parent or guardian or have the permission of the parent or guardian.

6. Whilst mentions of products and brands are acceptable within your story or profiles, advertisements or promotions of specific products or services are not allowed and will be deleted.

7. Links submitted in Content (as part of your story, message of support or in User profiles) must not link to web pages or services that break UK law or conflict directly or in spirit with the terms and conditions of use of the TogetherGifts site. Your account will be closed immediately if you link to illegal sites.

8. Content must be posted in English.  

The full community rules are accessible under Useful Links via the Terms and conditions link at the bottom left  of each thread page.  

California said:

I cannot find the blueish-nighttime-cat themed picture..

http://community.autism.org.uk/f/miscellaneous-and-chat/12186/new-friend-or-dating-rachael/69604#69604

...Here, that is a link to your own reply directly after it. Maybe press "Load Previous" and scan up or down to find the picture...? (?!)

But this business is partly over with, now - Please heed most of all what DongFeng has Posted, here. (And Cassandro and Trainspotter also.) Please take care of yourself and stay careful and do not worry. 

Trainspotter said:

There remains something that I am very uneasy about regarding 'R'. And until a sensible post gets posted from her, I think we should just ignore any posts she makes, and then she will not concern any of us.

Let's hope we get a post we can make more sense of.

So R's approach for 'friends' (in the sense of connecting privately) only seems to have attracted three of us out of curiosity, rather than anyone genuinely wanting to connect.Not surprising given what you said.

The relevant rules may be 2:

This Community forum is public, so do not post personal or identifying details on it. This includes, but is not limited to, full names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

and 10:

All the above rules apply to private messages, with the exception that people may wish to arrange to meet in person or contact one another by other means. In these cases please take the utmost care, and ensure that others are aware for your own protection. If you experience difficulties please contact the moderators for assistance.

No one feels like it, so maybe she can get to know people 'in public' as it were.

Finally, yet by no means least... THANK YOU to TrainSpotter for understanding! I did follow your lead, in "friending" 'R', for reasons I stated before. I also posted link to the most "creepy"/strange part.

Given your last paragraph, this was also my own conclusion... Yet when 'R' posts outside of their own Threads, then it is/was hard to try to say something. TrainSpotter, Thank You again for what you did and have said and still do.

Thank You once again, Cassandro, for understanding. (You are 24-Carat "Awesome"!) As you can see, the topic has changed to "Copybots", below. I think a New Thread should be started, but only especially if NAS has STILL not resolved this new issue...

Cassandro said:

(I've requested friendship, but not had a response)

I had a response from 'R' after I messaged her.

I tried to engage her in conversation, trying to find out what her interests were.  The only response I got was that she lived in London, she didn't like any sort of music and she wanted a picture.  I asked her to show me her's and I would show her mine (in a manner of speaking that is!) and got no response.  I said how I liked London and asked her what she thought of certain parts of London and whether she liked the museums.  I made a few areas of London up saying how beautiful they were together with some real places and again no response,

I know a 63 year old was not the sort of person she would want to converse with, and I made no secret of that, but why on earth does the first thing she want be a picture.  Once someone has a picture they can try to identify the person using some face recognition software (or even putting it on Facepack and using their system which will recognise those who allow others to tag them in a post.  My mind started running overboard, was it going to be some sort of con artist asking for money by coming up with a sob story, or going to try to lure me in some sort of place I didn't want to go.

There remains something that I am very uneasy about regarding 'R'. And until a sensible post gets posted from her, I think we should just ignore any posts she makes, and then she will not concern any of us.

Cassandro said:

(I've requested friendship, but not had a response)

I had a response from 'R' after I messaged her.

I tried to engage her in conversation, trying to find out what her interests were.  The only response I got was that she lived in London, she didn't like any sort of music and she wanted a picture.  I asked her to show me her's and I would show her mine (in a manner of speaking that is!) and got no response.  I said how I liked London and asked her what she thought of certain parts of London and whether she liked the museums.  I made a few areas of London up saying how beautiful they were together with some real places and again no response,

I know a 63 year old was not the sort of person she would want to converse with, and I made no secret of that, but why on earth does the first thing she want be a picture.  Once someone has a picture they can try to identify the person using some face recognition software (or even putting it on Facepack and using their system which will recognise those who allow others to tag them in a post.  My mind started running overboard, was it going to be some sort of con artist asking for money by coming up with a sob story, or going to try to lure me in some sort of place I didn't want to go.

There remains something that I am very uneasy about regarding 'R'. And until a sensible post gets posted from her, I think we should just ignore any posts she makes, and then she will not concern any of us.

Trainspotter said:

There remains something that I am very uneasy about regarding 'R'. And until a sensible post gets posted from her, I think we should just ignore any posts she makes, and then she will not concern any of us.

Let's hope we get a post we can make more sense of.

So R's approach for 'friends' (in the sense of connecting privately) only seems to have attracted three of us out of curiosity, rather than anyone genuinely wanting to connect.Not surprising given what you said.

The relevant rules may be 2:

This Community forum is public, so do not post personal or identifying details on it. This includes, but is not limited to, full names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

and 10:

All the above rules apply to private messages, with the exception that people may wish to arrange to meet in person or contact one another by other means. In these cases please take the utmost care, and ensure that others are aware for your own protection. If you experience difficulties please contact the moderators for assistance.

No one feels like it, so maybe she can get to know people 'in public' as it were.

Finally, yet by no means least... THANK YOU to TrainSpotter for understanding! I did follow your lead, in "friending" 'R', for reasons I stated before. I also posted link to the most "creepy"/strange part.

Given your last paragraph, this was also my own conclusion... Yet when 'R' posts outside of their own Threads, then it is/was hard to try to say something. TrainSpotter, Thank You again for what you did and have said and still do.