[pandorabots-general] Getting bot chats

[Trevor Mendham]

Hi all,

I've been experimenting with AIML and Pandorabots, however before I  
jump in seriously I'm wondering how people get chats with a bot. Sure  
I can train it myself, but I really need "real" user input.

With the AOL IM link down, how on earth do botmasters get real people  
to chat with bots? I could put it on my website or on a myspace page  
but I doubt it would generate much traffic. It's a bootstarp problem:  
the bot isn't going to get conversations until it's popular but it  
won't become popular unless it's good and to become good it need  
conversations.

Or have I missed something obvious?

Thanks,
Trevor