TheGreatHatsby

TheGreatHatsby [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/286.html|title=i say, old bean, have you seen my hat?|author=TesserActivity (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/16480.html|title=FAQ for The Missing Hat Community as of May 18, 2006|accessdate=2008-08-30] is an AIM bot which instigates conversations between pairs of AIM accounts. Its name is a play on words from the book The Great Gatsby. It is a relay bot that retrieves the list of most recent LiveJournal posts and obtains the AIM screen names of their authors. It then sends users the message "i say, old bean, have you seen my hat?" from one of its screen names.

Responses from users are forwarded by the bot to another one of the users similarly contacted. These two users are paired up, and any message which one of them sends to the bot will be forwarded to the other. Thus, if neither of the users is aware of TheGreatHatsby, they will each think that the other user contacted them, and that the other user's screen name is the bot's screen name.

Messages containing a user's true screen name will have that screen name replaced with the bot's screen name; similarly, if a message contains the bot's screen name, it will be replaced by the screen name of the user receiving the message. This adds to the confusion, since copy-and-pasted chat logs will appear as though the users really were messaging each other directly.

TheGreatHatsby may no longer be active. No one has reported being contacted by TheGreatHatsby since late 2007, and several LiveJournal users have noted that the bot has stopped contacting them. [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/114580.html|title=Where have you gone, my lovely?|author=glowing_dragon (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/114580.html?thread=513428|title=Comment on "Where have you gone, my lovely?"|author=over_thefreeway (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30]

Salmon and Trout bots

In February 2008, several users reported being contacted by a new bot, with screen names of the form "Salmon". [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/116358.html|title=I think a new hatting system is developing.|author=floydinator24 (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/116908.html|author=shakeyourwaist (LiveJournal user)|title=I guess there's a new one going around|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/117062.html|title=HygienicSalmon|author=bleedingdarknes (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30]

The Salmon bots behave similarly to TheGreatHatsby in that they find AIM screen names on LiveJournal, send them messages, pair up users, and relay messages between them. However, unlike TheGreatHatsby's constant "i say, old bean" opening line, the Salmon bots' opening line varies. There is no known association between the Salmon bots and TheGreatHatsby, with the exception of their similar behavior.

A group calling itself Project Upstream, and using the LiveJournal username "salmonmaster", has claimed responsibility for the Salmon bots. [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/199227.html|title=Project Upstream requests feedback|author=salmonmaster (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] This claim has not been challenged, and salmonmaster has also revealed previously-unknown details about the Salmon bots.

Like TheGreatHatsby, the Salmon bots have been reported to filter screen names [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/251319.html|title=First Post! And a good one, too!- Part 1!|author=summoner_lenne9 (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] , as well as words related to the phenomenon, such as "bot" and "LiveJournal". [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/250514.html|title=Mod post! Yay!|author=unkickablekitty (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] However, these filters are not applied all of the time; in some cases, screen names and key phrases are removed, and in other cases, they are not.

The Salmon bots have also been reported to alter messages in other ways, such as changing them to "pirate speak" [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/252429.html|title=Haha. In retrospect, I should have known.|author=umeko_pyon (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] , and putting messages in a rainbow font. [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/124252.html|title=SanctifiedSalmon|author=haystack_charmx (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30]

Although the Salmon bots message people on an automated basis, they also provide AIM users with some level of control over the process. On 2008-05-27, the LiveJournal user salmonmaster announced [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/238604.html|title=Project Upstream launches new connection request Web site|author=salmonmaster (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] a Web site which [http://project-upstream.awardspace.com/ allows users to request that they be connected with another random user via a Salmon bot] ; and on 2008-08-15, salmonmaster announced [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/405326.html|title=Opt-out support introduced|author=salmonmaster (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] a new command, "$optout", which allows users to prevent Salmon (and Trout) bots from contacting them again. [cite web|url=http://xerxesqados.livejournal.com/91306.html|title=Attention people plagued by fish|author=xerxesqados (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://flickr.com/photos/axsdeny/2807969907/|title=Trout bot|author=AxsDeny (Flickr user)|accessdate=2008-08-30]

In addition to LiveJournal, Salmon bots have been reported to contact users from deviantART [cite web|url=http://forum.deviantart.com/community/complaints/1108172/|title=Salmon Bots?|author=JaoLynn (deviantART user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] and Xanga. [cite web|url=http://weblog.xanga.com/brain51983/668078068/aim-trout.html|author=brain51983|title=AIM Trout & Salmon...WTF! >.<|accessdate=2008-08-30]

Trout bots

In late July 2008, users began to report being contacted by bots with names of the form "Trout". [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/377694.html|title=has anyone noticed the start of the trout phenom?|author=xxdarksparkxx (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/379850.html|title=I just spoke to CaptivatingTrout for almost an hour...|author=chexbabe (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/379359.html|title=TROUT!?|author=goddamnit_dan (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://www.brimdeforest.com/post/48370160/frigelnarfen-are-people-whose-eyes-arent-the-same|title=WhimperingTrout|author=Bradybd (Tumblr)|accessdate=2008-09-01] These bots appear to have replaced the Salmon bots; no one has reported being contacted by a Salmon bot since the Trout bots appeared.

While it is not completely clear if the Trout bots are affiliated with the Salmon bots and with Project Upstream, their behavior seems to be identical. In addition, the Trout bots have been reported to respond when Project Upstream's connection request site is used. [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/398423.html|title=Generalized Trout seemed to grasp the basic truth of it...|author=Jkarofwilderness (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-08-30] Since this Web site previously solicited a response from Salmon bots, this indicates a link between the two.

Coho bots

On September 5, 2008, users began to report being contacted by bots with names of the form "Coho". [cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/430966.html|title=Coho?|author=carrieaki (LiveJournal user)|accessdate=2008-09-06] For example, InstinctiveCoho, ArmoredCoho, BugEyedCoho, PersonalCoho, CaravanOfCoho, ConicalCoho, GloriousCoho, DancingCoho, RipplingCoho, TornCoho, PolygonalCoho, SaltyCoho, SpiedOnCoho, SpiritualCoho, WolfishCoho and PassionateCoho. Coho bots respond when Project Upstream's connection request site is used. Since this Web site previously solicited a response from Salmon and Trout bots, this indicates that they're essentially the same bot. Another suggestive factor is the fact that Coho are a type of Salmon.

Notes

External links

* [http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/ The Missing Hat] A LiveJournal community created for discussion of the bot.
* [http://www.ricedoutyugo.com/hat/ Riced Out Yugo] The site to which the bot's AIM profile links. Its relevance to TheGreatHatsby is unclear.