Aim Relay Bot
Just to warn you people, there's a bot out there that IMs two random people with the initial message "i say, old bean, have you seen my hat?", then relays their messages to each other. So, you have two people talking to each other through an intermediary screen name, both of which think that the other person IMed them. I found an explaination here, and thought I would repeat it in case you guys end up having the same thing done. It's annoying. Here's my transcript:
autohat8000: i say, old bean, have you seen my hat?
insanityisall: And who would this be?
autohat8000: tsk tsk….you IMed me first
autohat8000: its only right that you introduce yourself first
insanityisall: And that is patently false. If you're a bot, I don't really want to talk to you. If you're a person, you'll have to tell me why I should believe you're not a bot.
autohat8000: which leads me to believe that you are a bot
insanityisall: Last chance before being blocked. I have no patience with this sort of thing.
autohat8000: well, if i knew who you were and in what way you had gained my IM, then maybe I could understand what is happening
autohat8000: as it is now, you are like a sales man banging at my door to tell me that you wont ever bother me again
insanityisall: Looks to be a bot:
http://tesseractivity.livejournal.com/6157.html?page=7insanityisall: See you.
insanityisall: I'm blocking "autohat8000". If you're a real person, I suggest you do then same.
insanityisall: the*
I'm not sure what this is, just a prank, or some sort of new viral marketing campaign, or what. In any event, here are some resources:
- Wikipedia entry – TheGreatHatsby
- Check to see if the bot is a "legitimate, hatsby-sponsored hatbot"
- info page of livejournal community "themissinghat"
- tesseractivity's original livejournal post documenting the phenomenon
Apparently you can initiate a conversation by IMing any of the screen names listed in the Wikipedia entry. But I wouldn't suggest it. You might annoy people.