Home -> ASBS -> IRC -> Marvin

MarvinAndroid, the channel bot

MarvinAndroid is the #alt.suicide.bus.stop channel robot. What he does is sit in the channel like anyone else. However, Marvin is controlled by a program, not a person. He responds to commands given in the channel of the form !command. Whether Marvin is actually a useful slave or an annoyance is up for debate. He never speaks on his own, but sometimes his responses to other people's requests can flood the channel, making conversation impossible. (Actually, Marvin does speak occasionally, but rumour has it that this is simply ibup200 typing for him).

MarvinAndroid has the potential to be quite disruptive in the channel, particularly if someone wants to talk, and others are looking up silly words in the dictionary. Please try to keep it to a dull roar if others are speaking, or head over to the #marvintest channel and make all the noise you want in there. :-) Marvin responds to private messages as well.

Marvin the Paranoid Android was a character from the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books (and radio play, and tv show) by Douglas Adams. He is a chronically depressed robot, and the name is quite suitable for the #alt.suicide.bus.stop channel bot.

Commands

!gem

This spits out a classic quote from the channel, usually funny, and taken completely out of context. The collection is also available online.

!newgem text

This adds a new entry to the gems file.

Please! Only add things that people have actually said in the channel, not jokes or sayings that you've heard elsewhere.

!quote

This spits out a random suicide-related quote.

!newquote text

This adds a new entry to the quotes file.

!suicide

Random suicide statistics

!newsuicide text

This adds a new entry to the suicide statistics file.

!silly

Random line from the silly methods file

!newsilly text

This adds a new entry to the silly methods file.

!marvin

Random quote from Marvin the Paranoid Android.

!sheath

Random quote from the sheath file.

!url

Prints out a few useful ASH-related urls

!math text

Performs simple math calculations

   <You> !math 2 + 2
   <MarvinAndroid> 4

!country text

Tells you what country is represented by a two-letter country code, or vice-versa

   <You> !country CA
   <MarvinAndroid> Country for CA: Canada

   <You> !country canada
   <MarvinAndroid> Country code for Canada: CA

!acronym text

Looks up an irc acronym and tells you the meaning

   <You> !acronym LOL
   <MarvinAndroid> acronym for lol: Laughing Out Loud

!seen person [channel]

Tells when person was last seen in the channel, and the reason they left

   <You> !seen stbdchick
   <MarvinAndroid> Last saw stbdchick 1day 22hrs 34mins
         51secs ago.  (left channel)

   <You> !seen stbdchick #marvintest
   <MarvinAndroid> Last saw stbdchick on #marvintest 16hrs
         14mins 8secs ago.  (ping timeout)

!access

Tells you what your access level in the channel is. AOP, SOP, normal, etc.
You can only use the !access command in a channel, not in a private message to MarvinAndroid

!ban (user|address) [time]

Has MarvinAndroid ban the user for a set period of time, then automatically remove the ban. The time is specified in minutes, and defaults to one hour, maximum one day. You can only use the !ban command if you already have ops in the channel.

!dict [-dictionary]someword This command temporarily nonfunctional

This will look up the definition of someword, pastes the first few lines of any definition found back to the channel.

   <You> !dict test
   <MarvinAndroid> From WordNet:
   <MarvinAndroid> adj : of the nature of or undergoing an experiment;
   <MarvinAndroid> etc, etc...

If you specify the name of a specific dictionary by preceding it with a dash, before the word, you can search only that dictionary:

   <You> !dict -jargon test
   <MarvinAndroid> From Jargon File:
   <MarvinAndroid> test n. 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long
         enough to
   <MarvinAndroid> etc, etc...

The available dictionaries are:

devils THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)

easton Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

elements Elements database 20001107

foldoc The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Jan 01)

gazetteer U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

hitchcock Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's)

jargon Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000)

vera V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms 2 June 2000

web1913 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

wn WordNet (r) 1.6

world95 The CIA World Factbook (1995)

Credits

Many thanks to TragiC*, who provided the original suicide, quote and gems files.