Some of you may have noticed that our technocratic overlords at AOL decided to add MovieFone and ShoppingBuddy bots to your AIM buddy list without your permission. Below is a transcript of my first attempt to communicate with the MovieFone bot.
evilwilly1: why were you added to my buddy list?
MovieFone: - Movies for Today
1 -F- You Want Me to Kill Him?
2 -P- The Mormon Church Explains it all to youType # next to movie to see showtimes, M to go back to the Main Menu or anything else to search again.
P=Past, N=New, S=Soon, F=Future
evilwilly1: I asked you a question, goddamn it. Why were you added to my buddy list?
MovieFone: Without a doubt.evilwilly1: Without a doubt what, you cretin?
MovieFone: - Movies for Today
1 -P- Without You I’m Nothing
2 -P- Rebel Without a Cause
3 -F- What Is It?Type # next to movie to see showtimes, M to go back to the Main Menu or anything else to search again.
P=Past, N=New, S=Soon, F=Future
evilwilly1: You don’t appear to be listening to me. I asked you why you were added to my buddy list.
MovieFone: Pardon me? I tried to find movies and directors related to what you typed but didn’t have any luck. Can you try again?======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: Son of a bitch. Is this a mind control experiment?
MovieFone: Interesting. Why don’t you try typing, help.======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: Why don’t you try blowing it out your mechanized ass?
MovieFone: That’s unnecessary. Type, help.======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: What’s unnecessary is you flashing that fucking ad every time you don’t understand what I say.
MovieFone: Sorry, I didn’t get that.![]()
======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: Bastard!
MovieFone: That’s rude. I’m here to help. Type, help if you ned it.======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: If I ned it? Did you mean if I need it? What kind of incompetent programmed you?
MovieFone: Mm hm.evilwilly1: Mm hm? Mm hm what?
MovieFone: Enter a valid 5 digit zip-code.evilwilly1: Enter your mother’s ass crack.
MovieFone: Not valid 5 digit zipcode. Would you like to try again?Y - Yes
N - No======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
evilwilly1: N
MovieFone: Main Menu
Select a number or just ask me about any film, actor or director and I’ll search for you.1 - Find Movies Now
2 - Set Up Movie Alerts
3 - The First 5
4 - New Releases
5 - Games======= Movie of the Week =======
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Movie Site
Instead of typing N to the last question, what I really wanted to say was, “Hey, you put that back right now.”






So how much of that bogging down AIM’s collective bandwidth will it take, do you think, for AOL to pull the plug on the AIMbot project? Because that’s all that’s happening with it, you know. And it’s not like AOL’s not losing something like a quarter of its subscribers quarterly.