personality of: phipps
Bot commands, channel triggers, and interaction.

By: GeneVann

Phipps is a bot, which means he is not a real person sitting at a keyboard. He is made up of a series of programs and scripts designed to protect the channel, automate/perform administrative tasks, and provide fun, entertainment, and colour to the channel by interacting with users. Everyone is welcome to play with the bot in the channel -- and the following paragraphs will be your user guide.

Any time you say something directed at Phipps, in a channel where he resides, he’s likely to respond with something. You may have already found this out by trial and error, or someone might have told you what to say. Whatever the case may be, the following triggers are presented for your use:



I. GREETINGS

Term to know for this section -- Botnick:
This refers to the bot's nick. Most of the time it will be Phipps, of course, but his alternate nick is Penniel. Sometimes, for technical reasons, he may use an alternate nick. The triggers will still work, but one must address him by whatever nick he is currently using. By the way, anytime brackets are used [ ], they are meant to denote "insert variable here".

Greeting Triggers:

Hi [botnick]. (The bot will respond with a random greeting.)
Hello [botnick]. (The bot will respond with a random greeting.)
Greetings [botnick]. (The bot will respond with a random greeting.)
Hullo [botnick]. (The bot will respond with a random greeting.)

Examples:
Right: Hi Phipps.
Right: Hi there, Phipps! Great to see you.
Right: Hello Phipps.
Right: Hello Phipps, you're looking well today.
Right: Greetings Phipps.
Right: Hullo Phipps, old man.
Wrong: Hi, Phipps. (the comma will destroy the word "hi", and Phipps will not recognise the trigger.)
Wrong: Hello! Phipps! (characters directly before or after the trigger word (hello) will cause the trigger to fail.)

Autogreeting:
You will notice that each time you join the channel, Phipps will send you a private notice. This notice changes periodically and will contain important channel announcements and information. Please do not ignore this notice.
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II. BOT SERVICES

Menu Items:
These triggers may be used anywhere in the sentence. You need not concern yourself with whether the trigger of the botnick comes first, however, remember that characters on either side or surrounding the trigger word will cause the trigger to fail.

sandwich + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random sandwich.)
t-bone + [botnick]: (The bot will respond with a single response.)
beer + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random beer.)
wine + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random wine.)
whiskey + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random whiskey.)
scotch + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random fine scotch.)
tequila + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random fine tequila.)
cognac + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random fine cognac.)
port + [botnick]: (The bot will give you a random port wine.)
eggs + [botnick]: (The bot will respond with a single response.)

Examples:
Right: Sandwich Phipps.
Right: Phipps! Let's have a sandwich please.
Wrong: Perhaps I'll have a sandwich, Phipps. (The comma after sandwich destroys the trigger word.)

Specific Objects:
Phipps is also quite capable of bringing you something specific if you request it. The following syntax is rather simple, but it may look confusing at first. I have provided examples again after the commands so you may study them.

[botnick], bring me [object description] (Use no punctuation after [object], and spaces and multiple words are okay.)
[botnick], bring [nick] [object] (Use no punctuation after [nick] or [object].) Note: [nick] Must be a valid nick in the channel.
[botnick], bring for [person] [object] ([person] may be anyone's name. GeneVann might be [nick], but [person] could just be Gene.)

Examples:
Right: Phipps, bring me a tin of tobacco (Returns: * @Phipps sets a tin of tobacco in front of [your nick].)

Right: Phipps, bring Hanszoo a lighter (Returns: * @Phipps sets a lighter in front of Hanszoo.)

Right: Phipps, bring for Fred a match (Returns: * @Phipps sets a match in front of Fred.)

Wrong: Phipps, bring me a tin of tobacco. (Returns: * @Phipps sets a tin of tobacco. in front of [your nick].)

Wrong: Phipps, bring Hanszoo a lighter. (Returns: * @Phipps sets a lighter. in front of Hanszoo.)

Wrong: Phipps, bring for Fred a match! (Returns: * @Phipps sets a match. in front of Fred.)
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III. THANK YOU

When the bot does something for you, you may wish to thank him. Now to be polite, as Phipps generally is, he should say you’re welcome. However, he doesn’t generally like to repeat himself so he will vary his “you’re welcome” statement randomly. I'm sure you'll smile at some of them.

Trigger:
thank + [botnick]. (The bot will respond to any variation of this. Punctuation does not apply.)

Examples:
Right: Thanks, Phipps!
Right: Phipps, you're so very kind. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Right: Thankie Phipps, you old shoe.

If you are well-traveled, and wish to thank the bot in a different language, feel free. Below are his multi-lingual triggers:

Brazilian Portuguese: Muito obrigada, [botnick].
Dutch: Merci, [botnick].
Spanish: Gracias, [botnick].
French: Je vous remercie, [botnick].
German: Danke, [botnick].
Italian: Grazie, [botnick].
Norwegian: Takk skal du ha, [botnick].
Filipino (Tagalog): Pasalamatan ka, [botnick].
Portuguese: Obrigada, [botnick].
Welsh: Ddiolch ‘ch, [botnick].
Latin: Gratias ago vos, [botnick].
Austrailian: Tah, [botnick].
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IV. QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

Phipps can handle just about any query including (but not limited to): who, what, why, how, when, and where questions. Just be sure to include his name and a question mark, so that he can be absolutely sure you are directing the question to him.

Examples:
Right: Phipps, who is the fairest of them all?
Right: Phipps, what sort of person do you take me for?
Right: Phipps, why does donkeynut collect ugly Castellos?
Right: Phipps, how high is up?
Right: Phipps, when will the good times end?
Right: Phipps, is this sort of thing to be expected and tolerated here?
Right: Phipps, do you like the red or the green better?
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V. MISCELLANEOUS

Jokes:
Since he can seem real at times, you might be tempted to ask him to tell a joke. However, when asked for jokes with either the Phipps tell me a joke or the Phipps tell us a joke, he will respond with a line about not telling jokes in polite company.

Examples:
Right: Phipps, tell us a joke. (Will respond in the channel.)
Right: Phipps, tell me a joke. (Will respond to you in private.)

Hush:
With Phipps, it’s probably impossible for him to get too rowdy. However, if he does, you can simply tell him to hush with hush, Phipps. He will apologize for his outbursts. However, the length of time he will remain quiet is entirely up to him. Also, if another user is being annoying you may tell him or her to hush as well.

Triggers:
hush + [botnick] (The bot will reply.)
hush + [nick] (The nick must be a valid nick contained in the nicklist within that channel.)
hush + [person] ([person] does not need to be a valid nick.)

Example:
Right: Hush Phipps
Right: Hush Hanszoo
Right: Hush Billy

Unclassified:
After Phipps’ initial release on February 9, 2003, certain members of #Pipes felt that Phipps should respond to a word or two in an agitated way. This is good-natured and gentle teasing of certain big-hearted channel members who are very fondly thought of. After all, we wouldn't abuse them if we didn't love them. Right, DN? <g>

One trigger is the saying of the word "hawkbill" or "84" in a sentence. Once said, Phipps will respond with a jab at Donkeynut who’s favorite pipe is a hawkbill (otherwise known as Castello's shape No. 84). This trigger is on a switch and can be turned on and off at will by the bot owner. So, you may find that it does not always work.

Another trigger is "GeneBot" or "JillBot". These terms stem from the long hours that GeneVann and JillVann stayed connected to IRC whether they were at the console or not. Of course they did this in order to monitor the channels they administer, but that doesn’t seem to count for much. It was all taken in good fun, but now just say it and see what happens to you.
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VI. SUMMATION

Phipps was written from scratch by my wife, JillVann, and I am eternally grateful for her help and expertise in programming. I am responsible for his personality and interaction with users in the channel. We are constantly upgrading and improving Phipps, so watch for changes to this document in the future.

Enjoy Phipps, and above all, enjoy #Pipes.
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