IRC: CricInfo
ColdPom
just a quick post to let everyone know about a new service on #cricket
called CricInfo. This IRC Bot (software robot - actually a ircII script)
acts as
an interactive database for cricket-related (and a little irc-related)
information. It is open to all to access so please do try it out. On it's
3rd day of operation, it
is already averaging over 100 requests for information a day.
- After having joined IRC, just type "/msg CricInfo help". From there you
may type "/msg CricInfo index", and to request a particular file type
"/msg CricInfo <filename>" (without the <> of course :) ). The database
is organized within a directory structure.
The second, and main purpose of this post is to elicit information for
CricInfo.
As with any database, CricInfo is only as useful as the files which are
on it.
The intention is that it should build-up into a highly useful source of
large amounts of information, including old (and new of course)
scorecards, as well as profiles of particularly eminent players; facts
about, and locations of, each cricket-playing country's major grounds;
BRIEF match reports, statistical information ..etc etc..
I'm sure I don't need to spell it out in detail, and will leave it up to
you
to decide whether you think that a particular piece of information would
be
suitable for this service.
Therefore, please do take a few minutes/hours to write a piece on your
favourite
ground, player/transcribe some averages, scorecards or whatever and send
it to
me in a format suitable for CricInfo. The general format rules are:
1) Keep articles as short as possible (ideally about 10-15 lines.
Naturally,
scorecards will need to be longer - see the cards already on CricInfo for
hints as to the format for these)
2) Between 55 and 65 characters per line
3) Use abbreviations as much as possible (e.g. vice captain --> VC) ,
without
making the article difficult to understand.
4) For scorecards, etc, please do bear in mind that irc is *pure* ascii -
i.e.,
all characters are mono-spaced. This means that whilst you may have
formatted
your piece such that it is pleasing to the eye in your word -processing
language
(using tabs, microspaces or whatever), it may (and almost invariably does
:(( ) appear as a senseless jumble in pure ascii! Therefore, please use a
pure ascii
text editor (such as edlin in dos, or a mono-spaced font on a Mac) when
formatting.
5) Lastly, and most importantly, articles must be of a factual and
objective nature.
Please send your completed article to me (slk...@sapphire.space.umn.edu)
for addition to CricInfo's datafiles. Due to lack of time, I may have to
return
articles that do not follow the above format guidelines, since I *too*
have a job to do :)
Lastly, would those of you who take the time to regularly post
interesting,
factual and objective articles to r.s.c., please not forget also to send
me a copy,
in a useable format, for the 100+ people who now regularly use #cricket.
Thanks.
See you on irc...... and don't forget: You saw it on CricInfo, and, in
the event
that you *didn't* see it on CricInfo, that's probably because *you*
didn't send it
in ! :)
ColdPom