--- a/start_bots_from_xml_config.py
+++ b/start_bots_from_xml_config.py
@@ -58,26 +58,45 @@ try:
 		for bridge_el in bot_el.getElementsByTagName('bridge'):
 			xmpp_room = bridge_el.getElementsByTagName('xmpp-room')[0]
 			irc = bridge_el.getElementsByTagName('irc')[0]
+			
 			irc_connection_interval = 1
 			if irc.hasAttribute('connection_interval'):
 				try:
 					irc_connection_interval = float(irc.getAttribute('connection_interval'))
 				except ValueError:
 					print '[Error] the value of connection_interval must be a number'
-			say_level = 'all'
+			
 			if bridge_el.hasAttribute('say_level'):
 				say_level = bridge_el.getAttribute('say_level')
+			else:
+				say_level = 'all'
+			
 			if bridge_el.hasAttribute('mode'):
 				mode = bridge_el.getAttribute('mode')
 			else:
 				mode = 'normal'
+			
 			bot.new_bridge(xmpp_room.getAttribute('jid'), irc.getAttribute('chan'), irc.getAttribute('server'), mode, say_level, irc_connection_interval=irc_connection_interval)
 	
 	
+	if len(bots) == 0:
+		print 'No bots in the configuration file, exiting ...'
+		exit(0)
+	
 	while True:
-		sleep(1)
+		for bot in bots:
+			if len(bot.xmpp_connections) == 0:
+				bots.remove(bot)
+		if len(bots) == 0:
+			raise Exception()
+		sleep(10)
 except:
+	if len(bots) == 0:
+		print 'All bots have been shut down, exiting ...'
+		exit(0)
+	
 	for bot in bots:
+		bots.remove(bot)
 		del bot
 	traceback.print_exc()
 	quit(3)
\ No newline at end of file