Instant Messaging Rants

[Ferret_Herder]

@kaylasdad99

I don’t quite grok this concept:

Why don’t you just say you’ve got to go, then log off?

Because a lot of times, if you cut them off in the middle of the long goodbye, the other person will get all pouty. Stuff like this is why I stopped using IM, especially after one guy - who I wasn’t even good friends or anything with - got all fucking bent out of shape because I set my status for maybe 20 minutes so he couldn’t see me online. I wanted a moment of peace because he’d been nagging me - I think I was in a serious conversation and knew that the messages would be coming in fast and furious if I didn’t set it so this other guy wouldn’t see I was online, but I think I was also waiting to hear from someone else. Anyway, apparently he logged on under another name and got hacked off because he could see me online with that ID. I ended up blocking him, and eventually quit IMing entirely. I had many of the same complaints as the OP, actually.

[Ruby]

@AudreyK

I can’t really imagine IMing with random strangers. I have always set my programs to block random IMs and to make me visible only to people on my contact list.

That said, I do occasionally find that people I’ve known for years have annoying IM habits. I had one friend who separated related fragments of thought into individual IMs. So I’d get a series of messages like this:

Oh, I ran into Bob today.

<next message, 5 seconds later>

He said to tell you hi.

<next message, 7 seconds later>

He wasn’t sure if you’d remember him lol.

<next message, 4 seconds later>

But he said to say hi to you anyway

<next message, 4 seconds later>

Do you remember Bob?

<next message, 3 seconds later>

He’s a nice guy.
Every conversation with her was like that. I know it’s easy to hit Enter after every sentence you type, but there really was no reason to. Most of her IM trains could have been reduced to 2-3 messages, tops. Eventually I learned to wait a few minutes and read her IMs in batches, and then respond.

I usually set my IM programs to make noise every time I get a new message, but because of her I had to disable that.

IMO, the alternative is worse. I have a friend that types a friggin’ volume before hitting <enter> and I’m sitting on the other end tapping my fingers impatiently. I would prefer short bursts any day.

[Hung_Mung]

@Alice The Goon

First of all, I always want to say ‘instant messenging’, which just sounds stupid and I have to correct myself.

I do this too, and it makes me feel dumb. As for breaking everything down in to single-sentence messages…well, I find it amusing. The fake conversations between Livestock and moof from SA’s Daily Dirt are generally very amusing to me for that reason.

[SurrenderDorothy]

@Ruby

IMO, the alternative is worse. I have a friend that types a friggin’ volume before hitting <enter> and I’m sitting on the other end tapping my fingers impatiently. I would prefer short bursts any day.

that, and it gives you a chance to say “oh yeah, good ol’ Bob! I heard he got fat!” somewhere in there and save her all the “remember Bob? remember? Bob? you know, his name starts with a B? that Bob.”

[Freudian_Push_Up_Bra]

Rant score: 5/10. Good topic, had potential, failed to cuss.

I live on MSN messenger and I’ve had a few people find my email address and add me, which can be a little surreal when they don’t know who you are, they just added you at random…

[Geek_Mecha]

@Ruby

IMO, the alternative is worse. I have a friend that types a friggin’ volume before hitting <enter> and I’m sitting on the other end tapping my fingers impatiently. I would prefer short bursts any day.

I can see that. Neither makes for a natural conversation rhythm. There’s middle ground, of course, and some people just never get it. Though at least when they send a wall of text, you get the sense they’ve said everything they intended to say.

[shizaru]

@AudreyK

I can see that. Neither makes for a natural conversation rhythm. There’s middle ground, of course, and some people just never get it. Though at least when they send a wall of text, you get the sense they’ve said everything they intended to say.

I hate IMs. Every time i’ve ventured into it with friends I’ve regretted it. Why? Because every time I turn my computer at home on they see that I’m online and expect me to spend my entire evening chatting with them. It doesn’t help that I’m in Europe and they’re in the states, so theres a time difference. It might be early afternoon for the IMer but its evening for me, I just got home from work!

I have to agree with an above poster that commented on how pouty some people get when you try to sign off gracefully. Its like the IM technology makes people forget that A) I might have turned the PC on to, you know, get some work done. B) Theres nothing so urgent to say in an IM that you can’t just email about it and C) Even if i’m not working, your IM’s are interrupting my WoW/ CoH game. Which pisses me off to no end, because if i didn’t answer your “Are you there” query the first ten times, maybe I’m not there and maybe I am but I’m not gonna answer you.

[Nava]

@OneCentStamp

Block 'em. When you block someone, they can no longer see when you’re online. And they don’t get a message saying “AliceTheGoon has BLOCKED your SORRY ASS,” they simply don’t see you online, so you can always unblock them later if you feel the need, with no (or fewer) hard feelings.

Unless, of course, the person doing the block is the Team Manager and, while she appears to everybody on the team as “offline”, they see her IM screen over her shoulder.

Including the shit she’s typing to her bf about her subordinates.

No, she wasn’t too intelligent, why do you ask?

[XJETGIRLX]

@hawksgirl

For me its more annoying all split up because, believe it or not, I’m probably not on the internet just to talk to you, and interrupting me every 2 seconds gets old fast. I’d rather wait until you complete a thought and give it to me that way, but its not for me to set the Almighty Rules of the Internet.

Actually, depending on your instant messenge client you can adjust the notifications so it’s not interrupting you every time you get a new message, and you can check back at your leisure. If your client doesn’t do this, there are a number of free clients that will integrate accounts from all the major IM services and they do have options like this.

Trillian is a desktop client that integrates AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ accounts. You can adjust the notification windows to blink, make a sound, or not.

Meebo is a web-based client that integrates AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, and GTalk accounts. Since it’s launched in a web browser, you can check it when you want, and you can turn the notification sounds on or off.

[Count_Blucher]

@Alice The Goon

I know it’s mundane and not really a big deal, but I’ve been IMing a lot lately, and these things start to get to you. Which is what The Pit is for, really, to vent and rant and blow off steam. I felt much better after typing out the OP, and have resolved to be a bit more of a hardass about my IM rules, so that I don’t get so frustrated sometimes.

I really do think IM could be a wonderful way of communicating- I can’t text fast, email is slow, and I don’t really enjoy talking on the phone. I just wish everyone would get with the program. The just sitting there silent and expecting me to carry the conversation really aggravates me. Don’t IM me if you have nothing to say! But yes, it definitely is a great way of culling the losers and inconsiderates. Maybe that’s what my rant is about- there are too many losers and inconsiderates out there in the dating world!

your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to cull the IM universe of all inconsiderates and losers, and all for the low, low price of just $19.99 per month…

You know, if AIM and Yahoo were fly-paper to keep people from going postal in schools and ex-spouses houses, keeping these guys busy and off the streets might be considered a public service, making you a Hero/Heroine.
(So, cape or no cape…? )