How many dopers use it, and why? I’m at work, so I’m unable to go to #straightdope. I know my brother and a few friends use it, so I sent them e-mail, but I would think it would be odd to try to start up a conversation with a total stranger. Hmmmmmm…
I have it mainly because AOL gets tempermental at times so I use msn or anything else and AIM so it’s just like still using my screen name. Besides, all my friends live too far away to go visit on a regular basis, so we use AIM and AOL to keep in touch. Good luck, again I wouldn’t advise talking to strangers.
I met one of my best friends through AOL (well, it was a chat room on AOL, but still). He lives 5-6 hours away and we keep in contact, even visit each other at times.
However, I think it’s better to just put on people you want to talk to, people you know.
I actually prefer the AIM-9 over the AIM-7. Yes, I know the AIM-7 has BVR capability, but less face it, the AIM-9 has a lot more dogfight kills and that’s what counts. The AIM-7 doesn’t have the range of AMRAAM or the economy of AIM-9; there’s just no room for it any more.
“less face it”? How in Pucki’s name did “let’s face it” get typed in as “less face it”? Who is hacking my posts? Someone trying to tease for not even knowing what AIM is?
(All grammatical errors in the above post have been put in by evil hackers.)
I love my AIM. I work at night and most of my friends are working when I’m home, so its a great way to keep in touch with them. I have only met one stranger, and that was through a mutual friend. I don’t know how I kept in touch before I had it.
Well, Boris, you’re Airforce nerd humor has damn near killed me. AIM is Aol Instant Messenger… it’s sort of a personal little do-dad that let’s you chat with folks. I usually use Yahoo Messenger, and that works ok, but most all of my friends use AIM, so here I am… visions of chatting with Welfy drift quickly by
Sorry, I got distracted.
Now then, since one can’t get into IRC here at work(not event the Java Applet) what are the odds of getting a SDAIM room going??
There are a number of instant messenging services out there - AIM (AOL instant messenger) is but one. You sign up, add people’s usernames to your list and you can send messages back and forth while online. Many instant messaging services also allow you to send files or images to someone. You can also create a chat room and invite people on your list to talk.
I also like ICQ because it also allows to leave a message (much like leaving an answering machine message).
I use AOL, ICQ, and Yahoo. I don’t use MSN since they have yet to create a client for Linux.
If people want, I can create a small database and web interface to return a list of board names to ICQ/AIM/Yahoo names. You could then just add your names to the DB.
Could probably get it to output valid config files for the various clients to save time.
Does the windows AIM client allow reading from a new config file, or would users have to cut n paste the appropriate lines into their standard config?
Ok - AIM, ICQ, MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger (and others) are all programs that allow you to talk with people online in real time. It’s like chat, only you send message to each other back and forth (there are chatroom options as well).
Say I have AIM on, and I see that you come online. I can highlight your name and type “what’s up?” and you can respond. If you have a lot of people that live far away, it’s a great way to talk without racking up that phone bill. However, you need to be aware that technically anyone with too much time on their hands can figure out a way to view your conversations, so you don’t want to give out personal information on them. You can also transfer files - say I wanted to send you a picture of me, I could do so instantly.
all the instant messenging programs have their pros and cons, it’s a matter of preference.
Thanks for the info, Tristan and Rally. I’ve heard of ICQ but I didn’t really know there was anything else like it. I assume AIM people can only talk to AIM people, and not ICQ people or vice versa. (Although Rally Vincent proves that CZ-75 people can be AIM people as well.)
Not true, if AIM people want to talk to ICQ people, all that is needed is a central server to mediate visit http://www.Jabber.org - still under development, but it isn’t the only universal chat protocol/server combo available.
As for a central directory of SDMB people, is it worth it? Would you really want to suddenly have several hundred to several thousand more people in your AIM list?