dmiessler.com | grep understanding - Latest Comments in Instant Messaging Kills Babies

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

David Precious — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:18:58 -0000

@Aaron:
"I see some people saying “just set your status to XYZ!”, but that’s really not the point here. People still contact you. You still get messages. No matter what you’re doing, BAMF - right in the foreground you get a message from `lolfriend57`."

Well you need to tell your contacts - "if I'm marked as busy, do not send messages to me unless it's very important". If they refuse to respect that, just block them.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

WWILF — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:18:37 -0000

Nice subtle title!

I've stopped using IM a few years ago and I never miss it. Occasionally I do sign in (few times a year) and have a good (as in: it has a subject and I'm happy having talked/chatted to that person afterwards) chat with someone.

I prefer meeting someone face to face over chat, and e-mail for quick notes, reminders and exchanging e-letters with someone I can't see very often (because they live too far away). So, no need for IM for me!

BTW Your sidebar with the shared links runs over this text input area, covering the ends of my sentences a bit (Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP)

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

Aaron Griffin — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:57:04 -0000

I see some people saying "just set your status to XYZ!", but that's really not the point here. People still contact you. You still get messages. No matter what you're doing, BAMF - right in the foreground you get a message from `lolfriend57`.
See, here's the problem. When you get messages and are marked as "busy", not only do you STILL get an interruption, but you also still have to parse the message to know if you must ignore it or not.

Also, I just sent this link over IM to a friend, and didn't realize the irony.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

Tim F. — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:55:10 -0000

I only sign on to an im client when I check gmail.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

CarlM — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:40:04 -0000

You need to redefine "rude" or use the "invisible" or "BUSY" option most of those systems provide. "BUSY" means .. I'm here, but don't expect a reply.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

Karl — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:13:28 -0000

Try not signing on for a couple weeks. You'll be surprised how awesome it is and how much easier it is than you think. I haven't used AIM for 2 years now and don't miss it.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

derp — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:00:28 -0000

I keep my phone on silent at all times, and I keep AIM and MSN open but my status is always "unavailable," which allows me to ignore any message with the excuse "I wasn't at the PC." Nowadays.

Re: Instant Messaging Kills Babies

Adrian Bool — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:19:12 -0000

Have you dumped all of your phones too? ;-)

aid