FA+
Shop
Another rant about instant messaging
13 years ago
Lately I've gotten pretty sick of instant messaging, in general. First off, I've been getting the occasional message that I know is spam, which is just making me wary of every message I get from someone I don't know. Every time I get one, I think back to that spambot from a few years back that would message two random people under the guise of each other, so if you respond you get trapped in a conversation with a total stranger who thinks you messaged him first. I have no idea if they ever figured out a way to stop those, but even if they did, I don't like talking with people who I have no idea who they are and, for all I know, just found me by randomly looking through the Yahoo directory.
The fact that they just post "hi" and expect me to start an actual conversation from there isn't helping either. I feel like there need to be some ground rules, some netiquette, if you will, for sending an instant message to someone for the first time. You wouldn't call someone on the phone and not say who you are as soon as they answer, especially if it's someone who wouldn't recognize you from your caller ID. I think the responsibility should be on the "caller" to start up a conversation before the recipient is expected to say anything.
Systems where you have to confirm a mutual friend status before either person can message the other are actually even worse, because then I just get friend requests from total strangers with no way to talk to them to find out who they are. So I'd have to confirm their request up front anyway, so why even bother asking?
It's funny. I used to think that SMS was just a scam to get people to pay extra for something anyone with an Internet-enabled phone could do for free. But now I'm starting to see why people might prefer it to getting a phone with an IM client.
The fact that they just post "hi" and expect me to start an actual conversation from there isn't helping either. I feel like there need to be some ground rules, some netiquette, if you will, for sending an instant message to someone for the first time. You wouldn't call someone on the phone and not say who you are as soon as they answer, especially if it's someone who wouldn't recognize you from your caller ID. I think the responsibility should be on the "caller" to start up a conversation before the recipient is expected to say anything.
Systems where you have to confirm a mutual friend status before either person can message the other are actually even worse, because then I just get friend requests from total strangers with no way to talk to them to find out who they are. So I'd have to confirm their request up front anyway, so why even bother asking?
It's funny. I used to think that SMS was just a scam to get people to pay extra for something anyone with an Internet-enabled phone could do for free. But now I'm starting to see why people might prefer it to getting a phone with an IM client.
Baravelli: ...you can't come in unless you give the password.
Professor Wagstaff: Well, what is the password?
Baravelli: Aw, no. You gotta tell me. Hey, I tell what I do. I give you three guesses. It's the name of a fish.
Professor Wagstaff: Is it "Mary?"
Baravelli: [laughing] 'At's-a no fish!
Professor Wagstaff: She isn't? Well, she drinks like one! ...Let me see... Is it "Sturgeon"?
Baravelli: Aw, you-a craze. A "sturgeon", he's a doctor cuts you open when-a you sick. Now I give you one more chance.
Wagstaff: I got it! "Haddock".
Baravelli: 'At's a-funny, I got a "haddock" too.
Wagstaff: What do you take for a "haddock"?
Baravelli: Sometimes I take an aspirin, sometimes I take a calomel.
Wagstaff: Y'know, I'd walk a mile for a calomel.
Baravelli: You mean chocolate calomel? I like-a that too, but you no guess it. [Slams door. Wagstaff knocks again. Baravelli opens peephole again.] Hey, what's-a matter, you no understand English? You can't come in here unless you say, "Swordfish." Now I'll give you one more guess.
Professor Wagstaff: ...swordfish, swordfish... I think I got it. Is it "swordfish"?
Baravelli: Hah. That's-a it. I guess it.
Professor Wagstaff: Pretty good, eh?
accepting a contact sucks without being able to talk to sy beforehand, that i agree with, but the worst is when they can tell that you've deleted them
There is no clear way to make it all better I guess, that's why they ended up going with the lessser of two evils.