Instant messager conversations

[aidanjm]

Do you guys feel comfortable letting a person hang in the middle of a conversation, while you answer an email or fix a snack? I don't understand the appropriate etiquette. Am I supposed to give the person I am talking to my entire attention, or can I be vague and respond occasionally, when I remember to? Is it considered rude to do that? Is it ok to have a conversation, or several conversations, sort of chugging along in the background?

 

[dighn]

I always say "brb" in that kind of situation

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Depends on who they are and also if we are having a meaningful conversation.

Example 1: Girl I'm dating, I probably wouldn't just get up and disappear for a few minutes.

Example 2: One of my buddies, Don't care and they probably won't either. Although I'll probably say brb.

 

[NaOH]

brb

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
brb

k

 

[aidanjm]

answers so far are pathetic :|

more responses pls

 

[Compton]

bbl

 

[Shawn]

When I'm talking with my friends I am usually doing several things and usually they are too so delayed responses are common. That's one of the advantages of talking online really. You can multitalk. There are very few people who i'll give my full attention to when talking online.

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
answers so far are pathetic :|

more responses pls

sorry I was fixing a snack. It depends on the person. Most people I know are good IMers which means they respond when the conversation is going somewhere. They also know when I'm at work so I can't respond immediately after they ping me.

In general I say brb if I know I'm going to be away for more than 10 mins.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
answers so far are pathetic :|

more responses pls

I am currently away from my computer.

 

[aidanjm]

what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

 

[Aimster]

I just get up and leave

if people want to talk to me they can call me

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

that is one of the reasons why i use trillian. i leave my away message on 24/7. if i want to chat with someone i can without it changing my status to available. that way I only talk to people when i want to. everyone else except my close friends assume i'm away.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: aidanjm
what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

that is one of the reasons why i use trillian. i leave my away message on 24/7. if i want to chat with someone i can without it changing my status to available. that way I only talk to people when i want to. everyone else except my close friends assume i'm away.

Trillian freaking rocks. I've been using it since 1.0 pro.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: OVerLoRDI

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: aidanjm
what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

that is one of the reasons why i use trillian. i leave my away message on 24/7. if i want to chat with someone i can without it changing my status to available. that way I only talk to people when i want to. everyone else except my close friends assume i'm away.

Trillian freaking rocks. I've been using it since 1.0 pro.

Haha, I've been using it since 0.60 or something. It was very basic back then, no file transfers or anything but I still thought it was pretty cool.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Yeah, I've been with Trillian for ages... back when the Pokemon thing was ending is when they started - ceruleanstudios.com (one of their domains) came from the name of a city in that game actually.

 

[j00fek]

bbiab

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: aidanjm
what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

that is one of the reasons why i use trillian. i leave my away message on 24/7. if i want to chat with someone i can without it changing my status to available. that way I only talk to people when i want to. everyone else except my close friends assume i'm away.

I have mine on permanent "here" status and dont let people see if im idle or not. so its basically the same since no one knows whether im acutally in front of my computer or not. and as far as the OP goes, a quick brb is good enough. its actually kind of rude to just get up and leave especially if you're in the middle of a conversation but if the conversation itself has died down then i dont feel the need to make a note of me leaving.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
its actually kind of rude to just get up and leave especially if you're in the middle of a conversation...

but it's also a weird feeling to be able to be contacted at any moment, and to be expected to be willing to engage in chit-chat. what if you are busy or feeling anti-social? just ignore it when someone opens a chat with you?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

Originally posted by: Mo0o
its actually kind of rude to just get up and leave especially if you're in the middle of a conversation...

but it's also a weird feeling to be able to be contacted at any moment, and to be expected to be willing to engage in chit-chat. what if you are busy or feeling anti-social? just ignore it when someone opens a chat with you?

Some people do that; particularly those that keep their IM client in an always-away or always-present status. It theoretically makes the other party believe that you didn't get the message.

But then, of course, there are those that try that and fail to realize that there are also online activity indicators such as those here at ATOT, which are usually a more accurate indicator of whether someone is really at their PC or not.

I personally respond to every message I get, even if it's just a "hey, busy right now, ttyl" or whatever.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: aidanjm
what about people who are boring (or whatever), and whom you don't have much in common with, but you like having sex with them occasionally? Just ignore them, until you are horny, then hit them up? I feel sort of obligated to make small talk when I see their profile light up in my instant messenging application. Even tho I have no real desire to chat with them. Until I want to have sex with them, that is.

that is one of the reasons why i use trillian. i leave my away message on 24/7. if i want to chat with someone i can without it changing my status to available. that way I only talk to people when i want to. everyone else except my close friends assume i'm away.

:thumbsup:

 

[ATLien247]

brb, afk, maybe change my availability, or sometimes nothing at all...

I seldom give IM my full attention, nor do I expect the person I'm chatting with to give it their full attention either.

 

[RossMAN]

brb ftw

 

[Evadman]

it is IM not a phone call.

 

[dxkj]

brb works for 1-15 mins away, afk = undetermined