The fact that people use instant messengers like a dating chatroom used to piss me off majorly. However, I got used to that after some time as some of them actually bothered to check your age before asking it :rolleyes: The smartest ones would even check your city and compare it with theirs... ;)

Oh well, some of them were even amiable and fun to talk to. Others, unfortunately, would pepper your IM screen with spelling erros, flood with incessant streams of words undefiled by punctuation, or grace every single line with an abundance of exclamation or question marks.

Damn how I hate to see more than one question or exclamation mark in one place. I hate it. Especially with exclamation marks, one is already too much in most cases :rolleyes:

I considered removing my data from databases and leaving it a bare number. However, that wasn't a good idea. Many people would show up who would otherwise have realised earlier that perhaps I wasn't made for them and have moved on to greener pastures. Data attracts people who want to talk with a specific category of people, but at least some other ones will abstain from bothering you... At least they won't show up in an insta-popup always-on-top window asking your gender. Laetentur Caeli :heh:

Still, all this was not enough. Occasionally, some people are not interested in flirting (after all, one needs to practice flirting skills and one may as well do that with strangers, and through IM as well) or chilling out. Nay. Some will actually be bent on creating a lifelong friendship with you or exchanging your philosophical outlooks on the very sense of there being a universe, damn it. Please... :sosad:

What is the worst horror, though?

The worst horror of it all when the mysterious stranger who has a great current need to chat with me on no particular subject is male. That's too much, even for my thoroughly patient and agreeable nature :toofar:

Poll Information
This poll contains 4 question(s). 27 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: How about random strangers on ICQ or other messengers? (27 votes.)

Do you hate it when strangers pick you at random or by personal data on IMs? (Choose 1)
* Yes - 59% (16)
* No - 41% (11)

Do you ever pick complete strangers at random or by personal data on IMs? (Choose 1)
* Yes - 7% (2)
* No - 93% (25)

Do you hate it when strangers of your own gender are bothering you? (Choose 1)
* Yes - 63% (17)
* No - 37% (10)

Do you ever pick random complete strangers of your gender to talk to on IMs? (Choose 1)
* Yes - 4% (1)
* No - 96% (26)

I have never had any of what you describe happen to me. I'm not sure what sort of databases you must be signed up to . . . . . .

I don't mind strangers talking to me at all, as long as they don't swear or insult me. In fact the ones that have spoken to me were all very nice. Actually one recent person searched by same high school and found me, and we had a decent discussion about how our high school has changed since I graduated.

No, I have never seeked out other strangers to talk to.

The worst horror would be advertising. They say hi, and supply some freaky link (usually porn, but some are ads for job sites or whatnot) which I never click... EVER. I just add them all to the ignore list and forget about them.

Every IM client has many options you can use to filter how much attention (if any) you want to get from random strangers. So I really don't see what the problem is. If you're logged on as "free for chat" and have no "approve before being able to talk to me" option on, then it's your own fault you're getting the attention you don't want. It's all in the settings.

Not if you actually need the authorisation demand disabled for various people who contact you on business and stuff. And, anyway, some of them add you to their contact list and ask authorisation straight away, as if they were your long lost friends :rolleyes:

And I don't have free for chat status, you can be sure of that :D

As soon as I install it, I immediately set my client to ignore anyone not on my list :)

I don't need random chat from bozos :)

Never really got to use ICQ, AIM, or similars, but when I gave them a try, I got -too- a few idle calls. (E.g: some Korean woman asking how it is in Finland.) It becomes a problem when they start mocking it, or after "Hi! Nice to meet you! Oh... er... BYE!" -that makes me feel pretty much insulted.

What I hate is that if you go into any of the AIM chatrooms (i don't normally go into them either, but i was bored one time) and despite whatever the chatroom is for (videogames, whatever), usually about 75% of the people want to cyber, or all they type is the URL for porn sites

I have no idea whatsoever what this topic is about. :(

You and me both, Splunge..... :confused:

Genarally, when people look at my profile, they figure out I'm an oddball. So, most people that contact me are other SCAdians or My Little Pony collectors, so there's common interest to begin with.
Generally, when I get a random contact that does does the "hi, how are you" etc, I say first off that I'm not interested in dating or sex. That weeds out most. The rest I just send my picture to. I'm no fashion model, and so far, that's chased off the rest... :rolleyes: nothing like shattering their illusions...

That's exactly why i never bother with chatrooms, it's such a waste of time. I've been in a few occasionally, and i actually felt dumber afterwards. :D

We're talking about instant messaging (IM) clients, small programs which primarily allow you to send text messages back and forth to other people with the same client. Very useful for instant communication online. Everyone on the SP team, for example, uses ICQ by default. But since there now exist clients which support multiple IM protocols (every IM program basically uses a different one), it's much easier to work with people using different IM programs as well. I use Miranda now, which is completely free, unlike most other clients, which usually display some form of advertising. But it also supports dozens of other protocols apart from ICQ, and is extensively customizable.

Proper chatrooms are another issue altogether. While the IM clients allow for crude chatrooms where multiple people can communicate, you'll find the real deal on IRC (Internet-relay chat) networks. The SP chatrooms are on one such network.

I sometimes add a intresting sounding e-mail adress to my msn messenger, one that I see in a forward mail. I hope be doing this not receiving any forwards anymore AND find some nice people to talk to.

The last time I did this was about 2 years ago I think I did grow up a bit after that one ;)

Generally, I don't add people into my MSN unless I know who they are. However, there are a LOT of random people at school, or are associates of my associates, so basically people I don't or hardly know.

They tend to be 14-year old girls who lol at everything I say and with horrible spelling. Some are slightly tolerable, though, and some are mildly humorous.

And don't get me started on one of those random conversations where nobody knows who everyone else is. It's very annoying.