I had another issue early on when someone new to chat started chatting with me. She would leave her computer, and with out knowing, her husband would pick up on our conversation. I being a woman, did not appreciate this at all especially when the conversation was of a personal nature.
When I had learned that they were doing this, I voiced my opinion. It seems they did not respect my opinion, and they stopped chatting with me all together, as if they were the ones with the concern.

Lastly, there are still folks who use all caps. I would have thought by now, everyone know that using all caps meant that or could be seen as someone yelling!! If there intend is for thier font to be larger… well use another size font!!

I know there isn’t anything that I can do to change the folk I chat with. But what I can do is decide whether I can muster the patience needed to chat with the individual. Or share from the heart how I feel about their actions and hope they not only understand but respect me and learn from the experiences as not to carry it into other interactions with people on line.

Thanks for letting me share.
L J

I start with “hello”. If the receiver is not busy then I continue.
I then write a quick clear questions: “What’s the command to do X?”
I may add a few lines after that to show what I’ve tried already.
If the receiver is busy – “on phone”, “1 sec”, etc.
I just send a np and wait.
I do not send lots of replies – each one brings up to IM popup, which is annoying.
I use ciao or bye to end the session – meaning “you do not need to type anything else…”

Initially,I thought,I would be Able to Make Decent Income through AD programs in my Blogs,But all my Aspirations have turned out to be waste. Could you please suggest me a decent AD program for my Blog,As iam in need of quick bucks.
Regards

From Instant Messaging Etiquette Tips for Bloggers comes this great bit of info: If you’re going to ask questions at least make some attempt to find the answers for yourself first – You may be getting in contact with the blogger in question to ask th…

Great IM ‘rules’

I used to use IM a long time ago but gave up because I was getting junk and nothing was getting done!

Hart

I like your rules of engagement. That sounds like something I will do when I’m ready to re-enter IM

I think email is probably better, as it gives me a chance to filter through messages. Thanks for the tip!

Fly Girl – I’ve had that same thing happen me: ending a conversation can sometimes be painful.

Hart – didn’t know you could still leave a message if you’re “Away” – tks for the heads up on that (shows how much I know about IM).

I especially like the part about starting with e-mails first, since it’ll allow to know who you’re talking to, and where they have found your IM handle. At times, I’ve gotten MSN notices of “xx has added you”, and if the e-mail address isn’t familiar, I’m always torn between accepting all the same, or simply rejecting it. It also often happens that it takes days or even weeks for me and said person to be online at the same time, and by the time they finally contact me, I’m all “huh? who’s that?”. Same on ICQ… I’m not tough and bitchy regarding authorizing people, but my authroize message expressely asks for details such as “where do I know you from” or “tell me who you are”, so if the person doesn’t even give me a reason to add them, well… buh-bye. After a while of having had my share of fake handles, porn advertisement tricks and other nice little things, including people I’ve banned trying to sneak back in by pretending they’re somene else, I just don’t want to clutter my contact lists with junk.

I sometimes go for days without an IM chat :) Only having 15 contacts on there might have something to do with it.

One thing I have learnt though is that when you chat with your 12 year old nephew make sure you use a version of messenger that doesn’t support nudges or animated smilies, helps keeping you sane.

In the end, I had to steer them gently towards business hours and tell them politely, but firmly, the circumstances under which the meter starts ticking.

When I am available to clients or potential clients depends on what services I am providing them with and what contact details they are given.

I noticed that I was getting quite a lot of FAQ’s, so I have decided to set up a web site to help answer those questions.

I have just about finished the design and there is nothing much there at the moment, but it should reduce the amount of messages I receive and get rid of any time wasters.

So be gentle, but firm.

(1) I am logging every word you say (including IP and URL’s) and often look up the history
(2) If i’m in “away” mode, you can still type and leave me a message, and I will get it, but I may not respond until I’m good and ready or able.
(3) If I’m in “busy” mode, you can chat with me and I will chat back, but first tell me where I can send my bill – because time is money and I will charge your for the time we chat.
(4) If YOU see that I’m in “online” mode .. this means I’m between jobs, doing admin work, or just feel like chatting, so feel free to say hi and chat with me. I probably won’t initiate chat.
(5) I’m online everyday and practically all of the time. If you can’t see me online at all … then I’ve banned you. Go away.

Those etiquette rules should be common sense.. hopefully newbies will keep them in mind and remember some of them .. especially #2

ME: Glad I good help, bye.
THEM: OK thanks, bye.
THEM: Oh, wait!
ME: Yes?
THEM: Oh, nothing, bye.
ME: Good-bye
THEM: Have a nice day.
THEM: Enjoy your weekend.
THEM: Ta-ta.
THEM: Aren’t you still there?
ME: Yes, I thought we were through.
THEM: Oh, yeah, thanks again.
THEM: Bye.
THEM: Ciao.

You get the idea — say good bye and be done with it.