i'll take off my disguise the mask you met me in

I keep two AIMs. One that I'm almost never signed into, my old VASpider one, which is on the buddy list of a lot of people and was publicly available for a bit.

Then I have my other one, which is occasionally mentioned here and there but generally not publicly available, which I'm pretty much constantly signed in to when I'm online. It lets my sister and such get in touch with me while not leaving me totally out there for some random guy to bother me.

YMMV, etc.

VASpider, except for the bit about letting sisters get in touch, that makes sense.

Well, maybe you have a sane sister.

Dunno, I never got into AIM for some reason. Think I'm too wordy, and can't type or read the abbreviations without cringing.

Responding to "bbiab" with "What the fuck are you talking about?" is not a good way to win friends, by the way.

And yet, YMMV looks perfect reasonable. Odd, that.

*shudder*

This is one of the reasons I stick to good old fashioned MOOing for my realtime online conversations. None of this newfangled "buddy list" crap for me, no sir.

Of course, there were the Ugly Years on many MOOs where one could expect to be randomly paged with "R U M or F?" at altogether too frequent intervals...

Ah, no, actually, I have two sisters. The one in question is the reason that I froth about stereotyping of mentally ill people. Ahem. So, no, I don't have a sane sister. I do have a sister of which I'm rabidly protective, however.

I like AIM, and I mostly like it for the real-time aspect of the conversation. I tolerate my sister's heavy abbreviations -- and sometimes find myself using them -- but it's helpful overall to someone like me, what with the hearing loss and all. I'd prefer it, nine times out of ten, to talking on the phone with someone. AIM generally involves a whole lot less "What did you say?" and "I didn't hear you, say that again?"

Again, YMMV.

Now they're all on World of Darkness MUSHes, hanne, and they just wander around with frightening porn-star descs or looking like Riddic from Pitch Black.

Pfeh. I wish that m or f paging lot would just go to a sex MU* and get it over with already.

:lookat jim

jim is an unskilled adventurer. he is wearing a brown robe and carrying a big stick. he has 2 gold coins.

:hit jim

you hit yourself on the head with the stick!

I *bigspammyheart* my pathetic little cliquey MOO, in that case, where I know almost everyone offline as well as on, and where there are amazingly few people who get on my nerves.

And no, I am so very not mentioning which one it is or where you can find it (though I may part with the info if you email me and convince me that you should be allowed to know).

During the bad old days of LambdaMOO's heavy netsex phase -- I'm dating myself, here, I know -- I used to enjoy putting the description "ask and I rip your dick off" on my character. It didn't cut down on the wannafucks much, but hey, I figured I at least made the warning clear...

Oh, great, now hanne's going to make me email her like some sort of giggling fangirl and try to convince her that I should get to hang out with the cool kids.

*sigh*

Anyway, there's a reason I'm mostly off of WoD MUSHes anymore, and the one I'm on, I stay within my circle of known roleplayers and venture out occasionally. That is the reason, actually, pretty much.

Say what you like, at least the Trek MUX doesn't have that CRAZY RAMPANT CYBERSEX problem. And the RP is good. And... okay, now I'm just going to start looking like I'm justifying things.

(Jim, that sounds like a MUD. Don't confuse that with a MOO or a MUX/MUSH, lest I be required to smite you).

:garrity sashays in

Did someone say 'Smite?'

VASpider smites, leaving only a charred hole in the earth.

Damnit.

nerds.

Although, after I spent mucho time fighting with folks in newsgroups back in 1993 my other big net obsession was the Star Wars MUD.

Many a late college night in the computer lab killing things, my girlfriend at the time played as we...

wait, I'm cool!

Nerds.

I prefer "geek," thank you.

Yep this kind of stuff is exactly why I keep mine semi-private....although I'm starting to think that maybe I'm missing out on some good conversations...

i have three AIM id's. one, i can't login to because about 50 people have it. one, i can only log into if i reeeeeally have some time on my hands, because about 8 or 20 people have it. and one, i login to when i'm drunk, as it contains the two or three people i have determined think i'm fun when i'm drunk.

all in all, i mostly only click over to the AIM when i'm drunk. and that's usually to find someone who wants to babble on the phone.

I tend to lurk, regardless. I'm sort of perma-away, and the only way to find out if I'm actually there is to message me.

If I'm not, or just don't feel like talking, I won't answer. Not the greatest way of dealing, no, but it lets me be available for crises and for Kate without being subjected to too much chatter if I'm not in the mood.

See, that's what I get for linking to that Seattle Times article. *chuckle* Folks who don't know how to act right IM you, and you send them on over to me. (No, before you ask: whoever-he-is hasn't come by to act a fool -- yet.)

I'm on all day during the day and less and less often when I'm at home.

I've moved to Cecily's style of IM'ing. You can't chat with me unless I add you to my buddy list first. That's so much better than blocking idiots because the idiots don't know they are idiots and try to contact you from other IM names.

There was one particular jackass that wanted to give me tips on how to "go commando" that necessitated this change.

George, you're so much more patient when dealing with the special needs children, I thought it was for the best. Don't think he believed a word I said, though. Go figure.

Jason, your life frightens me.

kd, remind me never to give you my other screen name. No matter which category I fell into, I'd find some way to resent it.

VASpider, think my mutant ability to find people's pet peeves has narrowed down to just hitting yours. Weird. Wonder if we can get a grant to study this?

I'm actually not peeved at all, Aaron, and, truth be told, I dislike the sane/insane thing entirely, for reasons that are probably fairly obvious.

Wait. Grant? I retract that. I'm entirely peeved.

Or something.

Oh god. Not MUDs. I spent way too much time working/playing on certain MUDs based on William Gibson novels. Oh dear. I purposely changed my password to something unrememberable and signed off forever. Luckily I was addicted to an elistist MUD that didn't allow new members. Freedom horrible freedom.

hmmph! i'm hurt that you wouldn't want to be one of the few, discerning connoisseurs of my drunkenness in the IM.

there's no accounting for taste, eh?