please empty your brain below

Since I was remiss enough not to reply to your recent email - shockingly busy, I'm afraid - I have done the next big thing and added you as an MSN contact. This is (almost) an honour, since it's more usual that I remove people rather than add them these days.

Top Tip - Trillian will save me potential RSI from moving the poxy mouse between windows and trying to guess who on what has just IM'd me!

Very useful when chatting after 12 pints of Guinness, a couple of Rioja's and single malt nightcap.

IM is an absolutely essential tool in our workplace too. Over the last few years we have come to depend upon it so much - a very effective way to communicate between ourselves as well as our suppliers. We use IM during conference calls and meetings too. I know that might seem a bit absurd - but our meetings are a lot more productive as a result.

Is there anyone other than me who really doesn't understand IM?

I understand it, but I almost never use it. I was a bit of an ICQ freak when it first came out (user#

'Dared' is the right term. I am pathologically shy about starting IM conversations with, well, anyone.

so you DO have mates then...

As I said on IM last night, I cannot believe you didn't get many more contacting you.

To those who didn't bother, I enjoyed my little brush with celebrity, and now I'm going to stalk my mate for the summer.

What I find interesting is the shared assumption that blogging has to be anonymised somehow.
And then the small, inevitable, personal disclosures that gradually happen on all blogs - the gradual loss of anonymity, starting with a biography, going through a photo or an email address, perhaps a name or location, veering into IM details. As if disclosing a route to contact via an electronic media is more anonymous than what we perceive as 'real' or 'personal' media.
Why do we fear blogs that become personalised anyway? What exactly do we worry will happen if we own up to who we are online?

IM the choice of communication of secret BB5 fans everywhere...

I like using Trillian and have even paid for the Pro version!

However, nothing beats MSN for those international voice/video calls with friends in far off places. All night long with Harare on Saturday! For no incremental cost to my broadband connection.

Oh, was that the sound of BT's share price plummeting?











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