Instant Messaging Nicks

First off, for those newbies who don’t know what “instant messaging” is, it is an application used to send a message from one person to another with zero to no delay. Today’s popular instant messenger’s or IM’s are Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and probably some others.

I’ve got more than 50 contacts (after deleting a whole bunch of “unnecessary” contacts),  yet somehow I have a lot of “retarded” friends who need to feel unique. They would once in a while change their nick name into some chunk of text that is a phrase/quote/illegible text/chinese or some other language that I don’t understand.

At first, it may seem “amusing”, however after requiring to identify a person by their email a hundred times it gets superbably annoying.

Seriously is it that hard to leave your main nick in front?

What do I do with these people? Well, thanks to MSN, I now have the ability to rename their nicks. What I normally do is I add a “Noob” and add a name that I’m familiar with. For example, Chi Hang is known as Noob Chi Hang on my MSN.

A pre-empty apology from me to those I renamed. Normally those who are renamed would not know in the first place so my apology isn’t really needed.

However, I would like to apologize to my friends who I “stalk” by messaging them if I notice they are online (I do not use any notifications, instead I check my contact list once in a while). Yes, I am bored and so I message my friends if I see them online. Hey, if they were “really” busy they could opt to just “appear offline” or just go offline. Well regardless, I should learn to refrain from bugging people so much.

NEW UPDATE (Edited on 7/6/09)

Yan Leng, commented that some people use windows messenger plus, which allows users to “beautify” their nickname and other features, however it is only viewable by other people using the same program. So let me get this straight, I need to download and use a different application from the one I already have, just to see people’s nicks with special effects? No thanks. Normally I only use IM’s to communicate and send files, in fact I even disabled custom smileys  which I find overused and annoying.

I do know many people, especially my work colleagues who use Yahoo messenger instead of MSN messenger. When asked why they chose YM over MSN, most of them simply said that YM was more “pretty”. Pffft… To those people who use Messenger Plus, I would ask them to “have fun” with their “toys”.

I find the concept of having features only available/functioning only while using a certain modified software as a retarded concept. Why? People who use this Messenger Plus forget that not everyone on their contact list uses Messenger Plus. A majority would use Windows Live Messenger, which is the official application for MSN IM network. Some who use PDA’s or mobile devices would use a specialized mobile version of this application. People using Macs would use a Mac version of this same application. People who use Linux might use Pidgin as an alternative to Windows Live Messenger (Windows Live Messenger is not released for Linux systems). People who may need to switch PC’s often (for example students using labs) might have to use Windows Messenger (the first version of Windows Live Messenger, which is even older than MSN Messenger) or E-Buddy (which is a website which allows users to login MSN networks using any browser any where). Not to forget, that MSN and Yahoo has recently connected their networks, so that would mean you might have people using YM to chat with you.

Are the people who use Messenger Plus forget about all these other people who don’t use that application? Sure you get some pretty neat features in Messenger Plus, but it’s more like a “personal entertainment” value. In order for others to “enjoy” they have to “join the club”.

No thanks.

If I wanted to use a different application, I would want one that uses less resource, allows basic chatting features (no nudges no custom emoticons), file sharing, perhaps video/audio conferencing. I wouldn’t want nor need “beautiful” functions.

No thank you.