Outstant Messeging

D: What's an antonym for "instant"?
=M=: "Outstant?"

At the risk of dating myself, I'll tell you that I was there when IM was in its infancy.

I was a subscriber of US Videotel, which sold an all-in-one terminal with a built-in modem, connecting you to on-line data before AOL or Prodigy had taken off. The real reason people signed on, however, was a thing called Chat. My nick for the service was "Case," after the lead character in Neuromancer, which chicks dug because I was literary and edgy.

Even then, I could see precursors to something I consider to be the scourge of the Web -- emoticons and chatcronyms. You know them as the extended family of =-) and ROFL.

After someone explained what they were, and I saw the long list of what chatcronyms were in use, I left them all behind, swearing to rarely, if ever, use the damned things. My typing skills were always above average -- even with the lousy keyboards attached to the USV terms -- so I never minded typing things out.

(I should take this moment to state that I don't think badly of anyone who uses either abbreviated method of chatting -- your chat is your pidgeon. It's just not for me.)

My allergy to emoticons has gotten me into trouble more than a few times, dating back to the first time I hopped into an AIM chat room in 1997. Less than 30 minutes later, I was booted by an overprotective SYSOP because some young (and, in this room, popular) twentysomething trollop took offense to one of my ironic witticisms. At the time, I chalked it up to the lack of sophistication in the room (even then, a superiority complex!), but I knew then, and now, that the use of one or two well-placed ;-) would have gotten the message across that I was, in fact, JK.

These days, I'm sure I'm looked upon as a bit of an anachronist, typing all of my stuff out rather than using the built-in acronyms that AIM or Y!IM or MSNM have. Big deal.

The printed word has always relied on the reader to infer a bit of the writer's inflection when reading it. Instead of having your reactions spoonfed to you, you should be able to make your own decisions on what the writer means, without having to look at a smiley face.

Comments

[Bill]

Hey! I was on Videotel too! My PSE was Metal Dude. Do you still talk to anyone from Videotel?