how come most of people here dont use IM?
599018
Why do they need to? Like sumones only want Yahoo! for email only, not for chatting and letting sumone hack into your computer...
864688
Eliminate IM language because kids today are dumbing themselves down so badly that they are using IM language more often in daily usage.   Habits form in what you practice, so when teens and preteens are writing  "i luv u" all day in IMs, when they have to physically write it, they are forgetting how to spell the words.  Teachers across the nation have noted this for years as they are receiving papers with words written in IM language.  Just look at the Yahoo Answers board, so many quetions are gramattically and functionally incorrect that it makes most people who CAN form a complete sentence feel illiterate trying to read them.  But then again, the dumber the next generation keeps getting, the higher job security I will have because they won't be able to read or fill out a job application.
1093364
Just like any other ways of communicating, it could be better or worse. E-mail, cellphones, IM, and other new communication technologies are very convenient -- this way it's better than a hand-written letter sent by a horse-riding mailman. Communication and its goodness does not depend mostly upon how you communicate, but upon the person you are communicating with. Worse people, even with best communicating skills and technologies are making communicating either by any means worse as well. I hope that made sense.
122645
don't bother with it. use GAIM it has several different im protocols, like yahoo, msn, aim all in one nifty package.
630015
we dont spell properly cuz we text message a lot and we only get a limate of 180 charactersm nd we try to squeeze as much in as possible, nd so how, that also gets into when were online
37212
It's sheer laziness for some.  So many people use email and IM clients that they revert to "chatspeak" whenever they are in front of the computer monitor.  The rest, I suspect, are barely literate.
851672
It is almost certainly not due to your conversations being watched.  If an IM Content scanner is in use you would have absolutely no idea since it would be on a spam port off a switch somewhere in your network\n\nYour problem is most likely due to some network oc PC issue.
54033
The place is littered with people who are basically functionally illiterate, and I think it's disheartening to see how much of the public is simply too stupid or ignorant to form a sentence.  It's bad enough that some of them couldn't spell a word even at gunpoint, but a good bunch of them cannot even ask a simple question in a way that makes sense.  \n\nNow, a lot of them are young and "chat lazy".  They think that the creative spelling, lack of punctuation and capitalization, and chatspeak shorthand they use in their IM sessions is appropriate everywhere on the internet.  Bzzzt! Wrong answer!
143467
I'm not sure what "normal IM" is?  There is no such thing.  Ask your friend what version he/she is using.  Is it from MSN, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ, mIRC, etc.....  THEN download and find them!\n\nOR.....\nYou could just tell your friend to download the Yahoo Messenger to chat with you!\n\n;)\n\nHave fun chatting!
506006
No one can when you don't provide your IM.
1010755
It means they can receive im's on their phone.  More than likely you can't communicate with this person when it appears because they are not on the web on their phone at the time.
622563
Hello people!! In some other chat rooms,they use "pm" instead of "im" Anyways,Im so sorry for that,but Im nort sure why you cant see what someones writing.Maybe your thingy is shwekktified.
1096204
Cause they're being snobby.  They're online so that they can see who is on the messenger service and then if they want to talk to them, then they'll be available to that person, but to everyone else, it's like "I'm here but Don't bother talking to me cause I'm busy"\n\nIf you can't talk, then don't be online.
352695
Use it like it's a phone that is always connected = ) If someone IMs you it's more like they're calling you than a knock on the door\n\nIf it's someone you know IMing you, you generally don't turn it down unless you want to be rude. If it's someone you don't know either not responding to them or politely telling them you don't care to chat today is fine.\n\n= )\n\nI've been using IM since I was 12 so it feels soo natural to me! It's been... 8 years?
1157236
There's a nifty program called Deny Buddy. Google out for it. Its ultra cool!! Kicked some butt with it and now I don't have IMs from ppl whom I don't like :P
23550
well since around 94% of people use windows, there is little attention to other OSs, like Mac and Linux. By the way, I searched and found a site that has a petition for those mac users to sign to request audio chat and IMinviron... available. It's here: http://www.petitiononline.com/yahoomac/petition.html
672680
It's from being online too much. Laziness is a factor. It may have been spawned from the whole "text messaging" cell phone reveloution. But to be honest, the brevity in online language has been around a long time. Ever since the dawn of online communication people have been coming up with clever little emoticons and ways of shortening phrases. For instance, LOL standing for Laughing out Loud. AFK standing for "Away from Keyboard" which you don't see much of anymore. BRB meaning "Be Right Back" is the same idea. In any case, these have been around forever. Yet the shortening of normal words is a bit absurd and it's everywhere. Sometimes I even catch myself using "ur" to represent the word "your". It may be because I use text messaging every day and it is much easier to hit a button 5 times then it is to hit it 9. I agree the laziness is just stupidity and really people should avoid doing it. Ultimately, it just makes people forget how to read and write properly. Which means you get a bunch of idiots online talking to each other and you have to try and interpret what they're saying. BTW, I think most of them really don't know how to spell.