I’ve been using IM (instant messaging) software for years. Currently I have 55 contacts in my MSN Messenger list. Generally speaking, at any given moment around 15 of them are online. One of the things that keep happening to me is that days can pass by with no one talking to me and then, all together, three of my contacts will start a conversation.
Personally I can’t handle three conversations at once. Actually I can, but I don’t stay as focused as I would like to be, especially if any of the conversations has any emotional value to me or to the other party and requires my full attention.
My idea is to have a call waiting feature for IM software. You define how many conversations you can handle and, assuming you’re already having that number of active conversations, when one of your contacts tries to send you a message she gets a message saying that she’s “IM waiting”. Just like phone call-waiting. Naturally, you will be notified that you have an IM buddy waiting for your reply, so you will have the choice of talking to her.
Note that this is different from having an “on conversation” status (or an automatic “busy” status, for that matter). This kind of status would let people track your talking habbits, so it would be the wrong solution.
Why can’t I just say: “Hey Amit, I’ll talk to you in a minute.”?
The “IM Waiting” idea is more of a social feature than a “must-have” feature. If you know that I am already in the middle of a conversation, then _you_ have to decide if you want to disturb me, instead of me having to decide to turn you down and explain why.
I sometimes feel uncomfertable turning down someone who is starting to talk to me, for example if it’s been a long time since we last talked, or if it’s someone that just doesn’t understand IM and gets offended if I say “I can’t talk to you right now”.
Also, a lot of people just start talking to me, especially if they have a short buddy list and don’t realize what it’s like to have a long buddy list.
Then rude buddies like me will tell you “It’s not like you are realy busy, don’t you rather talk to me?” and will make you feel even more uncomfertable.
Ariel, thankfully I can block rude buddies like you. Remember that yesterday I wasn’t online? ;-)