When you ICQ someone and say:
"Hey"
or
"I have a question."
or
"U there?"
or
"lmk when you're on"
You are wasting time. Simply say what you need to say and get on... Whoever is on the other end can then form a response to you. Simply asking "Are you on?" is absolutely pointless and annoying. The person DOES NOT NEED to be on in most cases. I'm sure they'll get your messages when they do log on and if it's important, they'll get back to you.
