Business people who post "R U there?" on ICQ drive me crazy
 

Do they drive you crazy?

"Hey, r u there" -- Someone from the boards who is looking for one or more of the services I provide. I recognize their nickname and identify them from their thread where they were looking for someone, hiring, needing something done, etc.

An hour later I get on and reply with: "Yes, I'm here, let me know what you need and I'll get back to you asap."... then nothing, because the other guy is now offline.

The next morning: "you there?"

I was busy at that moment. I answered later that day with "Hi, pls just let me know what you need and I will definitely try to help you or answer your questions."

I also provide him or her with an email address they can contact me at.

Next day, no email, same thing...

"r u online?"

and on...

"you there?"


and on


"hello?"


and ON...



How some of you get any business done at all I have no idea.



People, just say what it is you need to say, ask what you need to ask, then wait for the answer. If the person isn't there at that exact moment they'll answer you when they are. It's not rocket science.

ICQ is one of those IM platforms that allows you to send someone messages even if they're not on. I know it's an amazing revelation but it's true. In other words the other person doesn't have to be there.


Just say it.


And try not to spray it.

are you there?

i like poo? do you? are u there?

I try not to... Waste is an awful thing to waste...

y u say dat?

So like, r u there or not?

y u no thereeee

u mad bro?

If you are goign to type that you may as well type what you want

I hear ya but I have noticed that some like to talk in real time no matter what.

There we go, someone who gets it.

Sir? Sir? U lick poo?

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That

Some of these cases may be people where their "answer" needs to be informed by your responses.

Or, you may just deal with idiots, take your pick.

Anyone who writes u instead of you generally turns out to be a fuckwit anyway.

Which one are you complaining more about:
That they do not post any info if you are not there at that specific moment or that they use stupid language such as "r u"? :)

lol, so true :thumbsup

Is there a way to block people from trying to add you? So annoying all the spammers.

I had to create a wiki here for IM usage to curb that problem. Things got better--but only slightly. :)

The r u stuff is annoying but I can deal with it just fine. It's not something I'd be wanting to be typing myself, as I have a bit more pride in my professional image, but to each his own.

My issue is mainly with the utter time-wasting foolishness of continually asking if someone is "there" instead of just saying what you want to say. If there's any sort of qualifying responses needed then at least just get the ball rolling by getting the conversation started. If it requires such a direct exchange then it would probably be better to provide your phone # and a time to call and do the back and forth thing that way.

Some of these idiotic going nowhere ICQ exchanges can last weeks.

Just say it!

I usually set aside the first part of my day for this.
Ds

I hear ya, the only time I do that is when I am owed money as often if I just say that is why I am contacting them from the start I will be ignored whereas if I just say are you there they may reply thinking it is for new business and once they reply I can then ask them about the money I am owed. Of course some still ignore you after that but I have found some are less likely to since they have just admitted they are there. :1orglaugh

Is there a url to that wiki? If so, pls post it.

I will start sending it as a standard reply to anyone ICQing me with "u there?" from now on.

R u t 2 :)

I've never been a guy that owes people money and doesn't pay, making them chase me and hound me with those types of tactics, so none of that really applies here.

But I see what you're saying. Sometimes, in very specific cases, the 'U there?' tactic might be useful. Then again, I'm usually the one owed the money, but I can't recall ever doing that to someone, playing the "ru there?" game in hopes of catching them online. Sounds like a huge waste of time to me.

Fact is I've pretty much always gotten paid. Usually up front or half up front. Not always on time, but not long enough that I'd be resorting to tricks like that to get them to respond. I basically try not to do business with people like that.

People I'm not familiar with can pay up front or at the very least when the job is part-way through the first few times. If they aren't willing to do that then my radar goes off and I'm apt to pass on them. They can go find someone who's willing to wait and wonder and hope they get paid for months on end. To me that's just bad business on both ends.

Chasing down deadbeat program owners for past due payments often is a huge waste of time but if you are owed thousands the tactic is worth trying a few times before giving up. BTW, my comment was from the perspective of an affiliate where we never get paid up front and usually have no way of knowing it is a problem till it is too late so it is a situation that is hard to avoid.

and after a day or two, or few weeks.. when finally both are online at the same time, they often forget what they are hitting you up about to begin with

It's not fun, It's not funny!

There are two types of people on ICQ. Those that get nothing done and don't care for the service. And then there are those that get a lot done because of the service and consider it an indispensable tool.

I have many collaborators I work with and we love ICQ.

What always gets me is that the 'r u there' type will use Email in the same way they should be using ICQ.

Kills me when I wake up and have multiple skype/icq messages from 3-4am that just say "Can I ask you a question?" especially from those I've had to tell 20 times over to just leave their questions and i'll answer it when I'm up. :disgust

Back in '99-2000 a perclick program shut their doors but left their site running. I and many others joined thinking it was still live, sent them over $300 worth of traffic before I realized they were scamming everyone. That's the only time I've been stiffed by a program. Since then I became a lot more shall we say descriminating with whom I dealt with and sent joins/traffic to.

So no, not even that reason hits home with me. I'd probably forget playing the ICQ game and phone their office directly and get it straightened out. Period. Come to think of it I had to do that one time as well, and it worked. No ICQ tag needed.

Trying to get someone's attention on ICQ who isn't interested in answering you isn't something I can see myself ever being into.

prolly, are you there ?? :winkwink:

baddog was there

why u no rply?

im one of those. If i want to send messages where I get no reply for a day, I use email. If I have something urgent or want something done right away, I use ICQ. Pretty logical in my opinion. I hate it when someone is online on ICQ and doesnt bother to reply when you say something - just say you will do it later or dont have time. Don't ignore when you are looking at the fucking message like some autistic retard.

It's an in-house wiki. It was pretty brief, which I think is the point! :) But it says...

Instant Messaging Best Practices

The goal of this page is to facilitate more effective communication using instant messenger in the office--and especially with business partners. Please feel free to add and edit as ideas come up! :)

-IM'ing is meant for things that require urgent attention. Most communication should be done through email, even if it's just a quick question. This will allow us to focus more on the tasks at hand.

-When writing a message, make sure the whole message is communicated at once. That is, the first time you hit enter and send the message, your point should be conveyed in its entirety with no additional message needed for the recipient to give a complete response. The only exceptions would be if a message is too long to be sent in one communication or if you need to send links or files separately. This helps ensure a minimal amount of time is spent by both parties--and time/focus is everything!


Now if I could just write a wiki that would move the team (and the industry) over from ICQ to Skype, I'd be a lot happier. :)

i've learned to live with the abbreviations thing because i know sometimes people are using their phones and take short cuts with them and that's fine. But yeah, saying: "are you there???" 4 seconds after they ask their question is pretty obnoxious.

Like you and I.

:1orglaugh

In defense of people asking "are you there" some people leave their icq on 24-7 showing available, but they are nowhere near. I dont want to leave messages on icq, that's what email's for.
To me, icq is real time communication. So I have asked that question in the past myself.

I think the more important thing is why are people still using ICQ?

i get it all the time

Why not? Works wonderfully.

I could even live with that. At least the people you're describing had the sense to actually asked a question first.

It's the ones that lead with the 'are you there' and say nothing else ever that get me wanting to choke someone.

Also a pet peeve of mine. I get a lot of just "yo" too.