Back in the late 90s instant messaging was new and quite amazing.  The idea that you could talk to someone anywhere in the country without having to pay long distance charges was truly exciting.  The only difference was that we typed instead of talked – and it was all completely free.

     I was once giving a presentation at my hometown computer club, and was about to demonstrate how to initiate an IM chat.  I'd logged on to my IM service and saw the names of a few friends on my Buddy List.  I was about to double-click one and send her a greeting.

     Well, imagine my surprise when Margie beat me to it.  "Hi, Don," she'd typed, "how are you doing?"

     This is great, I thought.  Now everyone can see what it's like to suddenly be IMed by a buddy — and now I can show them how to send a reply.

     "Great, Marge," I replied.  "How are you this evening?"

     "Well," she replied, "kind of bored.  My husband's out of town and I was wondering if you'd be interested in stopping by for a glass of wine."

     You can imagine the raised eyebrows on my viewers (all of whom knew I was married) as I gasped and tried to think of a good answer.

     "Margie," I typed, "I think you should know that I'm doing a PC Club presentation and about 95 people are watching this IM."

     "OMG!" she replied, and then her name disappeared from the screen.

     I then explained to the still rather astonished group of onlookers that Margie was an old friend and that we had always kidded around like this.  (I'm not sure everyone was convinced.)

     Anyway, the following morning I spotted Margie online and immediately sent her an IM saying I was sorry about what had happened.

     "I am so embarrassed," she replied.  "What must those people think? I may never send another IM again!"

     "Not to worry," I reassured her.  "I told everyone you and I are old friends and that we always kid around like that."

     But that got me to thinking.  So I added, "By the way, Marge, you were kidding, weren't you?"

     "You'll never know now," she replied, as her name again vanished from my screen.

Another Interesting IM

Margie's IM was not the only memorable one at that evening's get-together.

Donna liked to write erotic poetry

I was about to move on to another subject, when I received an IM from another lady friend.  In those days I used to be fairly active on AOL's Story and Poetry boards, and would occasionally be asked by a writer to review something he or she had written before it was posted.

     Donna asked if I'd take a look at a poem she'd just written.  Now I was getting nervous.  Donna's specialty was writing erotic poetry that sometimes pushed the limits of what was allowed on the boards (and the boards were quite tolerant when it came to poetry).

     "Well, yeah, sure," I replied, with a good deal of apprehension.  She sent me the link to the poem's location and I began to scroll it one line at a time.  I only needed to see two lines to know that it was time to end the IM demonstration and move on to other things.

     Actually, it was a very beautiful poem, written to a guy whom she'd met on the poetry boards.  But that's a whole other bunch of stories — online romances.

IMs Can Be a Cyber Minefield
If You're Not Careful

As an example, if you're having an IM chat with a friend on AOL and another person decides to send you an IM, the new message will land right on top of the first one and hide it from view.  The IM boxes can be easily rearranged - but if you didn't notice the arrival of the new one, you might type something into its reply box that was really intended for the other person.

     I was once having a chat with a friend about the AOL story boards, when she asked if I'd heard a rumor about one of the other writers (whom I'll call "Jane").  I closed my eyes for a second and then typed in the following reply:

     "Yes, I'd heard the rumor — but I really don't think Jane is that kind of a woman." I was about to click "Send" when I discovered to my horror I'd typed the message into the reply box of an IM that had just arrived from Jane.

     I quickly deleted it and typed, "Hi, Jane — how ya doin'?"

     Then I had to tell the other person what had almost happened.  You can imagine her relief at hearing I'd caught myself before clicking Send.

© - Donald Ray Edrington - All Rights Reserved

Graphics Disclaimer: Since I have few personal photos from my youth, I've used pictures found on the Internet to help illustrate some of the stories told on these pages.  In a few instances I've used photos of people who just happen to closely resemble someone I once knew.  However, if it's found that I'm using any images in violation of someone's copyright, please let me know and appropriate action will be taken.    Contact information available on my Home Page. Top of Page