Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

Pretty often I get complains from certain people that it is impossible to chat with me online in real-time. The thing is, I do use only two protocols for instant messaging: ICQ and IRC.

IRC is by far my favourite one. I like joining a channel or two for a topical discussion. Lately though I’ve been pretty busy and that changed. All I do now is get on the channel with some specific subject, like #perl or #fedora, ask my question, get a set of answers, and leave. Quick help so to speak. IRC is best for real-time discussions, but it needs an agreement on time and place beforehand. If you want to talk, I’ll be all ears.

ICQ is different. ICQ is good for passing a couple of messages back and forward. Also it is pretty indicative about the status of the person - if he or she is open for talk, or busy right now, or totally disconnected from the web. Keeping a serious and time consuing discussion with several people via ICQ is a headache. Also my personal problem with ICQ is that I always forget to switch it on or to switch it off. Popup messages are annoying and distructing, so I switch them off. Taksbar notifications are useless, since my taskbar is a hiding thing. This all makes it pretty difficult to notice when new messages are coming.

Anyway, since I was begged to get online so many times, I ‘ve slightly reconfigured my desktop and I am trying to get used to ICQ. I am using it now for three days in a row. If you don’t want me to quit it once again, now is a good time to message me. My Unique Identification Number (UIN) is 14956994.