I love Instant Messaging. I use Trillian, a client that lets me hook in to most of the major IM networks from one program. That’s useful when seemingly every friend you have on teh intarwebz is using a different IM network.
Like anything else on the ‘net, instant messaging is under seige from spamming bastards who want me to pay for their advertising. So I’ve got my preferences set to only accept messages from people on my friends list. Only problem is, AOL keeps trying to hijack my IM client—every few weeks it spontaneously adds a new “AIMbot” to my friends list, without my permission. I delete the bot, a few weeks later another one shows up.
And one showed up this morning. There is no setting for “I do not want your bots, ever.” I’m sick of deleting them, and the few contacts I have on AIM aren’t online enough to make it worth dealing with a company that doesn’t respect my stated preferences. AIM is out. Sorry to anyone who can’t reach me now; I’m still on Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ, and I can add others if necessary. As long as they aren’t from AOL.