User:Andy/Why I idle on IRC

“Because you are a loser and have no friends.” — Dana

No really

Actually there's a couple of better reasons:

• I don't have time to sit around on IRC talking about meaningless rubbish at all hours of the day and night. If you think what I normally say is trite, imagine how bad it would be if I was actually forcing myself to speak just for your amusement.
• I'm in quite a lot of channels on several networks. If I quit my IRC client every time I stopped talking only to have to reconnect when I had an offhand comment to make in one of them, I would spend more time typing IRC commands than actually talking.
• My client has very good logging features. People can leave me messages at all hours of the day and night and I'll see them when I am ready. I can scroll back and see what others were talking about. If I wasn't there then I couldn't.
• By the wonders of GNU Screen I can connect to and seamlessly continue my IRCing from anywhere I happen to be as long as it has SSH connectivity. When I do it will all be set up exactly how I left it with all messages from anyone who has spoken to me available there for me to reply to (or ignore for a few more days). This will change your life as much as that extra 512K of RAM for your Amiga 500.

Stepping into the late 20th century

Most of us have always-on Internet connections now. It doesn't cost us any money to stay on IRC and other instant messenger technologies. So a better question is “If your computer is on why are you not idling on IRC (or whatever)?”

(Another good question is “Why isn't your computer always on?” But let's not push it.)

Relax!

This wasn't meant to be confrontational. Most people who ask this have just popped into an IRC channel, saw 40+ clients in it and no one talking, and wondered what was going on.

If you idle too you'll probably see some conversation at some point or another. Unless you have a lot of people or a few real chatterboxes then most IRC channels tend to be quiet most of the time.

BUT I NEED SOMEONE'S ATTENTION!

So just speak. If people are awake and able/interested to respond then they will. If they aren't then they won't. Maybe they will read later and respond when you are idling. You are going to stay and idle aren't you?