Every time I sign on to Instant Messenger, the first thing I look at are the away messages, whether I realize it or not. There was even a time when I would right click my way down the list and read each one of my buddies' messages. Thankfully I realized what a waste of time this was. I was a little late coming to the Instant Messenger game, so by the time I jumped on the little yellow icon already existed next to the screen name, but I remember hearing about away messages before hand through my friends.
Apparently, away messages did not used to have the icon next to the name, and it did not used to say "Auto Response From." So once, my friend had a rather rude away message up, and my other friend Messages him, only to keep getting this rude response back. Needless to say it led to a quick disagreement between my friends, and to a good laugh after. Since then, away messages have become more clearly labeled and it's much easier to know your buddies are away. Also, away messages have change in the sense that their content is not necessarily simply letting know people are away. Sure, there is still the standard "I am away from my computer" that comes with the AIM program, but people have come up with far more creative ways to announce they are not there. From movie quotes, to inside jokes, to actually announcing the day's schedule, to the simple "cell it," away messages not only let people announce they're away, they also allow people to express themselves and their interests and opinions.
Since there's no governing authority who determines if an away message is being used incorrectly or offensively, we as users are left to our own devices to determine proper behavior and etiquette for away messages. If people don't put up an away message and leave us hanging for an answer we get mad. That said, if we know for a fact someone is at there computer and has an away message up ignoring us, we get mad. In this sense, we the users are the Leviathan of away messages, determing the proper usage of the away message. While we've accepted that we can present ourselves and express ourselves however we want, we've also decided the proper way to use an away message, and not leave people stranded thinking we're around. We adhere to the social norms we ourselves have set in for away messages.
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2 comments:
Hi Carlos
You bring up some good points about away messages. Certainly if I found an offensive away message, I wouldn't really bother contacting whoever has it to tell him or her off about it. This might be one dimension of the online world where the Leviathan is ineffective in regulating the norms. Since there is no reproach to people that have these bad away messages, there really isn't any way of determining what's right, what's wrong, and what to do about the wrong stuff.
I'm not sure if I agree with your view on leaving an away message up while you're at the computer however. Sometimes it is really pointless and stupid to leave it up when you're more than willing to talk (usually I leave my two cents about the Sox game on my away message as an easy way to communicate to others without having to open an actual conversation). Away messages have different meanings to different people. Whether this should be enforced by the norms of the chatting world is obviously left up to the majority opinion and influence, but how it is interpreted will definitely vary among many.
ashish
Hi Carlos,
I really liked your post! Away messages are tricky. Since there is no official Leviathan to regulate who writes what and when they post their away message it is left up to the users own discretion. I feel that there is not much self censorship as far as content goes because other users have to go out of their way to check your personal away message. it is not a public forum you are posting on. However, like you said most people adhere to the idea of putting an away message up when they are actually away. I think however that it has an element of digital deception that may undermine the Leviathan. I for one have many times had up an away message that did not accurately describe my "away" status, both accidentally and on purpose, with no second thoughts.
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