please look at your entire AIM window

I've had this problem with several of my friends lately, so I figured I'd do a public service announcement.

It's possible that a lot of you type while looking at your fingers, or you just have really bad attention spans.

I've noticed that many of you have conversational difficulties on AIM when it comes to two people speaking simultaneously. You don't look back more than one line, and if it's the one you've typed, you miss anything else. This is hard to explain, so I'll give an example:

Other Person: Something part 1
Other Person: Something part 2
Tobin: Question or comment about Something
Other Person: Something part 3

Then silence.

My comment or question is sitting there, waiting, one line above the last thing they wrote. On most screens, this is about 1/4 of an inch.

But they're blind. Blind to the fact that I spoke. And I just sit there unbelieving, stunned that they're really not going to answer me. And the seconds go by, and I finally ask the question again, and they respond immediately.

And I try to picture this. Someone sitting there, waiting for me to respond. All they have to do is look at their screen to see that I've already responded. It's right there. But by some horrible brain malfunction, if they're the last person who spoke, they figure nothing else could have possibly happened.

It happens with LOTS of people, too. I wouldn't call it an epidemic, but it's common enough among intelligent people that it mystifies me.

So stop it already.