Downsides to Intrafamily IM? 514
Frisky070802 writes "The NY Times has run a column on how many families now use instant messaging within a household, for instance to ask what someone wants for dinner. This is especially popular as whole houses get wired (or wireless) and computers are scattered throughout the house. This is the case at my house but I tend to be the only one who stays on AIM reliably. Can Slashdotters offer some personal experience, pro/con, with being instantly and constantly accessible to one's spouse and children? Does this tend to break down your 'personal time'?"
this is stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Re:this is stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:this is stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, it is cool to IM between roommates/family because you can send links or copy and paste, etc. Its
Re:this is stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, because we're such a web-enabled family (Score:5, Insightful)
We still IM each other, every day. Why? Because we read a lot of web information and it's just so convenient to post a link to the other about our findings.
Or when a family member IMs one of us, it's easy to just copy the Jabber log out of gaim and paste it into the other's message window and share a conversation.
Or when a client IMs one of us, we can let the other in on the question or panic-stricken demand for help and colaborate on a course of action.
That's why!
Re:Congratulations (Score:3, Funny)
I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible.
Ahhh older technology.... (Score:5, Funny)
The old-fashioned wireless communications method - very nice!
To the newer geeks: The above post is referring to the old wireless technology that utilized a unique QOS priority technique. Messages were encoded using higher and higher DB levels that really worked well - the louder the scream the faster people responded....
Re:Ahhh older technology.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ahhh older technology.... (Score:3, Informative)
Really not what we're used to today.
Bow before me cause I'm CSMA/CD!
Actually... (Score:4, Funny)
It was called collision avoidance. When your old man was communicating you avoided interrupting him otherwise there would have been a collision between you and him...
Re:Ahhh older technology.... (Score:5, Funny)
I sniffed this very conversation over Christmas time while visiting family ( I removed the destination address for privacy concerns: )
Mother: Dinner time, go wash up.
Sibling in college: blank stare at computer screen
Grandfather: continues watching tv
Mother: DINNER TIME
Sibling in college: blank stare at computer screen
Grandfather: When is dinner?
Mother is forced to use hardware extensions to alert grandfather and sibling through sequential pinging and alerts.
Re:this is stupid (Score:4, Funny)
Also, as us geeks make money we tend to get bigger houses where yelling between floors isn't as easy as it used to be (at least that's the case at my place) and sometimes the IMs I get are along the lines of
'Come Downstairs and start the grill please'
"Come downstairs and start the grill - i'm hungry'
'When are you going to come downstairs and start the grill'
'If you don't start the grill I'm going to cook the steaks on a broiler!'
She started it, and she's the normal person of the house.
Re:this is stupid (Score:5, Funny)
'Come Downstairs and start the grill please'
What kind of weird kinky game are you playing that involves a grill at 2AM? : )
Re:this is stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Re:this is stupid (Score:3, Funny)
"Son, I know you didnt notice me come in but could you jerk off to net porn after i've finished checking my email?"
Re:this is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Hey dad!! DAAAAAAAAD! Go to ay ess kay dot ess el ay ess H (I don't know how to spell H) dee oh tee dot oh ar gee slash see oh em em ee eh tee ess dot pee el question mark es eye dee equals 91426 and symbol see eye dee equals 7867909... that comment was really funny! What? Emai? Okay.
Re:this is stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
Cons? (Score:4, Insightful)
Back to back! (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, I spent the summer working at a contract a couple hours away from home, and would frequently use AIM on my cellphone while at dinner to let her know that I was still at dinner and would be calling a little late that night. My little contribution to be one less person yelling into their cellphone in restaurants.
Re:Back to back! (Score:2)
Re:Back to back! (Score:3, Insightful)
This way, I don't have to teach her how to read and reply to SMS messages, too
I have a simple paging protocol... (Score:5, Funny)
It usually involves me yelling at the top of my voice. I envy those who have a house so large that my voice does not provide adequate coverage.
Re:I have a simple paging protocol... (Score:3, Funny)
Personal time between spouses (Score:5, Interesting)
It hasn't really damaged our relationship at all, which is nice to know, but it does says something for instant communication while apart.
Re:Personal time between spouses (Score:3, Funny)
Not like your keeping her around for her 'fab' shoe collection are you?
Re:Personal time between spouses (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, this is going to far. (Score:5, Funny)
Step away from the keyboard and nobody gets hurt.
Now go out and interact with people. They're in the same friggin house with you fer chrissakes.
Re:Okay, this is going to far. (Score:3, Interesting)
How big is your house? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How big is your house? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it so big that you can't just call out or walk for 10-15 seconds to talk to somebody? I've used IM clients to have a silent conversation in a crowded room before but not for regular communication at home.
I had no idea what fucking luddites you slashdotters are. Do you have any idea what technology is for at all? The point is if I am working upstairs it is damned inefficient to walk all the way downstairs, stop waht I am doing, interrupt someone else, and stop what they are doing, just so I can ask them a one sentence question. It is stupid and unnecessary thanks to technology.
We are not talking about ending family communication. That happened decades ago. We are talking about making it possible again. Families are busy, dispersed, and engaged in all sorts of distracting tasks. There are few chances for familial communication especially with the death first of nightly gatherings for reading and prayer and second with the death of the family dinner.
I am not saying an effort to revive such practices is misguided, but what if you could talk to your family while doing other things? That is what instant messaging was invented for. It is there so you can talk to multiple people at once while coding, posting to slashdot, writing the great american novel, doing your homework, balancing the budget, or whatever it is you are doing on your computer. It means you can talk to the rest of the family and ask simple questions and make decisions together.
Now that the rest of the family have computers, pdas, cell phones and such it is especially spiffy because you can text message and talk to your kids and family members to keep tabs on what they are doing and coordinate that family dinner that died so long ago for lack of coordination and communication.
Also, the internet and instant messaging are great for people who do not live with their families. I communicate with the wired members of my family much more often simply because they are available to me. If you are back in the 19th century sending paper letters through snail mail you get much less communication.
Intrafamily IM (Score:5, Funny)
LittleBro33: cool
OlderSis53137: i dont lik 2 eat im 2 fat
DadInCharge98324: shut it oldersis youl eat wut ur mom telz u 2 eat and like it 2 lol
LittleBro33: lolololol haha u got n trubl
OlderSis53137: shut up il run aimnuke on u
*LittleBro33 has disconnected
HotMamma24242: its not nice to aimnuke ur brothr
DadInCharge98324: ur gonna get a spankin
OlderSis53137: no1 n this famly understands me i h8 u all
HotMamma24242: but i made teriaki chikn
Re:Intrafamily IM (Score:5, Funny)
OlderSis531357: Hey OffcrDibbl cum rnd n arest my dad, he sez hes gonna sxuly abuse me
OffcrDibble4193: Do you have any evidence of that mam ?
OlderSis531357: Yeah luk at this:
DadInCharge98324: ur gonna get a spankin
OlderSis53137: no1 n this famly understands me i h8 u all
OffcrDibble4193: OK, we'll be right around
Re:Intrafamily IM (Score:5, Funny)
Try talking to your family... (Score:5, Insightful)
Trust me the small walk from room to room, will not affect your pear like body shape.
Re:Try talking to your family... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually (Score:2)
In addition, when I travel, and for when I head off to college next year, it is much easier to send a quick IM rather than make a phone call.
internet connection management (Score:2)
So at night whichever one of us goes to bed first send the other an IM saying to please manage the internet connection. This means that when the other one of us goes to bed, we start up my sister's kazaa or shut down the gateway computer. (We are still on dialup, there's no broadband out here.)
It gets funny because sometimes I live in other cities for work purposes, but sometimes he st
Big Deal (Score:3, Interesting)
I often get calls on my cell phone from my wife at the other end of the house. At least people are communicating. When I was a kid, my mother would do anything just to get a few words out of me. She would have loved all of these new communication devices.
Maybe for those living in a trailer or shoebox, this concept is hard to understand! :)
Personal time? (Score:5, Funny)
Ha ha ha (Score:5, Insightful)
What IM is really useful for, however, is keeping in touch with people long-distance. IM has a relaxed, conversational quality that you can't get from a phone call. With the phone, there is pressure to finish the call quickly, and it is something that you do on special occasions. With IM, you can just say hi, or share a random funny thought, without wasting anyone's time.
Re:Ha ha ha (Score:3, Insightful)
While I do agree with you about the phone, I've found that while away at college IM has become a sort of annoyance. It pretty much allow
i would take it in a heartbeat to replace . . . (Score:2)
anything to end yelling up the stairs... (Score:5, Interesting)
I use it work to talk to people in the next cube over... because it cuts down on voice-noise at work, it allows me to be at my PC and doing other things while someone else's brain churns to come up with thoughts... It also offers some privacy against cube-snoopers who sit and listen to other people's conversations... of course IM is clear text so it's usually just idle jabber... anything more classified requires a trip to Chotchkie's for coffee
Your home is a cubicle cluster (Score:3, Insightful)
Good way to stay in touch (Score:4, Funny)
Real people! (Score:3, Insightful)
Families need to learn to DEAL with eachother, and having your body language and voice inflection sheilded sure as hell isn't going to help.
Kids these days. (I'm 22, and I get scared.)
Jabber (Score:3, Interesting)
My wife and I use this because we have a basement that's separate from the upstairs of the house (you have to walk outside and back in). Her office is down there, mine is up here, so it's a bit of a pain to talk back and forth.
We also had AIM reliability issues (and I dislike the unencrypted chatter going out and back in) so I set up Jabber on our server here. Works great -- even when the cable modem goes out it's still there. No one else snooping in on the conversations, etc. Also Gaim works with Jabber now (if somewhat buggily) so you don't need to switch clients or anything to add it.
Away Messages and Profiles (Score:3, Interesting)
to everyone saying "just yell ..." (Score:5, Insightful)
screaming=kid wakes up = your 20 minutes of private time today is over!
No Downfalls?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, for the teen geeks out there who like a lil privacy (I don't mean like thaT.. well, maybe I guess I do) this is OK for. But for a family to be a family this sure does pose major problems?
A poster a few messages up claimed his wife and him have nothing to talk about when they get home after talking all day. What about for the parent and child who would rather IM while around the house. Doesn't prolonged exposure to this make the child more unwilling to talk to his/her parent face-to-face about sex/drugs/abuse??
I know I tried my damnedest to remain an reclusive troll around my house, but thankfully my parents were active in my life and always asked questions. Hindsight being what it is, I'm glad we came to a good balance between privacy and parenting! That sort of thing requires you to LOOK at your parents and FACE your problems/fears.. not hitting "Block" or "Exit".
I know I have a point here, and I'm trying to find it.
Re:No Downfalls?? (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, I'd say it's had a positive impact in other
Re:No Downfalls?? (Score:2)
What about for the parent and child who would rather IM while around the house. Doesn't prolonged exposure to this make the child more unwilling to talk to his/her parent face-to-face about sex/drugs/abuse??
I know I tried my damnedest to remain an reclusive troll around my house, but thankfully my parents were active in my life and always asked questions. Hindsight being what it is, I'm glad we came to a good balance between privacy and parenting! That sort of thing requires you to LOOK at your parents an
Sometimes this is the only way. (Score:4, Insightful)
irony... (Score:5, Insightful)
is im or email or irc or phone or letter or videophone or telegraph the same as talking face to face? no, they're all different. and none are best, certain circumstances lend themselves better to certain methods. some people find letters a better method of telling family members bad news. i like people to email me info like addresses, phone numbers or email addresses. irc is a nice supplement to conference calls as it lets taking minutes be distributed.
but i supposed change always sees this. "oh no, it's different, it must be BAAAAD!"
whatever.
IM me u2 (Score:5, Interesting)
ALL the time! (Score:2, Insightful)
Back in the day, we'd end up using IM more frequently than we'd actually go in and talk to each other. Not only was it more convenient, it also let us respond after studying, when we got home, or whatever. With the schedules so different, it was just easier than getting up, banging on the door, then going back and messaging them later on.
But then again, the best way to get each other's attention was to crank up Quake....
Heh (Score:2)
These days, AIM is useful in finding out if somebody is in their apartment before going down the hall to visit.
I'd rather just use IRC anyway (Score:4, Funny)
Kid: Nope. They're gross.
Dad: (Goes to computer) +b #tvroom
Kid: NOOOOOOOO!!!! BUT DAAAADDDDD!!!!
Home, no - work, yes (Score:3, Insightful)
For the home I think it's just silly or at the least, lazy. The only time I've ever used it room to room in the home was joking around. "It's 10pm. Do youk now what your son is doing behind your back?"
IM in the house ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I like IM, I use it every day with. But when I'm a few meters away from the person I'm chatting with, I discovered that opening my mouth to talk was much better. You should do the same, and you'll see that real-life communication with people (especially family) is a nice thing.
Communications (Score:5, Interesting)
It will lead to a break-down in communication.
For example, growing up, I had 4 flights of stairs to travel to get to my main family's floor. I occupied the basement. I got tired of going up and down the stairs and decided to install an intercom. Even less reason to interact with my family I soon became the "hermit".
Kids need to go outdoors, interact with PEOPLE not just for their own good, but for the good of the human race's future communicative skillz!
Yes I know I put a z.
Loss Of Personal Time (Score:3, Funny)
No more than having a cell phone on your hip when you go to the toilet:
"Hello?! Uh... I'm busy... Doing... stuff. Nevermind that sound, what do you want!!?"
Sheesh, that's the worst.
Problem: (Score:3, Funny)
gran1922: okay
kewkid: fuck i thought you were melissa. sorry gran
gran: dont stop...!
Damn! (Score:2, Insightful)
Can you hear me now? (Score:2)
This idea could be turned into a neat commercial wherein you see parent and child finally having a "dialog" without rolling their eyes behind each others backs.
Well... (Score:2)
IM me and I'll tell you.
I love IM, and I hate it (Score:5, Funny)
wife> you'll never guess who called
me> can it wait? I'm working here.
wife> oh it'll just take a sec...
wife> blah blah blah
me> *insert random emoticons to make it appear that I am actually paying attention*
wife> ok, so when will you be home?
me> soon, I just got to finish this one last thing...which I will get done as soon as we quit talking.
wife> ok bye
* a couple of minutes pass *
wife> guess what happened on *insert dumb soap opera here*
and so on. Once I put her on my blocked list but she figured that out and really got pissed.
I'm reading this topic with much interest and interested on how other people deal with IM. I like it and hate it at the same time!
-Pat
Re:I love IM, and I hate it (Score:5, Funny)
ntalk -o $WIFE | eliza | ntalk -i $WIFE
Re:I love IM, and I hate it (Score:3, Funny)
bash: eliza: command not found
IM to SMS (Score:2, Insightful)
Lots of pros, pretty much combines the pros of IM (instant, and already integrated with your buddy list) with SMS (can get it anywhere). No cons yet though I can see plenty if your SO is the kind that uses it as a new anger communication channel.
The meal coordination stories are
Get off the keyboard and walk into Junior's room.. (Score:4, Funny)
As if the threat of going blind wasn't enough...
Cordless Phones (Score:2)
Tony.
The Killer App ... a Buddy List (Score:5, Insightful)
I asked my daughter why she preferred IM to the old teenage standby -- hours on the phone. The answer surprised me. She could see who was online.
From her perspective it solved two problems
1. You knew in advance who was available to talk (lowered chance of rejection).
2. It avoided the unpleasant experience of having to mediate access through a parent ("he's not in", "he can't come to the phone", "he's been grounded and can't talk"). This is actually a variant of #1.
So it's all about saving face and managing rejection. IM provides lots of strategies and aids to do just that.
Given that it solves or mitigates two teenage problems (potential rejection by absence or parent, and parental control), I predict the first cellphone company to implement a usable buddy list wins.
The times, they are a changin' (Score:3, Interesting)
It does seem strange though especially to visitors. My mother-in-law spent Christmas with us for the first time and seemd to have a bit of difficulty accepting the "impersonalness" of paging your kids. I felt funny about it too until I realized that I actaully communicate with them MORE than if I had to get my lazy ass up, walk all the way across the house, down the stairs and to their bedrooms to ask them a quick question. Besides, I'm generally calling them to come to me (for dinner or to talk face-to-face) so by paging them it actually see them sooner.
I think it is the sign of the times. When new technologies come out there are the early adopters who try to use it in every way imaginable - they "work out the bugs". If the use is truly usefull it will survive. If not it will decline, eventually settling into an equilibrium between "coolness" and effectiveness. for my personal situation IM is NOT effective so it was replaced with slightly older (paging) technology.
We recently got the last of my extended family off windows (and on to OS X) which gave us all the ability to use iChatAV. At first it was cool and new, but then it became a pain. Just because my "buddy list" claimed my sister was on didn't mean she was - it usually was one of her kids or she was outside and she'd see a stack of connections when she'd get back in. Thinking it was important she'd try to IM me only to find me not at my computer so she'd call me long distance only to find out I didn't really have much to say except "Hi".
Half the time I had my iChat activated I was actually "in-and-out" of the room and when I got a call I had to stay by the computer to talk and I was unproductive. So I started setting my iChat to offline or busy and eventually just turned it off when I didn't want to be interrupted. Pretty soon everyone started doing that. I have iChat on right now and NO ONE ELSE IS THERE - not even my kids - and I know they are online because my cablemodem's blinkenlights are going nuts and I'm just typing this.
I think every generation will use new technology in such a way that will dismay the older generation. Heck, I recall reading that blackboards were hailed as the worst thing possible for schools (because students would be looking at it instead of the teacher) when they first came out. Technology changes much and society will change with it. I have to admit that with my wife working nights the kids and I, more often than not, have dinner together around the "magic-expando" coffe table in front of the TV than around our dining room table. My mother would have a fit! All our meals were around a formal table when I was a kid.
Change is the only constant in the universe. And when things change too far in one direction the pendulum always swings back. I NEVER write snail mail any more - but I communicate with my parents (they live in southern Mexico, I live in Alaska) way more now via email than I ever did by snail mail. At first, my mother missed the "hand-written" letters, but now much prefers the quick reliability of email.
There may come a day when students sit at home in front of a "hollow-teacher" instead of in a classroom and people will lament the loss of social interaction. But I know one thing: If physical contact is truly important to human developement we will get it one way or another. If not, our society will evolve into one where socialization will occure "virtuall
Occasionally (Score:3, Interesting)
What happens more often is that someone'll call me on my cell phone from the cordless phone in the kitchen to let me know it's dinner, since there isn't a computer it in the kitchen. Yet. (We're due for a cell phone upgrade, really. Maybe it's time for phones with AIM.)
I never realized until now how pathetic I am... I should e-mail a memo to my family suggesting that we occasionally talk to each other in person.
more communication, not less (Score:4, Insightful)
It's very easy to chat about the day (vent frustrations, really, or the question of what's for dinner and who's picking it up, etc.) while it is happening or we have a free moment. There are days that if we see each other, one of us might be sleeping, so we may not get to chat at home for a few days in a row, but through email and IM we can still communicate ("don't wait up for me" - "dinner is on your own", etc.)
If it weren't for IM, I'd fear that we wouldn't get to talk very often or know what's going on in each other's lives. But since we're usually both wired, we can still communicate even when we're not in the same physical place.
Parenting in the Digital Age (Score:3, Funny)
True Story
With technology has come a multitude of conveniences, time savers, and capabilities of which our primitive ancestors could never have conceived. Take for example, the instant message. It is instantaneous, travels at the speed of light to its intended recipient, delivering important potentially critical information at the click of a button. It can be sent across the world, around the block, or to the next room.
Toxic waste disposal emergencies such as the one above could have not been addressed with such efficiency before the days of IM. Thank the Lord!
Speeding to an eventual linguistic heat death..... (Score:5, Insightful)
At work, I've IM'd the person *sitting next to me* (Score:4, Interesting)
When we're both concentrating on whatever project that we're cooperating on, being able to send messages asynchronously to each other is fantastic as we can send replies to each other when we've finished a section of work.
Think of it as computer-assisted cooperative multitasking.
Re:At work, I've IM'd the person *sitting next to (Score:3, Interesting)
a) Email, because there's no reason for me to try to verbally explain a problem when I can just send the original report, with all the details, over for his review
Or...
b) IM because there are just some things that shouldn't be shouted in a corporate environment, even though I'm already known by my coworkers for loud strings of four-letter expletives, especially when dealing with the marketing, revenue, or legal
Reverse (Score:3, Informative)
My kids are grown, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
I work at home and am online most of the time, but I use my IM particularly to stay in touch with a group of people who belong to the same Yahoo Group and who share a mutual interest in writing. It's the perfect gathering spot; when you fire up your YM, people in the group know you're "at home" as the old-fashioned term once ran, and ready to receive visitors. We use it to hold a weekly hour-long conference, too--sometimes inviting "guest speakers." Works quite well.
My spouse, kids, and Aged Parent can get me in a million different ways--there's the phone, e-mail, or a simple HEY, MA yelled upstairs. I prefer to keep the messaging to a civilized minimum and to have it on my own terms.
Judgemental Posts (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, my oldest son and I IM each other when we're in the same house. We have even IM'd each other when in the same room. Typically, we both had parallel conversations going on with other people online, and also were talking "face to face" along with the IMs. Oddly enough, many of the posters in this thread don't seem to realize that some things are simply more funny when written than when spoken, and if both parties are reasonably good typists, the conversations can flow quite freely.
Also, there are some conversations that are awkward or uncomfortable to have in person. One of the reasons that lonely people use IM to establish new relationships is because of the comfort and anonymity of the medium. This can also be beneficial to people who know each other well, if there's an awkward subject that you want to discuss.
Recently, my son and I were discussing an article on the NY Times (I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't mind that they know I read their articles) about teenage sexuality, and the incidence of intercourse falling in the past couple of years. Now, this would be a bit of an odd conversation to have with your dad at any point, but especially when you're a teenage boy, currently in a dating relationship. Because of the medium, I was able to cast my question in a non-threatening way, and he was able to compose his response without me watching his expression, or second-guessing his body language.
Last but not least, I correct his grammar and spelling, and encourage him to learn to express himself with the written word. IM seems to be as good a place for immediate feedback and correction as any.
In short, before you assume that families chatting is another sign of impending doom, please be a bit more informed.
Tim
P.S. WRT us being a bunch of lazy geeks, he's 15, playing JV & Varsity basketball and football, and we regularly compare weightlifting routines. He regularly challenges me (typically by throwing a cross-body block in the kitchen), and is looking forward to the day (not far off) when he can "take dad down." Unfortunately for my wife, he weighs 190 lbs, and I weigh 230, so when we wrestle, things usually get broken. I'm no stud, but it's not like we sit around on our butts all day in front of the PC.
Re:Judgemental Posts (Score:3)
In my experience, there are many conversations in life that simply wouldn't occur if I forced everyone around me to "muster up the courage" to tell me this or that, eyeball to eyeball. A friend from college probably wouldn't have told me that she was sexually abused a
4 years and still going (Score:3, Interesting)
Helpful in hostile situations (Score:3, Insightful)
In the case of a high conflict divorce with children involved, IM'ing can be a relatively low conflict way, for the children to keep in touch with the parent they're not currently with at a given time. (In many cases, the children feel on the spot if they're on the phone with one parent while within earshot of the other.)
We don't use it in the house (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, it's pretty cool in that my kids know they can reach me before the early evening hours. I also know they are home
IM in the house seems really silly to me, but maybe some folks like the quiet...
Re:beats bellowing down the stairs (Score:2, Funny)
Re:beats bellowing down the stairs (Score:2)
Combine that with voice recognition software and you coud be talking to her
Why bother? most im clients have voice chat built in, so there is no reason to translate speech into text :P
Re:beats bellowing down the stairs (Score:5, Funny)
"How's the weather in the living room dear?"
"Just peachy snookums, let's go to www.pizzahut.com for dinner!"
"Great idea pooky... let me just finish up my orders at www.peapod.com and www.netflix.com"
Re:instant messangers (Score:3, Insightful)
let me get this right... (Score:2)
Re:Also fun. (Score:2)
Re:Non-Indentured Servitude link (Score:3, Insightful)
I didn't refer to the google cache of the article because the google cache isn't intended to bypass site registration policies.
Why can't people register, for free, without complaining?
Re:Non-Indentured Servitude link (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Non-Indentured Servitude link (Score:4, Funny)
Well, I for one don't enjoy tossing my information about willy-nilly just to read an article
Psssst...don't tell anyone I told you this, but...you don't have to use your real information.
Re:Non-Indentured Servitude link (Score:3, Informative)
Neat thing - mailinator accepts any e-mails going to it and automatically makes a new account with no password. So you don't even have to sign up beforehand. Very useful.
Re:Non-Indentured Servitude link (Score:3, Funny)
How about tossing it around pell-mell? Helter-skelter? Higgledy-piggledy?
Re:Another stray from family time (Score:2)
Re:Another stray from family time (Score:3, Insightful)
We're fed this image of a 1950-60's Leave It To Beaver family, but honestly, that