Against my better judgement, I installed AIM tonight so that I could be messaged by anyone reading this without giving out my personal hotmail address. The download page informed me that those using AOL are a happy community, making me concerned that having signed up for a different intention, I was in some way intruding. Almost immediately, someone proved this to be the case:
Initially, I was glad to see that the link went to a geocities page and not a porn site. My happiness was to be short lived.
"Hello. I like to flirt and show off on my webcam. I have too much time on my hands."
I found this admission refreshing, though hardly justification for imposing her wrinkled hide upon my eyes. I scrolled down.
"These pictures are not very revealing because my kids may see this page."
Oh dear. It has all gone a little Cartman's mum / Crack whore magazine. To go further would mean clicking her personally identifiable link, and I don't think it would be funny enough to justify giving a referal fee to someone who just has spammed me. Besides, maybe in a minute someone nice will send me a message.
It is the following day. No-one did message me. Perhaps politeness dictates that I as the new party should introduce myself to these boundless numbers of potential friends. Buddy search:
I had selected the interest 'Movies', doing so from a drop down list of only 20 options. Limited in this way, the download page posterboys, BobbyD211 and Fred1432, seemed the obvious choice to help me settle in. It was not apparent where I could find them.
Not even a direct search proved helpful, but I have also heard mention of AOL chatrooms being a fantastic place to meet people! Reading the news, I know that the most active rooms are those designed for servicing children and teens. It does not appear that such a room exists. The cynic in me suspects that 'Love chat: 40s' will be the closest approximation, but given the university logs what I say, 'Local chat: Manchester' seems safer.
What an overwhelming success.
