I'll talk to almost anyone, about almost anything ... until the adolescent text-message-you-must-chat-now behavior starts. Turns out I'm a chatting snob, after all.

If you're tempted to chat with me:

1) have something to say when you start a conversation other than 'hi' and 'asl' - I'm probably working and I'm not interested in dating you, but I'll chat with you if you have something to talk about.

2)learn to type whole words. I know not everyone is a great speller, or English is not their first language, but points are given for trying, trust me. I never learned text-message speak on purpose. I think it dumbs you down. At least, having never met you, my mental image of your maturity and age drop several points as soon as I get a "r u there?"

3) As mentioned above, I'm probably working. Which means that I will probably not respond immediately to messages. Don't *ding* and "r u there?" me. If I'm online, then I'm here and I keep my status up-to-date. But I'm doing other things, and they don't pay me to chat to non-co-workers here. It's like starting a conversation with a stranger on the bus by going "hey, hey you, will you talk to me? huhhuhuhuhuhuh? huh?" while tugging on their sleeve. I get immediately pissed off.

So have something to say, don't write like a 12-year old with a phone, and make allowances for the fact that I'm doing something else and we'll get along famously! I look forward to hearing from you.