The Unwritten, but Now Written Rules of MSN Instant Messaging

I thought this was pretty funny. These are written all individually by people in a Facebook group that a friend of mine is a part of. Feel free to add your own rules!

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This has been formed to clear up any uncertainties about the rights and wrongs of MSN Instant Messaging. We’ve all had MSN since about the seventh grade and I’m sure we’ve all got our own ideas about what is acceptable on MSN and what is not. MSN has been around for a while and is not going away anytime soon, no matter how many times we get those stupid chain letter e-mails threatening us that we will have to pay for the service soon! So if you are a regular user of MSN Instant Messaging, and believe there are things people should just know while having a MSN conversation, this is for you!

THE LIST (these are not ranked in order of most important to least important, they are all important!) :

1. Answering someone in a conversation should take no longer than 3 minutes, maximum of 5 minutes.

2. Do not answer someone’s question with a ONE WORD ANSWER! For example, “yup,” “whatever,” “okay,” “lol, haha;” ALL conversation KILLERS. So always follow up these one word answers or other one word answers with a “you?” or another comment/question that the other person can respond to.

3. Avoid sarcasm! Unless, of course, you and the other person already have an established relationship where they know you are joking. Remember, just because you think it’s funny to make fun of that person’s hair, doesn’t mean they’ll think it’s funny too.

4. Try to avoid using too many lol’s, lmao’s, and haha’s in a convo. Because how hard are you really laughing? Keep it real.

5. If you are going to be away from the computer for more than 10 minutes, say BRB to whomever you are talking to, or change your status.

6. If you sign in and out during a convo, it is your responsibility to restart the convo with a “sorry about that” or jump right back into what you were talking about.

7. DO NOT write your entire daily agenda in your personal message space. The people who really care where you are probably have your cell phone number anyway.

8. If two people of the opposite sex have recently exchanged e-mails because of the potential of getting together in the future, the guy should always message the girl first. If you are just friends, whoever was already online when the person signed in is responsible for initiating the convo.

9. It isn’t necessary to fix all spelling errors/typos, only if what you wrote was the completely wrong word, or the person is not going to understand without you fixing it.

10. DO NOT use lightly coloured/unreadable fonts.. it’s just freakin’ annoying.

11. If you don’t want to talk to someone who messages you, it is okay to make up an excuse and block them. Just be sure to block any mutual friends you guys may have as well.

12. If you haven’t seen or talked to one of your contacts in a good couple of years, it’s okay to delete them.

13. Be careful what you say in your convo’s.. the other person could very likely be saving it if you’re not.

14. If you have to leave a convo, it is nice to say why you are leaving, but it is definitely not necessary.

15. Always say Goodbye or TTYL, don’t just suddenly go offline.

16. Emotions/graphics are okay to use, but don’t overuse them. For example, they can’t replace words, they go together with words. A sad face should be accompanied with why you’re sad.

17. Countdowns in your name are acceptable, as long are you say what they are for and keep them up-to-date. If your xmas holidays are in 3 days, ensure your countdown does not say 23 days. No one likes people who can’t count backwards.

18. If you are doing homework/reading while on MSN, be sure to put your status as busy/away, so people don’t yell at you for not answering.

19. If you have really, really important news to tell somebody, or a long story, use e-mail to write it all out or hey, use a good ol’ fashion phone call!

20. Breaking up with someone over MSN.. oh HELL NO!

21. If you sign in under a friends name and one of their contacts begins talking to you, be sure to tell them that it is you and not your friend. Because if you have a full out convo with them pretending to be your friend, your friend will look like an idiot when they talk to this person again because they’ll probably ask the same questions you did a couple days ago.

22. If there is a parent, sibling or friend in the room that you do not want over your shoulder reading the convo, then change your status to BRB or say BRB

23. You can have serious talks on MSN, but anything really serious should be done face-to-face. Because on MSN it is easier for people to say things that they don’t mean or they get implied the wrong way..

24. Drunk+MSN= you may think you’re having fun, but the person you are talking to can’t read a word that you type, so I’d advise against the MSN convo’s if you’re really drunk.

25. If your MSN name says “IM SOO $%*&ING PISSED!” or anything along those lines and someone asks you why, you do not have any right saying “don’t worry about it.”

26. DO NOT SIGN IN MORE THEN 4 TIMES, no one wants to see “GOAL!” 8 times, or “JESS CALL ME WHEN YOU GET HOME”

27. Give out your password to your hotmail account with caution. Especially to a b/f or g/f, because when you break up, and that’s when not if, they are going write things in your name like “I’M A FAT WHORE” or “I CHEATED on THE BEST THING I EVER HAD, I’m a WORTHLESS PIECE OF ****” ..feel free to use those lines on those incautious people who give out their password.

28. Don’t add strangers to MSN that is what Myspace is for, duh.

29. Talking to people while appearing offline is far from creepy, it’s cool.

30. Confronting people face-to-face about them blocking you.. probably not a good idea (I’ve been told it’s awkward.)