Y'know...I was originally going to do a humorous little schpiel with this, involving my vixen and a non-descript other fur...but honestly, this doesn't deserve to be made light of.

/begin rant

So, like a lot of people across the globe, I chat online with people. I use it to plan get-togethers, help people with issues they have, get help for my issues and so on.

However, I have noticed some trends that I thought I would share. Trends that actually CONTRIBUTED to the last major depressive episode I had:

• No one says a damn thing unless I start the talking

This is an INCREDIBLY common phenomenon. It can really wear on a person when they have to start EVERY. SINGLE. BLEEPING. CONVERSATION.
It makes me feel like I'm being a bother to you for daring to get you to talk to me. Like I am torturing you to engage you in conversation.

• People having yellow/red statuses CONSTANTLY with no explanation.

Another epic pet peeve. If your status color is always busy or away, guess what? I'M NOT GOING TO TALK TO YOU..
Yellow status means you are away from the keyboard. Red means you are busy.
As a polite person, that means "Oh, they're busy doing something else. I'll leave them alone."
Days pass, with the same status color and no explanation...and you see where this leads, don't you?

• Green-statused people "ignoring" messages.

I have "ignoring" in quotes because I know one messenger I use (Skype) does actually eat messages at times. However, if a person messages you while your status is green...and you don't respond for hours on end...and you log off, all with a green status color? That is REALLY a crushing thing.
Guess what all that means: YOU JUST TOLD THIS PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT YOU THAT THEY'RE NOT WORTH YOUR BLEEPING TIME!

• People who do not update statuses.

Another very common occurrence.
If you are playing a game, how about you change your status to "Playing a game," or "Gaming right now. Might not respond right away."?
The person who normally pokes you online while you're playing might leave you alone then...or feel less like a horse's ass for bugging you since they already know you're playing a game instead of you making them feel like crap by telling them, "I'm playing a game right now."

Now, before you get your knickers in a twist, I am going to say this, right now:

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE ON MY MESSENGER LISTS!

I know that people have lives and such. I know that there are people I talk with who are really shy (like myself, actually). I know that crapola happens.

Just take a few bloody seconds and say, "Hey, something's come up. Can I message you later?" Or if you're gaming, change your status to reflect that, or even go off messengers for a bit.

Take a few seconds to think about how the person on the other side of the screen might react if you just ignore them for hours on end and then vanish.

Would you want to be treated that way? THEN WHY DO IT TO SOMEONE ELSE?????

/end rant