There is one fellow who has been IMing me for the past two years trying to figure out why I am on his list.

I never blocked him due to the sheer hillarity of the situation. Monthly he will message me and ask who I am. It is all the more better due to the fact that my screen name is my real name.

I am VERY discriminating with my contact list so if you make it on there (and you have) you may consider yourself among the elite (and you are).

I always get people IMing me like I’m some relative.  I figure it’s some scam and hit ignore. If it isn’t a scam then they are so cluless that I don’t want to be bothered with them anyway.

There’s this silly belief among too many IM users that the length of your contact list is proof of your popularity.  Collect the whole set!

I have my client set up not to allow IMs from people not already on my contact list.  If someone wants to talk to me and can’t figure out how to email me first, I don’t want to hear from them.

I think GeekMom pretty much nailed it.
Apparently, when u |2 l337 0r k00l, 51z3 duz m4773|2!!!1!11!!!!

My goodness, that would drive me insane. I recently reached a milestone in my life by getting rid of my cell phone. AIM is next. I have absolutely no desire to be contacted out of the blue by people I don’t know, or even people I do know. Now that I think of it, maybe I’ll even cancel my land line phone as well - if you want me, email me.

I agree that people add you because they think the more people they have on their im the coller they are. If they are that dumb then I don’t want to talk to them. The only reason I im is to lower the phone bill!

I feel the same way.  It really pisses me off when someone just messages me out of nowhere, just to know who the hell I am.  Some of these people I don’t know and some I do know, but they seem to have forgotten my unique screen name and the fact that they’ve added me to their list.

Which is why I rule my “Friend’s List” with an Iron Fist.  From now on, the people on my list are on my list for very good reasons:

1.  They talk to me very often, when I’m online.
2.  They’re very close friends, not just “buddies” or “friends of friends”.
3.  They’ve been awarded a Purple Heart (this was pointed out by one of my friends, lol), because if they’re kind enough to take a bullet for me, then I wouldn’t hesitate to return the favor.

Too many people have been camping around on my list and never even say a damn word to me for weeks.  My real friends know that I’m never the one to start a conversation; I’m usually very busy with more important things than staring at the computer screen all day until a friend comes online.

It’s kind of funny, but I was at one of my friend’s house, playing some videogames and my friend was on the computer, chatting with people on AIM.  I checked his Buddy List and he has about 200 people on his list (not even half that number are actually online) and I see him only chatting with 2 people....2 people out of 2/5 of 200…

I ask him, “What the hell is with all those people you don’t talk to?”, he replies, “I have no idea, they just added me to their list, somehow”.  Point proven.

Les, I feel your pain about the typing incorrectly thing.
90 percent of my IM conversations are people trying to explain what all the abbrievations are.