If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 07/16/2006 6:18:42 AM PDT by Panerai
Ever wonder how you could maximally harass a Mac user with a minimal amount of effort? If that person is an iChat user, it’s really quite simple: Just add that person’s iChat ID to the Buddy List of a Mac in an Apple Retail Store. You’ve just doomed them to a grim future of fielding countless requests for AV conferences from Apple Store customers sampling iChat and the built-in iSight cameras that come with new Intel-based Macs.
Not that I’m bitter about this or anything.
Yes, I fell victim to just such a prank/unintentional mistake/colossal irritation when, a few weeks ago, I started getting meaningless iChat requests—inane messages that contained little more than a “Hello?” or ”Who’s this?” (An especially annoying introduction, since you messaged me first, buddy.) It seemed like every few minutes I’d get another one.
And that proved to be particularly unfortunate, since iChat tends to be running whenever I’m working: Here at Macworld, we use it frequently to communicate about stories and handle all the other tasks that go into producing a magazine and Web site. Quitting iChat or going offline means shutting down one of my primary means of collaboration and communication.
In my case, I at first assumed these chat requests were from random people who’d come across my iChat ID in a poorly-vetted screenshot; I dismissed them without paying too much attention. But I eventually noticed that they were all coming from the same iChat account: ars039.14@mac.com. My next thought was that this was some solitary jerk doing his best to disrupt my work. But I found it odd that on the occasions when I responded—“Who’s this?” or “Can I ask where you got my iChat ID?”—the person on the other end never continued the conversation.
(Excerpt) Read more at macworld.com ...
Should have bought a Dell.
The "iChat" service is actually AOL Instant Messenger, so the exact same method can be used to annoy Dell users too.
Clean your system thoroughly every 6 months and the funny harrassments from bitter PC users will disappear.
Another reason I will never install AOL on my machine or any of the other 20 I'm responsible for at work. It takes over your machine.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Fortunately, iChat is not like that. It's just a good system for text messages and audio/video chat, without the problems (advertising, spyware, worms, viruses, etc.) typically associated with instant messenger systems from AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
I'm somewhat surprised their isn't a way to block individual users from pinging you, or an ignore feature that you can set up to immediately trash can requests from specific IP addresses. I do know that on my classroom Windows PC, the installation of instant messaging automatically had it starting up whenever you rebooted and installed a lot of adware and spyware. I found AOL and MSN instant messaging, and something called IRQ, I think that put up a little daisy in the systray. Those three programs (along with the ad and spyware) would slow down the system so much I couldn't even run Power Point presentations.
I really wonder sometimes how these guys get their jobs.... :-/
I guess this genius never noticed the "Block (user name)" item sitting under iChat's "Buddies" menu!
I really wonder sometimes how these guys get their jobs.... :-/
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