For a long time I have been aware of the unique etiquette surrounding AIM. Someone's going to write a book on it. Not me. I'm just going to talk about the AIM profile here, in a very Terminator-self-aware kind of way. This is, after all, my profile. So, I'm going to talk about AIM profiles, and in particular, maintaining anonymity in profile-checking.

Everybody looks at their buddies' profiles, all the time. Don't deny it's true. You're not too busy or too cool, you're bored like the rest of us, hoping that one or more of your buddies has recently updated his or her info, maybe even with a link to click.

I hate link spy. You can never, ever click on a link spy link. If you do, then people will know you lurk around in profiles, which isn't cool. I have invented another screen name to use when clicking on a link spy link, so you will never know it is me. You can tell if the link in your buddy's profile is a link spy link by placing your cursor over the link and waiting. If it pops up with something like user=you and buddy=alterese (for example) don't click it! I made the mistake of clicking on a link in this profile of a guy whose SN I'm not supposed to know. It's a long story. Anyway, I clicked on the link before I knew what I was doing. Only later did I find out that it was a link spy link. Damn!

It may seem like I care too much about this. Maybe I do. If you think I'm crazy, feel free to IM me and tell me. Of course, you'll be admitting that you checked my profile and came to this site...