To Prune?

[debka_notion]

I was looking through my AIM buddy list, and I really ought to prune it. But as soon as I do, generally, I see someone I just took off after not interacting for ages, and feel bad because for some reason or other they've said something about making contact after that meeting. Of course, I then don't talk to them, and they don't try to talk to me either, so it's pointless- it's just enough to make me feel guilty. How long after someone ceases to use a screen name is it ok to remove it, I wonder... THe behind-the-scenes etiquette of these things is just waiting for someone to codify it in some way...

Comments

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

A text file sounds good, that way I can maybe label them and write a little background info in case I need to find them in the future.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

And what do you do with the people you haven't gotten in the habit of IMing with... yet?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I hold on to them, unless I have a Darn good reason to get rid of them- at least until I haven't been in touch with them at all for a few years. The people I've vaguely contemplating pruning- one's a friend from Youth Orchestra whom I haven't talked to besides maybe once since I started college, someone in my USEM (freshman seminar) I haven't talked to since and have seen only once in passing even, screen names of friends who have new screen names and don't even remember the passwords for those screen names...

This is literally the second time I've even contemplated pruning my buddy list, ever. Worry not. Friends don't get pruned.

[belu.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever removed a screenname. I just shunt them into a group of old screennames, which then gets collapsed. (Well, technically, if I want to be accurate, there's a few that are in a special group which is also collapsed.)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

collapsed? THis sounds like jargon that I don't understand. Explain?

[belu.livejournal.com]

Basically, my client allows you to decide on a group-by-group basis whether or not you want to show screennames in that group.

[carnilius.livejournal.com]

I don't ever delete screen names.

In order to make room for all of them, I have at least 10 screen names signed on at once.

Gaim has a useful feature which lets you sort your buddy list by logsize, so the person you talk to most frequently is at the top, and so on.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

And do you ever talk to these people? Is it useful?

[carnilius.livejournal.com]

Well, no, there are a bunch that I don't talk to, or don't even remember who they are anymore. There are also a bunch of people who I know but don't talk to hardly ever, but I read their away messages. But yeah, the 10 names is more because for a good long while AIM severely restricted the number of buddies allowed per list, so rather than making an arbitrary divide I made different names for different purposes. I have a Linguistics name, a dance name, a UCI name, a Hillel name, et cetera.

And I also have MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo. (Which I include in that number)

[tovaks.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can't wrap my mind around KNOWING enough people such that you'd need ten active screen names. Personally, I have someone's SN if I have a reason to talk to the person--people I knew in HS and others with whom I've lost touch were pruned years ago. I know every person's SN, and I talk to them or think I might have occasion to talk to them. **Shrug**

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Some people I just don't have a chance to talk to, they're never on, they may not have used these screen names in 2+ years... Or there's just nothing to say. That never happens to you?

[tovaks.livejournal.com]

It does. If I haven't communicated in some fashion with someone in over two years, I don't see a reason to keep his/her screen name on my buddy list.

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

I leave people on my buddy list until I can't remember who the SN belongs to anymore. ^^ Then I delete it.