instant messaging and my attempt to make it mine

[j]

i don't like how instant messaging has evolved over the net. it feels too fast and requires too much attention all of the time. i left Discord in lieu of IRC a few years ago, but even that never felt right to me. i felt lonely ditching software my friends' used and struggled to connect to people over a protocol where folks were typically older, and often held a diametrically opposed lifestyle to me. a lot of the folks i've spoken to in the web revival scene have felt something similar.

it's taken some soul-searching and attempts to understand exactly what i would want from an instant messaging protocol. it's taken even longer to figure out how to make something that represents my style of communication. i still feel like an outcast when i can't talk to people online, but i want a mutually beneficial compromise that appeases everyone.

it took a long time, but i realized that i want Midnight.Pub, but without the web aspect. something slow, where reading is as important as talking and technological proficiency is a prerequisite. something where complexities like cryptography and user agents are discarded; somewhere where humans are expected and thrive.

so, i made exactly that. i never know how to talk about stuff i craft without it sounding like the advertisements on the front page of a server provider, or the page you visit when you want to top up your cell credit. so, if you're interested in CHAT2ME, then visit my website. i'm satisfied with the revisions i've made to it since its birth.

i originally wrote this post just to share what i've made in case other people like what i've described and want to use it, but i'd also be interested to hear how other folks feel about the state of instant messaging as a whole: what do you want (instant) messaging to be? what software aligns closest with your feelings of online communication? if you could change things with existing technologies: what would you change?

[grubbyfox]

For me, MSN was the best at the time, and imo is still the best (msn escargot I mean).

What I liked about MSN (And MSN+ features) were the following:

- changeable displayname
- changeable avatar
- avatars were of decent size
- statusbar/"what are you listening to" etc
- customizeable pretty much everything. backdrops of convos, the UI, fonts/color, etc. You could personalize pretty much everything in some way, even if a bit limited.
- dont think file sharing was limited? i remember sending like 700mb movies to friends over MSN (was easier and faster when we were locally connected etc). The file wasnt on a server, I guess, it just went from P2P, which is why I guess they could do that.
- chat logs were saved if you wanted.
- the program was pretty unintrusive (discord for example is big and clunky, MSN you can make pretty tiny if you wish.)
- The drawing function they added. We had a lot of fun with that, drawing to each other in the chat.
- You could add tons and tons of custom smileys
- It also had a browser version for when you just needed to hop on, on a random PC and not install anything.
- The UI was in "separate" windows. So you could choose which chatting window was big, smaller etc if you wanted, and your main hub/ui wasn't attached to the chatting windows, like how Discord is.


What I wish MSN would have added:

- Changeable avatar and display-name between users (as in, I want Sally to see my ~emo nick~ and Peter to see my xXxedgyxXx nick)
- Group chats that are not temporary (I believe later versions of MSN actually had that, but it wasn't the norm most of its heyday I believe.)
- More "skins" - although I appreciate the "frutiger aero" look of later MSN, I wasn't too fond it it being so forced. Any sort of darker theme on it would get this ghostly sheen over it and any black color was often just a bright grey.
- Saving logs in a comprehendable way. The XML logs of MSN are not the best.