[sharkfish]

So IM is better? 3000 messages in my inbox that I can attend to when I'm ready vs. IM - where I'm dealing with everybody simultaneously and live? That's worse than the telephone, IMHO.

Anyway, if you get the same query more than once, it is time to put the answer into a wiki or blog.

[bmj]

I agree. I'm a big fan of asynchronous communication.

I only use IM for work and communicating with my wife during the work day. Fortunately, we use Skype at the office, so I can minimize my exposure to friends. I've discovered that even when I set my status in, say, Google Chat, to "Leave me alone" people still contact me, so I just got in the habit of not signing in.

I also don't have a high volume of email--even with list memberships, I probably don't receive more than 50 emails a day.

[lacker]

The difference is that people are more reluctant to IM you a question, and you can readily signal that you are unavailable.