Ever since I began college with my Mac, I have reverted to using iChat rather than AOL Instant Messenger. And to be honest, there just has been something missing for me...alright not exactly, but thinking about AIM reminds me of the good old days back in high school, just sitting in front of the computer checking out profiles and such. AIM has many norms to abide by, one of which is being relatively polite and not berating others. For the most part, you are talking with your friends, so this is usually not a problem. Yet sometimes you get into an argument, or you are speaking to someone who you just met. Either way, when opinions differ and tempers flare, you are supposed to remain in control and not flip out and insult the other until they cry to their mothers.
There are a few measures one can take to ensure that the AIM Leviathan rules supreme. The first is to block. If you are arguing with someone or they are being rue and/or inappropriate, you can threaten to block them. They cannot see you online or speak to you. This can work if the other values your online time together. If not, then the threat does not really have an effect. One of my fears as a child was getting blocked by some girl I liked, which led to a more conservative online strategy. For the most part it worked, and the only person who ever blocked me to my knowledge was my brother, who I was repeatedly calling a name normally used for a female dog because he told on me for watching television when I was supposed to be doing work. It was so worth it.
The second way of the Leviathan is my personal favorite, which is to "warn" them. Every member has a warning percentage, and every time you get warned your percentage goes up. When it reaches a certain point, you cannot talk to anyone, and if it goes higher, the program automatically quits. Therefore, if someone is being inaproppriate, you can warn them in hopes that they will get the message to cut it out. I do not know how effective this can be though, since you technically do not need any grounds to warn someone. My friends and I would "team up" on one person, and keep warning them until the program shut down. This might sound pathetic and childish, but we were 13- what could have been funnier?? The warn option on AIM is one part of the Leviathan.
The third Leviathan method is more drastic- reporting the individual to AIM or AOL, which could lead to further disciplinary action. In my entire AIM career spanning seven or eight years, I have only seen one person contact AIM to complain, and it was a mother who was furious that another 12 year old boy was talking inapproriately to her 12 year old angel. That is understandable. It sure takes a lot for someone to report another to AIM, so one would really have to push the envelope. Yet the option is there, a "sign on the wall" stating that inappropriate action can be punished if reported to AOL. This option helps keep the peace on AIM.
What is the moral of this story? Be wary, or you might get blindsided by a barage of warnings, and let me tell you- it could ruin your day.
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4 comments:
Jacob, you did a good job with covering the Leviathan on AIM. I knew about the block and the warn features, but I was never even aware that you could report people if they crossed the line. Anyway, as you pointed out, it is interesting that people sometimes abuse their power as a Leviathan. I remember how it became a little tricky to stay online when all my friends had the power to warn me without provocation. I think Wallace touched a little bit on how it can be very difficult to moderate online environments, especially when the community (such as the one on AIM) is so large. If you allow everybody to be the Leviathan, people are bound to abuse that power, and if you only allow a select few to act as the Leviathan, many incidents are going to be overlooked.
Hey Jacob that was funny! I've always wondered about warning or blocking someone just for fun, but I never did. Maybe I'll try it out on my brother. I think that even though AIM seems to have a lot of Leviathan's in place, that they are not all that effective. I've never heard of anyone getting "warned" for a legitimate reason. I feel that it is usually used to annoy your friend or brother. Also, leviathans on AIM are a lot more flexible than other standards because each person has a unique/personal set of standards.
Jacob, Great post! Very amusing! You did a great job of breaking down the Leviathans that exist on AIM. I still remember being blocked and blocking and how dissappointed and good it could make you feel. It brings up a great point! To me, one could find that blocking had social identity implications. If you are blocked, you are a nonconformist--you pissed someone off. If you do the blocking, that person is not in your ingroup(buddy list). On the other hand, I also find it interesting that this type of Leviathan can be very individualistic. The decision you make to block someone or report someone is usually not influenced by other people (unless you "team warn" someone as you mentioned). Thanks for the post!!! Good writing!
Jacob, I really enjoyed reading your post! I never really thought about AIM in the sense of having Leviathans to regulate peoples behavior the way you did. For a while, when I first started using AIM I never understood why there was a ‘warn’ feature, because it didn’t seem like there was any point to it. And although it can act as a leviathan, I don’t think people use it very much, if at all. For the most part, I don’t think that people really use the leviathans that are on AIM as much as they do in other online communities. When it comes to blocking, unless you truly despise a person, or they are giving you a tremendous amount a grief, its really rare that you will actually use this feature. You brought up some really great ideas. Great Post!
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