Messenger Chat Conversation
A: Bye
B: OK, c ya
A: L8r
B: G8r
A: lol
B:
A: ok bye
B: k, c ya
A: i'm going now
B: ok
A: bye
A: ok i really got to go.
B: ok.
<disconnected>

Chat Goodbye: FAIL.

PEOPLE. messenger is a tool for communication. Sometimes real life gets in the way of messenger time. I know, that is hard to take, but it IS reality. When it's time to go, GO. Say "bye" and then log out. Why we got to "bye" each other 7 times? Come on, we don't really have to be THAT polite, it's MESSENGER... it is a secondary form of communication... nobody is going to be insulted if you just say "bye" and log off. REALLY.

So, let me propose a new internet standard...

Messenger Sign-Off Protocol [MSOP] RFC8172
1. Protocol Semantics
    1.1 Announcement of Intent to Disconnect [AID]
        The Disconnecting Party [DP] announces that they intend to terminate the conversation and disconnect.
        Example. "I got to go. See you later..."
        Timeframe: Disconnect Timer [DT] Initiated (10 seconds)
    1.2 Confirmation of AID
        The Receiving Party [RP] must acknowledge the receipt of AID, and confirm the imminent termination of the conversation.
        Example. "OK, thanks. See you later."
    1.3 Final Intent to Disconnect [FID] (optional)
        Either party DP or RP may enter a final optional message, ONLY if possible within the DT interval.
        Example. "By the way I might be on later."
    1.4 Confirmation of FID (optional)
        Other party may enter a final optional acknowledgement ONLY if possible within the DT interval.
        Example. "OK, bye for now."
    1.5 Disconnect (EOM)
        Actually disconnect from the conversation. It's over. Go on with life now.
    1.6 Disconnect (DT expiry)
        When DT expires, disconnection is in effect, and termination occurs. Now go do something useful.
2. Disconnection
    2.1 Log-off
    2.2 Closure of chat window
    2.3 Locking of workstation
    2.4 Minimizing of chat window

Please support RFC8172 and follow the protocol for MSOP, and tell your friends.

PS Don't TXT while driving. Seriously. Or I will have to come over there and kill you.

There is a new FireFox 3 plug-in called ScribeFire that makes it easy to publish blog entries direct from the browser itself. It looks like a pretty good tool, fairly full-featured and compatible with many blog formats. Try it out and see if it makes life any easier for blogging!

It's so annoying when software gives me an option to do something, then just doesn't do it. Firefox 2 (and now 3) is a very nice place to browse. It has lots of cool features like tabbed browsing. I love this feature, and tell Firefox to open all pop-ups in a tab instead of a new window.

For some reason there is one stubborn link that opens it in a new window anyway. After a bit of research, I discovered that there IS a way to fix it!

open the about:config page, and change the "browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction" setting to 0 (zero).

This seems to do the trick! No muss no fuss. Does this work in 3.0 as well? Let me know if you have tried it out...

Here is a test link:
John Boal's Blog


If it opens in a tab, you've fixed it!