> I do log into AIM at night and carrying on one-on-one conversations with some people, but those conversations tend to be the sort that would be held in private rooms or strings of green text in RinkChat anyway.

In a previous post, I railed against AIM, so let me preface this one by saying that I am not against people using AIM *at all*. Go to town on it, those of you that can work well with AIM's communication model.

But I do want to point out that "strings of green text in RinkChat" is still of a more communal nature. Because you're *there*, where any other Rinkies present can see you, and because public conversation is likely occurring amidst the green that might at some point catch your attention, you are automatically more involved in the community.

Again, I'm not at all saying that private conversation should still be carried out in RinkChat. Frankly, sometimes you're better off in AIM. I'm just saying that "it would be green in RinkChat anyway" isn't such a great reason to pick one over the other.