[Deliverator]

Why do so many people NOT have an instant message client attached to their profile? Would be a million times easier to ask and answer questions if you could instantly communicate.

[Angelone]

I barely im so you wouldn't get much out of me.

Edit- Probably for privacy reasons too.

[CanRay]

Same reason my characters don't give my CommCode to every forum they're on.     Too many IMs from random, strange people asking random, strange things.

And Spambots hunting.

[Pathica]

With the private messaging features built in on fora, IM's are not a dire need. If they are regulars, send them a PM, they'll get it soon enough.

  Too many IMs from random, strange people asking random, strange things.

The tales I could tell you! lol

[Charybdis]

Why do so many people NOT have an instant message client attached to their profile? Would be a million times easier to ask and answer questions if you could instantly communicate.

I like the Shadowforums, but :
A) am something of a privacy Nazi 
B) Normally post from work 
C) there's nothing life or death on these pages that needs an immediate answer.....
D) unless you're all included in a chat, you don't get the benefit of the wisdoms (and comedic responses ), as there's no posted record of the whole conversation. I prefer to soak in my Shadowrun at my leisure, on my schedule... not just at an instant's notice...

So, it's a posters' life for me

[FastJack]

+1 to all the above.

Also, when I get a PM, I'm notified via email. Being that I usually have Outlook up and running and checking my email account(s) every 15 minutes, the longest it may take me to respond to a forum PM is probably fifteen minutes when I'm not at work (about an hour if I am).

[Critias]

Also, part of the reason the forum exists is so that when you ask and answer questions, everyone else can see it.  Folks can chime in, folks can learn from the question, folks can take part in a discussion debating the answer, etc, etc.  If everything were handled off-site via IM, none of that would happen.  It wouldn't actually be any easier to ask the question, either;  just a little quicker.

[CanRay]

Now, a public chat room for Shadowrun...   

[Malex]

Also, part of the reason the forum exists is so that when you ask and answer questions, everyone else can see it.  Folks can chime in, folks can learn from the question, folks can take part in a discussion debating the answer, etc, etc.  If everything were handled off-site via IM, none of that would happen.  It wouldn't actually be any easier to ask the question, either;  just a little quicker.

Besides, alot of people on this site are from different time zones. I am not going to wait until 3am to IM someone across the planet.

[Kot]

In my case that's because we barely use other AIM, and such in Poland. We have a 'native' program, which I'm using rarely these times. It's easier to do that through Facebook and Gmail  built-in chat.