Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The downside of Skype

Now I love skype, don't get me wrong. But it is far from perfect. Today I am only going to address one downside and this will be random skyping. 

For those of you who do not know, skype lists you in a public directory. Therefore anyone with skype can search and find me. More often then not I am found under searches of women in Germany. To my knowledge there is no way to change this and remove yourself. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

I have noticed there is a trend. When in the US I got skypes daily from places like Algeria, Palestine. After switching to Germany, I only get Turkey. Now I have nothing against men from these countries. And if they actually spoke the language posted on my profile I would give them a chance assuming  they didn't give off a weird, perverse, or strange vibe. But every time IT is people wanting to come to the country I am in, expect me to teach them all about the politics, or teach English.  Now there are sites for this. Sites for dating, sites for migration, and language partners. Why message me even when my profile clearly states I do not add random people. 

I have on a few occasions met nice people, and to this day I chat with them. But I am sick of men messaging me mainly for the purpose of hitting on me or asking me to chat on a webcam. And it infuriates me when they do this without even speaking my language. 

I had a similar instance like this last night. A Turkish guy wrote me, demanded I speak Turkish, insisted I must as I am from Germany??? WFT??? Asked for webcam and when he didn't understand my answer of NOOOO. Started calling me non stop. Did not stop when I declined his calls until I had my husband answer. 

This is the conversation posted in entirety. (Note prior to this I got a friend request from him at which point this all started) * My name has been changed in this text, it is not my skype name so don't waste your time :)

rena 9:18 PM
Do I know you?

MÜZİSYEN_60 9:20 PM
türkçe
9:20 PM
yok mu?

rena 9:20 PM
I don't speak turkish

MÜZİSYEN_609:21 PM
yes
9:21 PM
türkish

rena 9:21 PM
no no turkish

MÜZİSYEN_60  9:21 PM
ok
9:21 PM
 no dont speak türkish

rena 9:21 PM
nope
9:21 PM
english

MÜZİSYEN_60
9:21 PM
no
9:21 PM
türkish

rena
9:22 PM
I dpn't understand Turkish

MÜZİSYEN_60
9:22 PM
no?
9:22 PM
english
9:22 PM
no
9:22 PM
germany
9:23 PM
türkish
9:23 PM
you speak türkish

rena
9:23 PM
Yes I am in Germany, but I do not speak Turkish
9:23 PM
no
9:23 PM
american
9:23 PM
no turkish

MÜZİSYEN_60
9:23 PM
ok

rena 9:23 PM
germans speak no turkish

MÜZİSYEN_60 9:23 PM
camera
9:24 PM
?

rena 9:24 PM
what?

MÜZİSYEN_60
9:24 PM
you
9:24 PM
wep cam
9:24 PM
you?

rena 9:24 PM
I don't even know you

MÜZİSYEN_60 9:25 PM
( insert a smily here)

Serena 9:25 PM
you dont speak english, or german. Why do you want to talk to me

This was the point at which he started bombarding me with calls.

I put on my profile no random skypes. I even had up no men, no web cam, English only. Can people not read. I hate this about skype. I am paying a monthly fee not just using the free feature. I should be able to take myself out of this listing. While I can set it that people have to be approved to contact me, once I message them to ask if they are someone I know the block is removed and they can contact me. What is that for crap. 

I use this as a service to stay in touch with friends. I do not appreciate these messages and calls, which come through multiple times a day even in the middle of the night.

I am sorry, I hope not to offend anyone, but seriously it pisses me off.

So here is my advice for skype (if you choose to random PM)
1. read peoples profiles first, do not assume they have the same intentions as you
2. Do not contact people who speak a language you do not know
3. Approach with a question (do you have time...)  or intro (about me), not just hi
4. Don't assume all women want to play web cam games, mary men to bring to their country, or conduct language lessons.




3 comments:

Unknown said...

You can change it where only friend can skype ya lol. I had to do it. I got some real creeps!
Chris

Lost in Translation said...

I did try that and I had issues. I use skype world flat rate. And when I make it that way, only people saved in my phonebook can call me. So if it comes up even as unknown due to being international it blocks the calls. I have yet to find a way under setting to just block the skype calls without affecting the telephone features.:( And they have crap for customer service, they don't even offer a hotline for paid subscribers.

E. said...

Personally, I'm surprised he waited so long to ask you to go on the cam. And no, I'm not stalking you from Skype. I found your blog through TT. :-)

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