OK, I use AIM a bit. Last week, someone with the screenname of "RationalSalmon" messaged me. I was bored enough to reply:

12:19:57 rationalsalmon: Hi.
12:20:44 Alexander Lambert: hello
12:21:52 rationalsalmon: hi
12:22:15 Alexander Lambert: yep, we established that bit
12:23:00 rationalsalmon: ...
12:25:04 rationalsalmon: so why are you messaging me, exactly?
12:25:15 Alexander Lambert: because you messaged me
12:25:44 rationalsalmon: sure I did...
12:26:10 Alexander Lambert:
RationalSalmon
12:19
Hi.
Alexander Lambert
12:20
hello
RationalSalmon
12:21
hi
12:26:39 rationalsalmon: I'm not Alexander Lambert
12:26:44 rationalsalmon: *points at name*
12:27:26 Alexander Lambert: nope - I'm Alexander Lambert - you're RationalSalmon - your "Hi" came through at 12:19 and I responded at 12:20 then you at 12:21
12:27:44 rationalsalmon: no, see, I'm bloo narti
12:28:00 Alexander Lambert: says rationalsalmon here
12:28:20 rationalsalmon: your says rational salmon here
12:28:50 rationalsalmon: righg, blocking you cos there's clearly something not right here
12:29:01 Alexander Lambert: agree

Today, I just got "InoculatedSalmon" doing a similar thing:

09:14:50 InoculatedSalmon: k.
09:15:39 InoculatedSalmon: did you need anything there Jim?
09:15:53 Alexander Lambert: 1) I'm not Jim
09:16:01 Alexander Lambert: 2) you messaged me
09:16:07 Alexander Lambert: 3) I don't know who you are
09:16:18 InoculatedSalmon: i didn't message you.
09:16:27 Alexander Lambert: again?> goodbye
09:16:39 InoculatedSalmon: okay buhbye then.
Changed status to Offline (09:23:42)
Changed status to Online (09:25:44)
09:26:10 InoculatedSalmon: Hi. I'm Jim, so don't ask me who I am. I'm Jim.
09:26:59 Alexander Lambert: ok, you appeared to randomly message me with "k." and then "did you need anything there Jim?"
09:27:12 Alexander Lambert: I had a "RationalSalmon" do a similar thing a few days back
09:27:37 Alexander Lambert: I suspect a virus at play
09:30:53 Alexander Lambert: did I appear to send something asking who you were?

Is this an AIM virus or something? Enquiring minds want to know. My Google-fu seems to be fuzzed. EDIT: Seems I'm not alone... *Salmon is a bot which initiates conversation with two unsuspecting parties and then relays between them - both sides see IdiotSalmon as the person they're talking to and neither side started it. I really don't understand the motivation of this, of spammers or anything else similarly pointless.

Alex
x x