User blog comment:PlantyThePottedPlant/Random Topic Blogging II: Electric Blogaloo/@comment-4121682-20120830230326/@comment-4121682-20120831034907

Its login is annoyingly complicated, it gives dull-looking and very technical chat background with code formatting font, it's hard to mess with settings, etc. That, and again, all it is is some other site to chat on that looks pretty conspicuous...

And don't get me wrong...I know your options are limited. I will never forget that, nor the good reasons for it being that way.

But at least Facebook can be and is used for helpful purposes, too. For instance, my school's band has its members follow its FB page for ALL updates and announcements. Several other school organizations are like that, too. And FB has a program where all you have to be is logged into FB, and then you can close the page while staying logged into the chat program on your computer. With Skype, you just need to have the program and be logged into it. With both ideas, you can disable all sound alerts and thus make it subtle.

And yes, I know, when "your" laptop is used by, like, everyone else, it makes changes like those pretty darn hard to hide. Sigh...forgive me for my frustration - I know you're equally, if not more frustrated, that our communication can't be easier.