ICQ ABUSE:.....what is it, and how can you help stop it?

PAGE IN PROGRESS, I want everything to be as accurate and informative as it possibly can, and have only been working on this page since 9/10/99. Thank you for your patience.

Well, nothing like jumping into something with both feet. First, let me say that ICQ has been both the BEST thing and the WORST thing to hit this internet since kids stopped trying to cram peanut butter 'n jelly sandwiches into the VCR and started trying to cram them into CD-ROM drives.

ICQ is a wonderful communication tool, fairly easy to understand and learn to use, a great way to transfer files quickly and easily, a great way to send a quick message and get an instant answer, and also a great way to see how fast and good your friends' typing and spelling is, as you chat !

Unfortunately, ICQ is also being used to annoy people, spam people, spread false rumors, lies, and also to frame innocent people. BECAUSE it so easy to use, and SO widely in use, some people with WAY too much time on their hands and not too much sense in their heads use it to irritate, and sometimes really hurt people.

I'm going to try to cover these areas here: (not necessarily in this order, depends on which I get to first)