i always set my mode to "busy" "away" or "lunchbreak" if I'm gone...
if I continue posting here, I'm always online again, and if not, I mention I'm back, and stay "away" to others so I won't have 34 people talking to me at once...
Sometimes I feel like posting but I don't feel like chatting. I know if I start chatting, I'll be doing that for the rest of the night. So if I'm checking in to the boards in between working on my website, I don't want to start a conversation just to say goodbye every few minutes. I think the people I chat with probably understand that, and if they don't, then I don't want to talk to them anyway. (that wasn't directed at you Nixy )