Why Does Yahoo IM Limit Your Words?
Yahoo!'s instant messaging services provide users with options to chat real-time with other users of Yahoo!, Windows Live and Facebook. Whether you use the chatting features through your email client, through Yahoo! Messenger software or through a third-party application programming interface, the system limits the size of each individual message. This is done for a variety of reasons, including for the sake of efficiency and bandwidth and to comply with third-party systems receiving the messages.
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Yahoo! Messaging
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Yahoo! is one of several services that allow instant messaging over the Internet. Its Yahoo! Messenger, a freely downloadable software program for chatting, was introduced in 1998 under the name Yahoo! Pager. Since that time, it's been one of the top 10 IM services, competing with the likes of AOL, Gmail, Windows Live. Yahoo! also integrated chat features into its web-based email service to avoid the need to download. In addition, Yahoo! extends its chatting capabilities to many other platforms. You can use it, for example, to chat with users who visit your website. Companies use it as an internal messaging service for employees, and operators of message boards build chat platforms around Yahoo! All of these platforms must abide by the character limit set by Yahoo!, which must be no longer than 2,000 bytes. The character limit varies depending on the platform and the language being used, but a rough estimate is approximately 250 characters.
Efficiency
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The original intent behind all instant messaging is sending short missives with speed and efficiency. Limiting characters allows messages to be sent as close to real-time as possible. Given the limits of users' computers and the sheer number of people IMing at the same time, this limit balances the need to express yourself and do it quickly. Yahoo! also places limits on individuals messages based on the limitations of the receiving party. For example, it integrates with Facebook and Windows Live IM systems, which also have limits.
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Mobile Use
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Yahoo! instant messaging services also work with SMS messaging, or text messaging. In addition, many people chat with a mobile version of Yahoo! messenger. Text messaging applies a character limits based on the transmission constraints of telecommunications in general, and specifically the signally capabilities of the Signaling System No. 7 protocol. In a nutshell, with headers and other coding that must be attached to each message, the architects of the telecommunications world needed the actual message to be short, taking into account the capabilities of the system and the ability to express a complete thought.
Work Arounds
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If you need more space to communicate, there are many ways to do so. One of the easiest options is to simply email your contact. Within Yahoo!'s email and Messenger clients, you may also send a file through the chat interface. In addition, you can opt to switch to a voice or video call so that you can speak your message. Furthermore, developers who use Yahoo! instant messages can tweak the message character limit in their control panels, but messages must still abide by Yahoo!'s SDK 2000-byte limit.
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