# Just letting you know that I'm online



## yuechu

大家好！

I have language exchanges with some friends on the internet and I was wondering how to say "Just letting you know that I'm online" (a few minutes early, for example) in Chinese. It could be on QQ, Skype, etc.
Does anyone know how to say this in Chinese? Thanks!


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## SuperXW

I think you mean 我上线了，跟你说一声/告诉你一声。
跟你说一声/告诉你一声（just letting you know） sounds unnecessary to me.


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## yuechu

OK! Thanks, SuperXW!


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## brofeelgood

SuperXW said:


> 跟你说一声/告诉你一声（just letting you know） sounds unnecessary to me.


Totally. To pro-actively announce my presence to people I care about, I usually just send a "在".


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## yuechu

Ah, good to know. Thanks, brofeelgood!


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## Skatinginbc

"上線了!" sounds good for the purpose of 報到 (報告自己已經來到了).

管家: 李總管到. (announcing someone's arrival)
鄭親王: 快快有請.

慈禧: 連英! (having seen him around earlier)
連英: 奴才在. (confirming his presence)
慈禧: 過來捶背.


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## yuechu

Hello, Skatinginbc!
哈哈. This is for 古代, right?


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## SuperXW

Brofeelgood's style can be considered as 高冷 in online communication, which means the guy/girl feels 高傲冷酷 to the ordinary people/world. 
Normal people tend to use more words to people they care, and less words to others, while he only says one word to people he cares. What do you mean by "在"? 你在还是我在? 你在, 那你想让我说什么？我在不在，凭什么要向你汇报？有事说事不行吗？
最讨厌被问“在吗”，你不说什么事我怎么知道我在不在……
Many people don't like such kind of "cool" or even "cold" conversation style, maybe a few are used to it?
A typical example:
A: 在 B: 嗯 A: 嘛呢 B: 忙 A: 哦


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> Brofeelgood's style can be considered as 高冷


My feeling was the opposite.  It sounded so humble that I thought of "奴才在!" ("Your humble servant is here, at your service!"; see post #6).  "在!" is usually a response to a roll call (點名) or an order (使喚) from a superior.  讨厌被问“在吗” because it sounds patronizing.  It is the person who asks “在吗” seems to be 高傲冷酷, not the person who answers it.


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## hx1997

在 is just a common way of announcing your presence online in mainland.* I don't feel anything servile to it.

*See subsequent posts.


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## SuperXW

But he was pro-actively announcing his presence, not answering anyone. Asking 在吗? is already annoying, I feel it is even worse to throw only one word 在.
I haven't chatted online with youngsters for long. Maybe it is a new norm.
What do you expect me to answer 在 anyway?


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## hx1997

SuperXW said:


> But he was pro-actively announcing his presence, not answering anyone.



I only just realized that! 
In that case, I doubt 在 would work. It's used only in response to a question, I think.


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> I think you mean 我上线了，跟你说一声/告诉你一声。


YueChu, do you mean '沒事，只是告訴你：我正在線上'? (There is a subtle difference between 我上線了 and 我在線上.)


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## brofeelgood

I can see I've been drunk-posting a bit last night, and not just on this particular thread. 

With the way I use it, 「在」 is the shortened form of 「我在线(了)」 to announce one's availability, in a (jocular?) manner that resembles attendance reporting #6. For me, it's a habit that was carried over from the early QQ days, when people routinely chose to be "invisible" and disabled all the sounds because everyone had hundreds of contacts and the stupid door-knock that you'd hear every time one of them came online was driving us all mad.


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