Philip Howard, the Times’ Modern Manners columnist, offers some sage advice to those of us in a quandry about when to call:

How should one use programmes such as Skype to contact friends? Unlike telephones these programmes tell users when their friends are online. I find it very tempting to call them, but realise they may already be talking to someone much more important to them than I am. What should one do?
Christopher Evans, Shipley, Yorkshire

I should call them, provided that you do not contact them immediately and every time they are on online. It’s marvellous that we can contact friends with the touch of a key. The downside is that such continual contacts are promiscuous. We must beware of becoming online bores.

Should we update the Skype etiquette statement to cover promiscuous bores?