Multi-stream chatting - cool but it does your head in

This is one for the impatient chat room users.  You can't wait for the reply to your post, and meantime you think of another cool witticism, so you type that in before you get a reply to the first one. 

I first noticed this happening on NetCentral in the 90's - probably the best chat site ever.  Good old 'Nettie'.  People were maintaining separate conversations on all sorts of really interesting subjects (this was in the 30-somethings room) and most chatters dipped into multiple conversations.  That seemed frantic at first, but the logic of it wasn't particularly strange.  Then I noticed multiple people - and even pairs - were having multiple conversations at the same time.  Woah! Head spin!

Kaleb: Hey Shoshonnie!
K: Whatcha doing?
Shoshonnie: Hi Kaleb, how did that trip go?
K: Ow, 12 hours on the bike. Bum hurts.
S: Oh nothing much, cleaning up after lunch with Mathew-Shane - a curry.
S: His too :)
K: haha

I really like this kind of conversation, and I've often wondered how it would go in real time.  Of course, it's driven by the delay due to typing.  You'd have to force people to wait a few minutes before replying.  They'd have to remember the different streams and maybe the noise would create an impossible distraction.  Fun to try maybe?

Think I'll try it in my English class by getting small groups to communicate with short, handwritten notes.  A chat room like Nettie would work well, wish I could find another one as fun, lively, witty, ernest, and full of such kind people.