For me the main annoyance and the problem with those "Excuse me, do you have
some time?" things is not the fact that they are annoying, but the fact that I
actually don't know if I have the time for what they ask. If they would be
kind enough to add a summary of what they were about to ask, I would be much
less stressed about if I can keep my promise or not.

So, by asking politely (which I admit is polite in real world) you are not
allowing us to DECIDE wether we have time or not. Your question implicates
that you can estimate the amount of time needed for your problem X better than
us. I don't trust your estimations ("do you have few seconds" and the reality
is that it takes a fuckin' quarter of an hour to explain).

If you would be kind enough to include the summary, I would immedetially know
if I really have the time and the interest to do that. Anyway you are
interrupting something we were doing and we would like to know if it is worth
interrupting for you or not, real world tricks don't work here. If a cute girl
(FYI: never happens) came to my workroom and asked if I got time, I would
surely goddamn have it, even if I was doing post-surgery operations on my own
leg. However random mortal X doing the digital equivalent very seldom will
raise those feelings of urgency, even if the question was valid, most
interesting and needed attention.

We are normal people (I am not sure about arches, they might not be) and don't
get whim feelings of aggression if you ask and add summary of what you are
actually asking.

--
Nice signature ..quitqsq..GRR.

No, I haven't. Although this might come as a shock to you, but I actually
ask the questions when I have some questions to ask. Which usually
results in a reply of some kind. Now, if you used months and months
asking "Are you idle?", and never got an answer to the question you
_never_ actually asked, now who is to blame?

Now, on the other hand I've had several this kind of dialogs (when I
was mort and I still answered to those 'do you have time?' questions):
Mort1 : 'Excuse me, can I ask you something?'
Me: 'Sure' (1-5 mins later due idleness)
Mort1: <silence of 10mins, which I spend waiting for him to ask>
Me <back to semi-idling>
Mort1: 'Are you sure I don't bother you, you seem busy.' (1min later)
Mort1: 'Ok, I'll ask later' [goes ld]

Yes, this did happen more than once. Yes, I often do something else
too besides staring at mud, waiting for 'are you idle?' questions.
And no, this is not the only problem, just an example.
Most of the time it isn't. And, if you can't be bothered to think the
question through so far as to state the problem briefly, why the fuck
should I pamper you for the information? You're the one wanting help,
I'm quite happy doing my own stuff too. "Excuse me, do you have time
to look at this combat bug?" -> yes, you'll propably get an answer,
even a 'not right now' (unless I happen to idle, which does happen).
and I So, you have a question that's been bugging you for weeks, and now
when you ask the question, you have to log off right away? Now, who's
the moron here? This is different from real life, where if somebody
asks if I have time, they are right there, and I can answer right away.
Now, tells, this doesn't apply. The questioner might get a phone call,
heart attack, or whatever, and I'd have no idea...

Anyways, test me. I'm pretty sure I have asked almost every question
presented to me, that is not just about me being free/idle. Sometimes
the answer comes the following day, sometimes the answer is no, I
don't know, or I don't care. But there will be an answer.
Usually I'm not. And this habit of not answering 'are you idle?' is
from mortal times, now as wiz I'd like to actually answer, hence the
flame post (should have posted a general post, but it was more fun
to write the flaming post).

Now, is this silently ignoring questions rude? Hell yes, but I
prefer being rude over being annoyed.

-Era of the idling