How do I fix this annoyance on face book?

[blutoadmirer]

I have a friend to whom I enjoy writing to on occasion, but everytime I log on to facebook, a chat window is open. I close it, then I get an email from the friend because it looks like I'm ignoring the person. Perhaps if there were a blanket restriction that prevents everyone from waiting for me to get online, it wouldn't seem so personal?

[Amazingholiday272]

You can appear offline on Facebook- and no one will know that you have logged on and so, will be unable to initiate a chat 'session' with you. And when you were ready to chat to someone you can make yourself visible.

How to do it: Down in the righthand corner is a green dot next to a silhouette of a head. Click on this and then click on 'Go Offline'. You will not be visible to anyone at all.