in runescape classic, you could trade with people that were far away, or in other words, they wouldn't come stand next to you when you trade. So people would use the press *** to determine where you were at in the crowd. Once you figured that out, there was no hide chat option, so you'd have to sit and look for the name, and buy pressing a number you could look quick and get a lil bit of the name to at least find out who it might be.