Use case for per-protocol icons

[Ethan Blanton]

Andrew Roeder spake unto us the following wisdom:
> Really this issue isn't going to stop arising in the devel mailing list 
> until the issues are regarded better than with "Resistance is futile, we 
> are Borg."  Arguing that we "Don't need it." or "Your arguments are 
> ridiculous, because myself and the other developers believe it so." isn't 
> going to make anyone feel better about the change, I really fail to see how 
> showing "additional information that isn't currently displayed at-a-glance" 
> is a bad thing.

None of that is really what happens.  It just so happens that a small
number of users, including yourself, appear to be incapable of logical
argument or decision-making.  We have presented, for *every single*
use case that has come up (unless I'm forgetting something), a
superior way to solve the problem to using protocol icons.  A few of
them do not exist in the current Pidgin UI, or did not at the time of
discussion and have since been implemented.

"I want it because I want it" is not a good reason for a feature.  The
beautiful thing about Open Source, however, is that you don't *have*
to have buy-in from us, just because you want something that we don't.
Go to it.

> Saying these icons "confused" someone is simply nonlogical, if a user knows 
> well enough how to set up an account for different protocols, they will at 
> least know what icons represent which protocol.
> 
> Saying that they are "ugly" or "messy" is a personal opinion, of which 
> yours is no better than mine, so the visual aspect of the argument is moot.

In fact, ours is "better" than yours, by virtue of the fact that you
are using software which we wrote, and gave away *for free*, in the
hopes that it might be useful to someone else.  More correctly,
*yours* is not better than *ours*, and we have invested the time to
make ours come to fruition.

> Mostly I fail to see what people's problems with these icons were, they did 
> not interfere with any usability of the program, they simply showed you 
> information that -You personally- may have not cared to know, which still, 
> did not hinder you from using the program.

Right, you have failed to understand our position.  We agree on
something.  Fortunately, our position is *very* well documented on
this mailing list, in several bug reports in the tracker, a couple of
blog posts, and various other fora.  Again, if you can show us
something which _cannot be solved in a better way_, we have something
to talk about.

Ethan (who is REALLY, REALLY sick of the same arguments coming up over
       and over, with no attempt to improve them, and the same
       circular reasoning and unreasoned attacks against development
       decisions.)

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://pidgin.im/pipermail/devel/attachments/20070806/7e3f516f/attachment.sig>