feature request - with an explanation

[Ethan Blanton]

Ivan Levchenko spake unto us the following wisdom:
> I only send password via XMPP because the connection is encrypted via
> ssl, and not encrypted via msn.

For the record (and I know this is orthogonal), this really doesn't
make the XMPP connection safe -- it is encrypted only to the server,
which decrypts your IMs before forwarding them.  *If* the other user
is on the same server, and also using SSL, then you only have to trust
the server.  If the other user is either not on the same XMPP server
or not using SSL, then the message is transmitted in plaintext over
the Internet for some distance.

> The idea of aliasing the contacts to use the xmpp accounts in
> preference looks like a workaround and thanks for the idea, but it
> really is a little uncomfortable. Even when pidgin used to group
> different buddies into one contact, i always divided them.

Note that it is *not* a workaround -- you are wanting to use protocol
to indicate functionality, which is merely a coincidence, and not a
solid indicator.  It Just Happens to work for you, right now, under
these specific circumstances, but there is no reason to believe that
it works for anyone else, or will continue to work for you into the
future.

> Thats why I think that there is no other option (at least for me)
> other than pidgin and thats why I wrote this email - to see if it was
> possible to get back the functionality that made it easier for me.  Is
> there an option to add a voting for the feature?

Voting for features is a bad idea.  If and when some users can come up
with *real* use cases and real scenarios where protocol knowledge in
the buddy list is truly the Right Solution, it will be added back in.
"I want this because I want it" will never make it happen, and that is
all that voting can tell us.

I do appreciate your friendliness and willingness to listen on this
issue; many users (see #414!) have not been so willing.

Ethan

-- 
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
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