IRC panels upen upon startup

[Kenneth G. Goutal]

Eoin Coffey wrote:
> The message from freenode-connect was generated by *them* not Pidgin.  
> The message from NickServ is also automatic, and comes from 
> freenode.net <http://freenode.net> not Pidgin.
I get that.  Honest.

> The entire reason those channels show up in your buddy list is because 
> you told Pidgin to connect to freenode when you created an IRC account 
> under pidgin.
It is unquestionably true that I created an IRC account under Pidgin.
What's not clear to me is how or when I told Pidgin to connect to 
freenode when I created that account.

I can understand that for person-to-person messaging to work sensibly,
I have to connect to a server (either automatically when Pidgin starts, 
or at some point thereafter);
otherwise, some random buddy couldn't just log in and page me.

However, in the context of an IRC channel, which is more of a "chat 
room" analog,
I really don't expect that someone on that channel can page me unless 
and until
I actually bring up a window on that channel by clicking on its "Buddy 
Name".
So, in turn, I wouldn't expect the connection to the server 
(freenode.net, in this case)
to occur unless and until I click on "#wingaim" or whatever.
So, in turn, I wouldn't expect to get a message from the server
unless and until I specifically request to use at least one channel on 
that server.

Perhaps my expectations here are wrong.  Wouldn't be the first time.
But if that is so, it would be helpful to know why things are happening 
the way they do.
Again, I really do understand that these messages are being sent to me 
from the server,
not generated by Pidgin for mysterious reasons.
What is mysterious to me is why I'm getting connected to the server
whether or not, and before, I explicitly request to use that server.

If, for instance, I were logged in on a UNIX box, and I ran 
"/usr/local/bin/irc",
it will happily (well, maybe grudgingly) start up without knowing ahead 
of time
which, if any, server to connect to.  It just sits there until I give it 
a command
telling which server to connect to.