pidgin: buddies offline unless they send me a message

[Mark Doliner]

On Thu, 29 May 2008 13:38:35 -0500, Paul Coene wrote
> On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 14:25 -0400, Daniel Atallah wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 2:11 PM, Paul Coene <drool at knology.net> wrote:
> > >> On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 13:36 -0400, Daniel Atallah wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> 2008/5/29 Paul Coene <drool at knology.net>:
> > >>> Some buddies that I add show as offline and do not allow messages to be
> > >>> sent, until they have sent me a message.  Very odd.  Each one seems to fix
> > >>> itself when they send me a message and this "fix" endures restarts.
> > >>> However, any new buddy I add, I can never instigate a conversation, they
> > >>> show offline.
> > >>
> > >> Which protocol?
> > >
> > > AIM.
> > 
> > Please keep it on the list.
> > 
> > I don't know how AIM adding works offhand, but it sounds very
> > reasonable that you wouldn't be able to see an arbitrary person's
> > status until they've provided some sort of acknowledgment.
> >
> 
> Interesting.  I've always used gaim until now, and I can add someone 
> and their status is correct immediately.
> 
> Mind you in pidgin, I can't even send a new person a note until they
> send me.  Isnt that chicken and egg?

You should be able to send someone an instant message on ICQ without them
having sent you a message.  What happens when you try?  Do you get an error
message?

-Mark