Lack of notification when a contact signs off

[Sean Parmelee]

I find it incredibly frustrating that when I have been talking to 
someone over AIM in pidgin, and that person signs off (expectedly or 
otherwise), I receive no notification whatsoever. Nothing appears in the 
person's chat window, and worse, I can still send IMs freely just as if 
the person were still online. Why on earth is this what pidgin does? I 
have used other chat clients and all of them have provided me with 
notifications about changes to contacts' status.