Unable to add GMAIL buddies in Pidgin 2.7.7

[David Woolley]

Etan Reisner wrote:
  How do I fix this?
> 
> Are you trying to add an @gmail.com buddy to your Yahoo account's buddy
> list? If so, do you know that that @gmail.com account is a valid Yahoo
> account? (Does Yahoo even support such a thing?)
> 
> You cannot add random email addresses to your Yahoo (or MSN, etc.)
> accounts.

I think what you mean is that you cannot chat to someone logged into
Google's instant messaging when you are only logged into, say, MSN's.
However I would expect MSN to allow you to register as an MSN user,
using an @gmail email address. It certainly allowed me to register
using my company domain name address. You would only receive chats from
MSN and their peers, even though you used an @gmail address.

Instant messaging is like X.400 email was, when email was led by 
commerce and before the DoD led internet email protocol became the de 
facto standard,  partly because it was not restricted to one operator. 
Although it may not be entirely obvious, using a particular IM service, 
at least with the official client, benefits its operator financially.

-- 
David Woolley
Emails are not formal business letters, whatever businesses may want.
RFC1855 says there should be an address here, but, in a world of spam,
that is no longer good advice, as archive address hiding may not work.