[Pidgin] #414: You dont the See Which Protocol

[Pidgin]

#414: You dont the See Which Protocol
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  Reporter:  dancle        |       Owner:  lschiere
      Type:  defect        |      Status:  closed  
  Priority:  minor         |   Milestone:          
 Component:  pidgin (gtk)  |     Version:  2.0     
Resolution:  wontfix       |    Keywords:          
   Pending:  0             |  
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Comment (by zak):

 Hello Pidgin-Team!

 Of course nobody is dependend on seeing the protocol his friends or
 colleagues or... are using. But I too think those icons should be
 reactivated and I also think they should be activated by default for new
 users. Why is that?

 So there are different protocols out there like MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber,
 ICQ,... Different people have different accounts some only one unique
 account with MSN or ICQ others several accounts. Are they all equal? No,
 they differ in functionality (e.g. file-transfer, offline messages, away-
 messages(!)), legal issues and availability. Of course you as the program
 designers can decide to merge all these differences and present the user
 some 'single' instant messaging, and if it would work everything would be
 perfect.

 But in my opinion users should be aware of the fact, that there are those
 differences I mentioned before. What if ICQ changes its protocol again?
 All the ICQ users will be not available. Hu, why are those people offline
 and others not? Perhaps there is discovered a security issue within MSN
 protocol so you might want to take care when talking to those people. Or
 you simply do not like the way the messages are logged (are they?) with
 ICQ or MSN and try to avoid those contacts (but cannot abandon them
 completely). I think, users should be aware of the different functions the
 protocols offer, too. But if all protocols are treated as the same, people
 do not get the idea why they can write offline messages to Fred, but
 Susi's account is somehow not capable?
 I am mostly talking about the usual do-not-care user who just wants to
 write messages. And until know they already are aware of the fact that
 there exist different protocols and I do not think they should be
 disenchanted with the idea, that they are all the same. Unfortunately they
 are not.

 And apart from that... tell my why you do not like those different icons?
 In fact I think it gives the way the contact list looks a more individual
 appearance, so people recognize at once, that Pidgin is a MULTI-PROTOCOL-
 messanger which can handle all of Yahoo's, MSN's and so on contacts.

 Please do not throw the different protocol icons and the option to handle
 each one seperate away.

 Regards,
 Zak

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Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/414#comment:42>
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