#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 ubernostrum):
I've read through Sean's explanation of the "identity" orientation, and I
have to say I find it somewhat lacking. To a developer it's easy to think
in terms of "I am one person communicating via multiple protocols", and
this is probably the most natural position for us (I code for a living, so
it makes plenty of sense to me).
For the typical non-developer IM user, however, IM is a social tool at
heart, and IM networks are social networks. And in different social
networks the same person my play several different roles; though the same
physical entity is at the other end of the network connection in all
cases, it is not necessarily true (and is in fact rarely true) that the
same ''social'' entity is at the other end of the conversation.
Differentiating the roles a user plays in different social networks is an
important activity, and removing that ability, or even throwing up minor
obstacles to it, works against the purpose of the network itself.
Developers in this ticket have repeatedly asked for use cases, but Sean
himself admits (somewhat distastefully, one feels) in his "identity"
explanation that multiple social roles -- and hence multiple "identities"
-- for the same person is a common use case. Then he sweeps it under the
rug with a jab about that "drugged-up, drunken, vice-crazed sinner" and
some general hand-waving in the direction of dialog boxes that the average
user won't ever bother to look at, and goes so far as to recommend running
two instances of Pidgin if one feels the need to enact multiple
"identities". This seems to be poorly reasoned, and if it takes social
dynamics -- the bread and butter of a social network like IM -- into
account at all, it does so only as an afterthought.
As a longtime user of the client formerly known as Gaim (been with you
since the GTK1 days), I'd really appreciate seeing a more open-minded
approach to the social side of this issue, and a little less prejudice
against the "idiot users"; if you make it too hard for them to do what
they want, they'll quickly become someone else's users.
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Ticket URL: <https://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/414#comment:111>
Pidgin <http://pidgin.im>
Pidgin