[Pidgin] #12510: CTRL + L = Worst Keyboard Shortcut in Pidgin

[Pidgin]

#12510: CTRL + L = Worst Keyboard Shortcut in Pidgin
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 Reporter:  machineghost  |        Owner:  rekkanoryo  
     Type:  defect        |       Status:  pending     
Milestone:                |    Component:  unclassified
  Version:  2.7.3         |   Resolution:              
 Keywords:                |  
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Changes (by machineghost):

  * status:  pending => new


Comment:

 I'm so tempted to say "If all the other applications were jumping off a
 bridge ..." ;-)  This shortcut might make sense on other apps that
 *aren't* completely about typing, I dunno, but it's quite frankly
 obnoxious in Pidgin.

 Let's guesstimate some numbers.  Percentage of users who want to "clear
 history" (beyond just closing their chat window), ever: 3%?  if that (I
 really doubt it's that high).  Percentage of users who want to do it so
 often they could use a shortcut key for it: *maybe* 0.5%?  Percentage of
 users who would actually learn the shortcut key for it: 0.005%

 Percentage of users who have ever accidentally cleared their history in
 Pidgin (even once), and found it obnoxious: this has to be *at least* 30%,
 and I'd guess it's closer to 75% (there will always be at least 25% that
 aren't affected I figure; some people just don't use CTRL for anything).

 I dunno if Pidgin sends any sort of statistics back to the server, but if
 so check the logs.  You'll likely find that every "CTRL + L" keypress is
 preceded or precedes another "CTRL + something that is not L" keypress.
 Having a "feature" that frustrates a significant percentage of your users,
 just so that an extraordinarily small subset of users can have a
 convenient shortcut key is just dumb.  It would be like making CTRL + D
 close the application; it might save some teen who is trying to hide their
 IMing from their parents 0.5 seconds (vs. CTRL + F4), but you'd have a ton
 of users accidentally closing the app also; it just wouldn't make sense.

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Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/12510#comment:4>
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