Talk:Pidgin (software)/Archive 1

Archive 1

Buddy list

i've noticed people keep putting up screenshots with other peoples screen names in the buddylist. i think this is a privacy issue. either the names should be bogus or aliases should be used to protect the "buddies" of one who takes the screenshot. just my 2 cents

You are absolutely right, I hadn't thought about it. I will try to "fix" it. Knut 04:29, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Bleah. All those blurred-out user names look really ugly. Can't we just get a screenshot of some Wikipedian with a bunch of other Wikipedians in his or her buddy list? --Ardonik.talk() 05:42, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)

Indeed. We don't need to resort to blurring out names; just alias the names to something obviously dummy or impossible and there would be no privacy issues and no ugliness :D --Wing 17:57, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Using fake names as the aliases would definately be a good idea. --/ɛvɪs/ /tɑːk/ /kɑntɹɪbjuʃənz/ 16:34, May 13, 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I switched out the buddy list. :) -Jake0geek 05:23, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I removed the buddy list in its entirety, imho it just didn't fit in. --Bruce 09:21, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Why list other services?

This article is about Gaim, and yet there is a list of other instant message services. Maybe it could be reorganized a bit without that list, especially since it already has a link to List of instant messengers. It should be focused on Gaim. EDIT:... oops, nevermind ;-) Tom Major 15:11, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

I agree (before the nevermind). I don't object to the supported systems being listed but I think we should list the supported protocols and then the related systems to that protocol in parenthesis. The supported protocols being AIM/ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise, IRC, Jabber, MSN, Napster, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime and Yahoo according to v2.0b3. Fsamuels 02:43, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

official part

Is gaim an official part of GNOME and/or GNU? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.250.226.99 (talk • contribs)

Gaim is not a Gnome or GNU project. The name doesn't stand for anything.

Name?

Whence came the name, "Gaim"? 68.118.187.254 08:28, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

"GAIM" stands for GNU AOL Instant Messenger. Due to obvious legal reasons, the GAIM project itself is not allowed to give the expansion anymore. However, Wikipedia is not GAIM, so there's no reason for Wikipedia to lie about GAIM's obvious naming origins.

GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger, not GNU. // 3R1C 18:52, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

The main reason I visited the article was to find out the name origin. Can this information be moved to the main article, or does it need to be confirmed first? I think at least having this discussion, including reference to Gaim's denial would be a meangingful addition to the article. -Edward —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.48.179.6 (talk) 20:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Why do you care? Just curious. That seems so useless to know.

I think it follows the naming convention for programs developed for Gnome, a graphical environment that runs in the X windowing system. Gnome has other programs with a g infront of it.. gedit, gconf, gcalc, etc. Thus, it's a spinoff of AOL's "AIM.." basically, Gnome AOL Instant Messenger. 100DashSix 13:59, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I think also that this was the primary meaning of "Gaim", but today they claim on their homepage that it doesn't stand for anything by the following text in the FAQ:

"What does "Gaim" stand for?
For freedom! No, seriously, it doesn't stand for anything. It's our name and we're  sticking to it. The two acceptable forms of capitalization are "Gaim" and "gaim" (and not "GAIM").

Furthermore they write in the footline on the homepage "Gaim is NOT endorsed by or affiliated with AOL" which is another hint therefore, that they became pissed of AOL/AIM. -- Wall unit 09:29, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I suspect there are two reasons for that stuff on thier website, one is because they are no longer a AIM only client and the other is potential (or actual i don't know for sure) trademark issues with AOL. Plugwash 19:15, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Assuming that Gaim's developers became pissed with AOL/AIM because they state that "Gaim isn't endorsed by or affiliated with AOL" is going out on a bit of a tangent. I remember reading somewhere that line was put there because people began to assume that the project had something to do with AOL because "AIM" is found in Gaim. Landus Mikain 14:22, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

illegal?

My AIM account was suspended for using Gaim. They sent me an e-mail about using non-official AOL Time-Warner company software and now cannot access that account whatsoever, and it gives me the error message that it was suspended. It says right in AIM's privacy statement that it doesn't allow you to use its services through an alternate program. EgyptianSushi 09:53, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know instant messengers are legally forced to allow alternate programs to access their chat service. They are known to change their protocols in order to "break" alternate programs, since thats all they can legally do.

Feature list

"The Windows version opens and saves files via its own file browser rather than the Windows Explorer shell used by most Windows applications." is listed as a feature. Most users of Gaim on Windows would instead regard this as a bug. Should it be removed? Drano 18:06, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if I'd call it a bug, but if it's a feature it's not a very welcome one. I'd say it should be removed. 100DashSix 20:42, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I have removed it, but I now think we shouldn't assume that the list of features has to only include positive ones. "Feature" can mean anything prominent about the program. As such, I added the (little known?) fact that gaim stores all saved passwords in plain text; this (in my opinion) isn't positive, but it is of very high importance to someone learning about gaim. Before someone comes in here and removes it, remember that the word feature should not imply that only positive features are reported, but that all important aspects of the program are. Please disucss if you disagree. 100DashSix 11:50, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

May i ask what password storage method you would preffer, obfuscation or encryption with a readilly accessible key just gives a false sense of security. Hashing is unfeasible as the plain password must be availible for passing to the protocol client. Encryption with a user entered key on startup is a possible option but i suspect most users would find it more trouble than it was worth. Plugwash 19:49, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

"Features" usually means "good things". If you're going to include both good and bad in the same section, it needs a different name. — Omegatron 19:50, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Bug or not, the statement is incorrect. That's not Gaim's file browser, it's a part of GTK+, the UI toolkit Gaim uses (which must be installed to use Gaim, either separately or as part of a "combo" installer). The same open/save windows can be found in other GTK+-dependant programs such as The GIMP — Vicious Blayd 01:28, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Version 2.00

Should we have a list of features the new version will offer? Mattlore 11:40, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

We should also mention that the development of the current version (1.5) is standing still since over a year. -- Wall unit 08:51, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

"Plugins" section

I would like to remove the "Plugins" section, because of it is a stub and its content is redundant with parts of the "Feature" section. Also the plugin section implies falsly that there are only plugins for encryption. Well instead of removing it we could complete the "Plugins" section, but I think it would be sufficient to mention that gaim supports plugins and list the most significant plugins (which are the encryption plugins and the supported protocols) in the sections "Supported protocols" and "Features". -- Wall unit 09:30, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Because of nobody complained about this proposal, I have removed the Plugins Section now. -- Wall unit 05:58, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

OTR != Pidgin encryption != NSS

These are 3 different things.

• Pidgin encryption (formely gaim encryption) is one plug-ins that exists and that provides end-to-end encryption between two Pidgin/Gaim clients.
• Although Of the record messaging is the generic name of this kind of thechnology, the actual Off-the-Record Messaging article is about OTR (and libOTR) an actual and different plug-ins for end-to-end encryption, which not only works with pidgin/gaim but also with several other clients (libpurple based like Adium, but also mICQ, and others).
• The built-in support for NSS (either squatting Mozilla libraries or using GNU/TLS) is a encryption technology that is used between the client and the server. It is supported by AIM, it is required for MSN since recently.

The last one protects from eaves-dropping between your client and the MSN server, it doesn't prevent the messages being logged on the server it self. Whereas with the previous two plug-ins, once the keys are exchanged and verified, you can mostly be sure that the message stays secret and completely encrypted between the sender and recipient clients (the server only sees encrypted garbage and can't be used are a wire-tapping point). DrYak 14:21, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Password problem

This was removed from the feature list but not replaced in the recently-created problems list. I think that, although it's not strictly listed as a problem on Gaim's site, it should certainly be mentioned in some form (and a "feature" is only something of significance, not something that is markedly positive). I know many people who would never save their passwords in text documents on their work and school computers, but who consistently save many passwords in Gaim...the masking with "*" or "(saved)" makes them feel that the password is not obtainable. -- 100DashSix 16:49, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

As they do in virtually any other program that offers a save password feature. Saving the passwords as plain text is certainly better than obfuscating them because obfuscating them makes people think that it is safe to make thier config file public when they have a problem. Plugwash 03:21, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Still, there are many people who aren't in the habit of sharing their configuration files but who would still prefer this partial security. At least with an obfuscated password it takes a deliberate attempt to retrieve the password--a plaintext file can be stumbled upon and interpreted immediately. I'd say that obfuscation is not secure, but it is more secure than plaintext. Of course, the article itself is not the place to weigh what the right choice is. 100DashSix 02:20, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

problems?

"The Gaim 1.5.x series has been abandoned by the developers (there have been major crash bugs since its latest release), while the 2.0.x series has been in beta for a year and is still not API or ABI stable." -- Is this really accurate?

There was a time when a new point version of gaim was released every month like clockwork. A steady stream of new features. Then Sean got hired by google, and we haven't seen a new release since. That was August 2005. Two Summers of Code have passed, as well ase 19 months of development (or the lack thereof) since then, including a project to get file transfers finally working, but there hasn't been a release. It sucks. The project needs new leadership. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.121.191.30 (talk) 23:16, 14 March 2007 (UTC).

This appears to be related to the name change and AOL settlement. On their press release they mentioned they purposely didn't do any non-betas. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.239.69.1 (talk • contribs)

I wouldn't have minded if they were just labelling thier releases as betas due to the legal problems, it was the constant abi breaks that were the real pain. Lets hope that is all a thing of the past and pidgin will continue to make frequent releases without breaking compatibility. Plugwash 22:08, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Pidgin

The upcoming name change is not a hoax. more information can be found on the development site: http://developer.pidgin.im/ 72.40.148.147 01:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry but a link to a site under pidgin.im is NOT going to convince me this is not a hoax or an april fools joke. The whois on the domain does mention sean but that could easilly have been filled in by someone else without his knowlage. Plugwash 01:59, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

theres a quite a bit of active development on the linked trac repository site, looks convincing enough.riffic 08:40, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Nobody cares if it's "convincing", you need a reliable source. It looks like a fork at best, to me. -- intgr 08:53, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[1], [2], [3], [4], and [5]these are tickets in the pidgin development trac and they all indicate this is an actual name change, original developers names and such. I don't know if these qualify as "Reliable sources" under wikipedia guidelines, but this has all the indications of being genuine (not fork). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Riffic (talk • contribs) 11:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC).

Right, indeed looks legit; however, we probably want to hold off until they release an official announcement. Sounds like they would agree with this, quoting ticket #23:

"At some point we are going to need to notify the packagers list about the name change. My instinct is that this should happen after the settlement is signed but before we notify the world in general."

-- intgr 17:10, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

How's this? -- Vorratt 23:09, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

I think that Intgr just got owned. AgentA (Matt) 23:52, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, so what? I have no problems admitting I was wrong. You, however, should keep your comments on topic. -- intgr 23:59, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

'Twas "on topic". AgentA (Matt) 23:00, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Current event?

Why does this article have a current event template at the top? --Lorian^T_C 08:24, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Because they recently announced their new name. -- intgr 14:10, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I know, but that's happened and the article has been updated. Just doesn't seem necessary to me. --Lorian^T_C 14:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Because it looks good if the templates are used. AgentA (Matt) 23:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

My edits on April 11, 2007

Couldn't fit it on the edit summary. I cleaned up the "Shortcomings" subsection so that it looked encyclopedic instead of a drawn out list of items. I also cited each of the statements and removed the unsourced section template. Additionally, I set the article class to B and set the importance to Top. I guess if someone feels different, they can change it. // 3R1C 19:01, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Good work Wikipedians!

I just want to say I think everyone is doing a really great job in terms of citing sources about this name change and the next release. The Storm Surfer 21:08, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

How hard can it be? I mean their site has a whole damn speech about it. 00:43, 14 April 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by AgentA (talk • contribs)

Supported Protocols

I reverted the section back to the table. It looks better than a bulleted list and is easier on the eyes. It was removed because it was allegedly "misleading," an issue that the reverting editor has not described when asked about it. After waiting for a response (and realizing I had removed an important note and its citation), I reverted the table back to its previous state and added the broken functionality notice and reference.

If someone still feels this table is misleading (which I believe would be hard, since its the same information, just tablefied), please discuss it here so we can find a compromise. // 3R1C 12:10, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry i missed the message on my talk page, its misleading because it implies that those protocols have only been supported since 1.5.0 when in fact they have been supported much longer and i'm pretty sure some of the version info you added to the third party plugins was factually wrong (though i haven't checked in detail).

Also note i didn't just revert your tabalisation i also reverted a fair bit of other removal of information at the same time. Plugwash 14:01, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough, in hindsight you're right. Appending "... and up" to the version number would probably be acceptable. With regards to information, afaik I only copy and pasted the information. I merely table-ized it, which was why I was curious it was considered "misleading." You're absolutely right though, and I'll go ahead and append that little bit on. Thanks for explaining it. // 3R1C 18:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Yahoo fact-tagging

Anyone who uses this software quickly realizes there is a bug here. The problem is that since its currently in beta, there is going to be no official release regarding a bug fix. The Yahoo crash error is not a singular, rare incident; It's pervasive throughout the software in any environment. That having been said, the fact that it occurs every time on every installation says to me that fact-tagging these items is not necessary. There will be no official release regarding this bug, since it is not a "bug," but an issue caused by the Yahoo protocol. // 3R1C 15:59, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

So you suggest that in order to verify the veracity of this article's claims on Pidgin's Yahoo capabilities, each concerned reader should:

1. Obtain access to a computer that can run Pidgin, at a level that will allow them to install it.
2. Download and install Pidgin.
3. Obtain a Yahoo account.
4. Create a profile on this account.
5. Create another profile on this account.
6. Attempt to log in to both profiles at the same time.
7. Fail.

Besides being a lot of work, this would only show that the given reader does not know how to log in to both Yahoo profiles at the same time, and does not prove that there is not some sort of workaround. — The Storm Surfer 16:35, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not suggesting anything, all I'm saying was that the three {{fact}} tags with regards to the Yahoo error have not yet been published in any documentable form. I'm not saying a workaround doesn't exist, but it has not yet been discovered. if you'd like to take more time and find some documentation on this issue, then by all means, cite it inline. My point was that no such documentation exists. I suggested nothing, except to remove the fact tags. // 3R1C 15:30, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

If documentation of the error does not exist, then we can't cite that documentation and we can't have that information in the article. Wikipedia:No original research#Reliable sources. — The Storm Surfer 21:06, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Reasonable enough. // 3R1C 02:03, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Are there no bug reports (rejected or otherwise) on the issue? Plugwash 07:16, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Apparently not. I've discussed it with some Gaim-related folks on IRC, and apparently a few don't really consider it a "bug." They think, and I agree, that its a server-side method of forcing Yahoo! users to use their client instead of third party clients. Again, I can't cite that either, because that was an IRC discussion. // 3R1C 11:55, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Pidgin vs. Pigeon. What's with that image?

So, uh, if the developers deliberately chose to name it "Pidgin" and no, they did not mean "Pigeon," why is the Pidgin logo in this article actually a drawing of a pigeon? (I'm referring to the following image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Pidginlogo.png ) 100DashSix 05:18, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

While the software may not be named immediately after a pigeon, one cannot ignore the obvious pun. Look up the respective definitions of pidgin and pigeon. It's meant to be funny, try not to think about it too hard and ruin the humor in it. // 3R1C 16:44, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

I understand the meanings of both words. I just can't help but feel it yells, "We don't know how to spell!" Even if that is clearly not the case. Not really the place to discuss this, but... 100DashSix 17:04, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually, it shows a quite advanced grasp of English to make the pun's connection between both words. Anyone who says the developers don't know how to spell as a result of this new title obviously doesn't have that same grasp of English. it take sa fairly well-developed sense of a language to make puns like that. // 3R1C 11:31, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Personally, I think the only joke that could work is if they put a big red "X" through the image of the pigeon in their logo, thereby attempting to correctly steer their potentially-confused users. 100DashSix 20:38, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

See: Homonym

In Hawaii they speak Pidgin, and sometimes the kids will make the same joke, "Hey, you like hear me speak Pidgin?" then they will koo, so the use of the Pigeon as an icon is obvious. --Billy Nair (talk) 06:02, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Is this the official new logo? Blech. — Omegatron 16:48, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

It is the image that is used in the about box of the Pidgin program. --Spoon! 10:36, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

is there any way to get back status icons showing the protocol

the image in the article seems to indicate there is but i can't find any. Plugwash 18:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

The developers seem to be very very very against this feature. — The Storm Surfer 01:27, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

The developers seem to be assholes 142.59.195.50 06:23, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

In any case, this space is provided for discussion to the end of improving the Wikipedia article on Pidgin, not discussing whether or not the developers are assholes or how much we like or dislike the new logo. (What, you think I don't see you up there? I see everything.) — The Storm Surfer 11:30, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Pronouciation

I'm wondering how to pronounce that name. Is it pronounced g-aim (like the normal word aim), game, or near the IPA pronounciation? --87.193.64.60 20:30, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

The old name was pronounced like the word game Evands 05:19, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

The new name is pronounced like pigeon. // 3R1C 15:04, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but do you think you could cite a source for that please?221.218.171.199 (talk) 13:45, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

A bit unorganized?

Something about the second half of the article strikes me as a mess, the shortcomings section can be broken up and have its information spread out in more appropriate sections within the article. Someone please lend a hand, I'm not used to Wiki editing yet. Oruko 17:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

okay, what do you need? what "something" do you feel is messy, and we'll clean it up. // 3R1C 15:48, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

As I mentioned about the shortcomings section, all that is information about problems that have been fixed or future features for later releases, correct? So why would it be in a section sounding derogatory toward the program's use? Furthermore wouldn't the negative title cause others to make judgment that the program has problems, therefore disputing the neutrality of the section? Pardon me for just putting up questions that don't have answers.Oruko 15:05, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Gaim 1.5f and 2.0b had problems. Because they were fixed doesn't mean they should be erased from the record. Sure, they aren't current shortcomings, and should probably be incorporated into the history section, but they shouldn't be removed. Just copy and paste the statements into an appropriate part of a section and remove the section. If you do something wrong, we'll fix it. No worries, mate. // 3R1C 16:28, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Commercial protocol aliases

pidgin does not support such a thing as a Google Talk Protocol since nobody knows how Google servers do the decentralized data exchange between each other. It probably isn't XMPP, as XMPP was added rather late in the development process. pidgin does however implement XMPP, and since XMPP has become an Internet standard it is no surprise that some companies implement it. Why would Google deserve a special treatment here, just because it uses XMPP on the client interface? --lynX 10:51, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Because people want to know "Will this program work with people who use Google Talk?" Most people won't be able to say, "Oh yeah, XMPP! Awesome! Now I can talk to people who use Google Talk!" Also, the format of how it appeared didn't make sense in the protocol list. Based on the others, it should be "Protocol (example of client)." It instead appeared as "Protocol (another name for client/ex. of client)." I'll fix this as well. 100DashSix 16:40, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

G-Talk is by far not the only commercial XMPP app out there, and I'm not even sure if it is undoubtedly the largest deployment. Maybe it's just the one seen as politically most relevant. So where do advertisements start and where do they stop in this case. Who decides? --lynX

Agreed...and that line "XMPP (Google Talk)" would be better if it listed one or two of those applications also; I just didn't include them because I don't know what else uses XMPP. Something like "XMPP (e.g., Google Talk, Some client, Some other client)" In whatever order makes the most sense (alphabetical, I'd think). 100DashSix 14:30, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Separation of Pidgin and libpurple

I propose the separation of pidgin and libpurple into two distinct (although obviously linked) articles. The association between the two is functionally incidental and the only reasons I see the two topics still together are historical. libpurple is used in many other instant messaging applications, and Wikipedia would benefit from a little more "loose coupling" of articles, as it were. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reinderien (talk • contribs) 22:24, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I disagree, the source is still one unit which builds and installs pidgin, libpurple and finch together as a single package. Also afaict few if any projects use libpurple as is, most of them seem to take it, hack in thier own changes and include it as part of their project. Plugwash 15:10, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

I think that if libpurple and Pidgin are very closely integrated (which it seems they are) and there wouldn't be sufficient material in one of the articles, then they may as well be kept together. IMHO, I don't think there would be much in the libpurple article if the two got split up. ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 20:21, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

I guess my line of thinking was that there's significant duplication of material. Every instant messaging application article describes the protocols that it supports. Libpurple includes a standard list of supported protocols. Separating the articles would decrease this duplication, and would allow updates to the supported protocol list from a single location. Reinderien 01:42, 7 October 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reinderien (talk • contribs)

Well, if it is just a case of keeping protocol support consistent across many articles, why not use a template or page that can be included across the many articles. I can see your point, but I feel that the creation of a libpurple article would just be a list of protocols (hardly a good reason for creating yet another page on Wikipedia :). ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 08:39, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

But the protocol support is *not* consistant accross the clients that "use" libpurple. Adium use thier own copy from pidgin trunk, do not tell you what libpurple code was used in a particular release of adium (which is probablly a GPL violation but thats another story) and don't provide any easy way to use third party libpurple plugings. Meebo only seem to offer a small subset of even the stuff that is included with current libpurple (even after clicking the more networks button I still only see 6). Plugwash 21:18, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm convinced. If no one objects in the next few days, I'll remove the split proposal. Reinderien 17:27, 23 October 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reinderien (talk • contribs)

Split?

There's a note to split the article, but no discussion; what is the split proposal? --dinomite 13:30, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

It is in the section above (not that there is much of it, just one person proposing and me replying that I don't think it is a particularlally good idea at this point in time) Plugwash 13:55, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

See above. It is about splitting the articles of Pidgin and libpurple. Cristan 10:47, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Histoy

When was the Pidgin/GAIM project exactly started? Why is this information missing? This seems to be important information for a Wikipedia article...--NaturalBornKiller 13:50, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree completely. I added some information about the beginnings of the project. Note that there is a slight disagreement between [6] (The original Gaim program was written in 1999) and [7] (the first version of the project homepage available at the Internet Archive, stating ©1998,1999 Mark Spencer and as of February 1999 already noting that Jim Duchek had taken over maintaining the project). Regards, High on a tree (talk) 13:04, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Open source?

If this is a stupid question, sorry, but is Pidgin an open source project? John.n-irl (talk) 11:59, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes it is. ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 14:15, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Release history

Do you think we could get a similar table for Pidgin???

Ubuntu - Release History Altonbr (talk) 03:54, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

While the table looks very nice, I'm not sure that there would be much use to it. While the Pidgin developers originally committed themselves to releasing new versions every two weeks (I think!) they went back on that, and haven't released a new update in several months, so we've now way of knowing when future updates will be available (or what they will contain). ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 10:25, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Well it doesn't have to contain information regarding future releases, especially if there are no references to do so. I just thought it would be more aesthetically pleasing to compile a list of releases into a table, explaining their new features at the time of release. Example:

Product Name	Version	Release Date	Features
Gaim	1.2	?	?
	1.3	?	Nice features here
	1.5	?	?
Pidgin	2.0	?	?
	2.1	?	?
	2.2	?	Added some features here
	2.3.1	?	Best features here

Altonbr (talk) 14:30, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Auto-Resizing Text Field Controversial

Should the controversial change to the input go into the 'Criticisms and current deficiencies'?

So far, it definitely makes for interesting reading: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/4986 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Epic9x (talk • contribs) 23:04, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Added a listpoint about the Input Field Issue.Yunaris (talk) 15:15, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

The Current Deficiencies section is debatable. Some of these "deficiencies" (notably the autoresizing text field) may be considered as benefits by others.

The section reads like a list of complaints, not deficiencies.  DavidDouthitt  (Talk) 22:26, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Whether these are "complaints" or "deficiencies" is probably a matter of opinion. What is clear, however, is that

1. there's real controversy with respect to the decision to deny users the ability to turn off the 'resizable input area' feature, and that
2. this controversy resulted in a fork (funpidgin).

So surely the issue is significant. Perhaps a new section that is dedicated to the controversy (while acknowledging it as such) would resolve the dispute? I've read the debate developer.pidgin.im/ticket/4986 and (like Epic9x above) found it very interesting. I think the article would be well served if the new section summarizes the claims made by the opposing sides. I think the debate boils down to one question: is the fact that many users find a UI feature "annoying" enough reason for the developers to make said feature optional?

--Dan.tsafrir (talk) 07:14, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Supported protocols

Well, since my edit got reverted, I figured I may as well start a discussion on it. I removed the protocols that aren't part of the default Pidgin distribution (or appear to be officially supported) because otherwise I feel that we will just get anonymous editors coming along and adding their favourite protocols to the list. Some of the protocols that are in the current list (at the time of writing) are no longer supported or don't work (QQ for example). I don't think it is the job of Wikipedia to list all available protocol plugins. ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 09:47, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

If qq has a plugin in the current official release but that plugin is broken (as appears to be the case at the moment) that is certainly notable. As for the third party plugins maybe we should keep those that are 1: up to date and 2: reffer to a protocol that is notable enough to get a wikipedia entry and nuke the rest. That should keep most of the dross out while keeping the usefull plugins. Plugwash (talk) 09:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, I agree with keeping QQ on that basis. Regarding the other plugins, I don't feel that any of them are notable enough to have their own Wikipedia page, hence my thinking that they should be removed. ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 11:13, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Resizing the text input box?

Alright, I obviously don't understand. When I go to my preferences on pidgin I can change the text input box there, able to make it rather large, or rather small. What's the problem with having to go through your preferences to change this?

No, no, that's not my real question... my question is, if you can change the input box (and you CAN, I've done it myself, and am looking at the menu for it as I type this), then why does this article say you cannot change it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.92.37.93 (talk) 06:13, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

WP:NOT#FORUM. However, this issue only affects Pidgin 2.4.x so you are probably using an older version. ~~ [Jam]^[talk] 06:17, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

No, he is using a newer version which added the option to specify the minimum number of input text lines, while retaining the autosizing behavior. 141.216.1.4 (talk) 16:52, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Name dispute

Naming dispute

In response to pressure from AOL, the program was renamed to the acronymous-but-lowercase gaim.

A name dispute from AOL is hardly "pressure." AOL is right in protecting the name of something they own. I'm a fan of better alternatives, so I use a multiprotocal client instead of AIM myself. However, an alternative client is still only a piggyback vehicle that's only good as long as the main host is interested in providing the service. An alternative client developer isn't exactly an underdog, and the actual IM service provider isn't exactly goliath. "Pressure" is a rather POV suggestion that can be better expressed in a neutral fashion, unless you care to document some bully tactics on AOL's part. In which case, even the expression "bully tactics" would be legitimately objective.--24.5.184.255 (talk) 19:21, 26 August 2008 (UTC)