Pidgin Gripes

I like Pidgin, it's straightforward, faster than AIM, etc. Last I checked (like 5 years ago or so) Trillian was slow as hell, though I don't use Windows at home anymore anyway. However there are a couple things that really annoy me about Pidgin, and sometimes IM clients in general, so I'm thinking of starting to make plugins to fix it. Kindof like I was going to make Tomboy plugins and still have yet to do. Here are my gripes:


1. Handling of Incorrect Passwords

First and FOREMOST, in any other interface I can think of, if I put in an incorrect password, the application informs me of the situation, and offers me another try. Not so with Pidgin. Maybe you never noticed because you save your password on your machine; that's not for me. (though a Keyring plugin would be super kosher).

No, what it does (if I remember correctly) is inform me that my password is wrong, and offers me to "change my account settings", "connect" (with the same wrong password, as if it'll work the second time), or just give up. Now, when I "modify my account", the bad password I just entered is in the password field. That password field is there for those that want to save the password on the disk. This worried me (since I don't want it on the disk) so I always deleted it from the field. Why was it trying to save my password when I told it not to, I wondered. Turns out that it wasn't actually going to save it, which is a bad interface choice.

Anyway, you go ahead and modify it. Then you disable and enable the account and for whatever reason it still prompts you for a password, so that's how you try logging in again. Lame.

Admittedly, with Pidgin 2.2 (which I just installed and which is strongly diffusing my argument here as I type it) it just says "Pidgin will not attempt to reconnect the account until you correct the error and re-enable the account.", and gives you a cancel button, which isn't much better but is less ironic at least. I still have to go to the menu and re-enable the account. That's much less annoying than it was before. But still, I shouldn't have to do even that, it's easy to make an immediate prompt.

So, a plugin I would make would fix this, and give me a prompt to put in my password again, if I want.


2. Sending messages while away

Remember when this was an optional feature, rather than the standard? I bet AIM still remembers this. I personally end up forgetting to take down my away message when I come back. People remind me. It makes the whole away message thing pointless, it should be up when I want people to think I'm away. Maybe some people don't forget, that's why it's a good option for them.

Though, I still like it in theory. What I would do, and this is something that would solve a gripe with all chat clients, not just Pidgin, is make a plugin that would remind me every X minutes that I was away, if I was typing while away. For convenience, the dialogue would give me the option of coming back from away, too, and probably "don't bug me about it again this time" as well. That way, I could go away, send those few messages I forgot to send, go to lunch, come back, message Cezar, and he wouldn't have to remind me that my message still says I'm at lunch.


3. Away Messages Don't Expire

Whereas the first gripe was with Pidgin and the second with IM clients in general, the third one is with myself. I forget or don't get around to changing my away message. I was apparently showering all day yesterday. What good does this sort of an away message paradigm do anybody? What I would make is the option to set an expiration time for an away message. I'd set an hour for the shower message. Then I would set a subsequent message. Like, work. Maybe I want another subsequent message (because when I get from work, I don't go and take myself off from away first I get home), this message would be a catch-all "At this point I'm not where I was when I last set my message, I can't tell you where I am, but I'm not at the computer, sorry" sort of message.