Obnoxious IM Client is Obnoxious

[Firus]

Link to original post: [drupal=1889]Obnoxious IM Client is Obnoxious[/drupal]



So, about a half an hour ago I was on AIM with my friends. We weren't really talking actively, but we were talking sporadically.

I have been bored of my "OBJECTION!" send/receive IM sounds, having had them for months now, so I decided to look for some new ones, and downloaded all of the Pokemon cries to scroll through and try and find two to use as the send/receive sound.

I finished downloading them and started opening them one at a time and listening to them in Windows Media Player to judge them. Eventually I got into a rhythm and it was a smooth transition from cry to cry. I decided to say something to one of my friends, but when I switched the window over to AIM, I had two notifications in both of my tabs: one warning me that I was ABOUT to be rate limited (meaning you can't send IMs for a short time) and another warning me that I WAS rate limited.

Um...what? Rate limiting occurs when you send too many IMs in too small a time span. But I hadn't sent any...?

Then I remembered my plugin that shows the music that I'm currently listening to as my status. I've had it turned off for the most part more recently, but apparently I hadn't had it turned off then. I also didn't realize it picked up things from Windows Media Player, as I only used it with iTunes.

With the newest version of AIM, status changes also pop up in the IM window, and apparently, they count as messages in the sense that they will also cause you to be rate limited.

So in essence, I was unable to say anything to my friends because I had switched songs too quickly.

What a load of crap.

If you haven't said anything to your friends since your last status change, it even stays in the same place. It's not like there were 30 different status changes in the window, just 1 that had changed a bunch of times.

In order to say something to my friends I had to dig up an old screenname and sign onto that one since my regular one was disabled. Fun.

I really need to get Trillian or Pidgin or something, but I tried both and they confused me slightly. Also, Trillian can't do statuses unless you pay for Trillian Pro, and...I'm not willing to do that.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.

Because AIM is obnoxious.

 

[thanortinzak]

use Meebo?

 

[finalark]

For the last time, everyone should just get Xfire. I've only had these problems with it: High Latency sometimes comes into play if you or your buddy has a not-so-good connection and the voice chat's pretty shaky. That's really it all of the big things that I can think of.

 

[Darkslash]

For the last time, everyone should just get Xfire. I've only had these problems with it: High Latency sometimes comes into play if you or your buddy has a not-so-good connection and the voice chat's pretty shaky. That's really it all of the big things that I can think of.

Xfire is da lulz.

I tried it, but you get Email's telling you about games you won't play >_>

 

[finalark]

Xfire is da lulz.

I tried it, but you get Email's telling you about games you won't play >_>

Then you sir, have had a strange experience. That's never happened to me. Ever. I actually haven't ever received a single email from them, now that I think about it...

 

[bobson]

The plugin breaks the client and you blame the client?
That's not to say AIM isn't obnoxious, but Trillian and Pidgin are both obnoxious, too. The closest thing you'll get to a "standard" messenger client that isn't obnoxious is Miranda IM. It gets around the worthless bloat required of all messengers by allowing you to turn it off entirely.
I'd imagine my definition of "obnoxious" differs from yours if you're willingly using one of those stupid playlist spammer things, though.

I say everyone should just move to IRC and be done with it.

 

[Firus]

The plugin breaks the client and you blame the client?

It's AIM that rate limited me for status changes, not the plugins.

I'd imagine my definition of "obnoxious" differs from yours if you're willingly using one of those stupid playlist spammer things, though.

It's not a "stupid playlist spammer thing". It just tells people what I'm listening to. There's no reason to be a jerk about it, I didn't do anything to you and I don't talk to you on IM.

I'll have to look into everyone's suggestions.

 

[bobson]

It's AIM that rate limited me for status changes, not the plugins.

And it's the plugin that rapidly changed the status...
I could use a Firefox add-on that makes a post every five seconds and it wouldn't be the forum software's fault that I got banned.

It's not a "stupid playlist spammer thing". It just tells people what I'm listening to. There's no reason to be a jerk about it, I didn't do anything to you and I don't talk to you on IM.

It has nothing to do with you. I classify those things as pointless bloat; you obviously disagree. I was pointing that out because you might find yourself missing stuff like that if you move to Miranda.

 

[Red Arremer]

Also, Trillian can't do statuses unless you pay for Trillian Pro, and...I'm not willing to do that.

Odd, I can make statuses. o.o

 

[Morrigan]

The superior client.

 

[Firus]

And it's the plugin that rapidly changed the status...
I could use a Firefox add-on that makes a post every five seconds and it wouldn't be the forum software's fault that I got banned.

No, but it's not like it's sending IMs to get me rate limited, it's changing my status to get me rate limited. Even if I were rapid-fire changing my status on my own I don't think it should rate limit me.

It has nothing to do with you. I classify those things as pointless bloat; you obviously disagree. I was pointing that out because you might find yourself missing stuff like that if you move to Miranda.

It's not a pointless bloat, I use it so my friends know what music I listen to. I love music.

I don't care that much. As I said in the blog itself, I've been turning it off recently, and I'll probably uninstall it so it doesn't do that again. It was mostly for one day anyways.

Odd, I can make statuses. o.o

I didn't think you could without Pro.

 

[illinialex24]

Pidgin is the best, honestly.

 

[Deleted member]

Sorry, I've got no clue what else to use. I just use AIM because it's very widespread and popular.

 

[Omis]

I use Meebo.com. It is a pretty reliable website; doesnt crash for me like AIM does.

 

[Red the Ghost]

Pidgin is superior. How did it confuse you?

 

[Firus]

Pidgin is superior. How did it confuse you?

I didn't like the interface, the whole thing wasn't very user-friendly to me. I was trying to figure out how to do things with it and I just got lost.

I dunno, maybe I can give a few things a try (including Pidgin and Trillian for a second time) and honestly see what I think.