Wikipedia talk:Instant Messaging Wikipedians

Is there any known client which can talk to people on different instant messenging services? I'd like to be able to chat with anyone on any service without having, say, 4 programs open. (not unlike being able to, say, call any phone number in any country). Koyaanis Qatsi 23:38 Jan 24, 2003 (UTC)

I hear that in the Windows world, Trillian does just that. In the Linux world, Gaim or Kopete should be what you want. --Eloquence

I use Gaim for Jabber and AIM, it seems fairly functional. --Brion 23:45 Jan 24, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks, I've installed trillian and it seems to work with both yahoo! and AIM. Koyaanis Qatsi

Strongly advised - do the one-click "sign up for ICQ", and have your most frequent correspondents do the same, since you can do "SecureIM" (128 bit encryption) on ICQ (only with Trillian). Remember, the more folks using secure messaging for trivial stuff, the harder it is for them to spy on everyone else.

I'd like to sign up for ICQ but I don't know how. Please advise? Koyaanis Qatsi

Trillian client itself has a one-button signup built in. If you go to the dialog that lets you enter your ICQ address (see icons along bottom of window), that same dialog lets you sign up in one click for a new address. Then any ICQ to ICQ connection gives you a popup-menu option to invoke the SecureIM for that conversation.

The GAIM FAQ has a few helpful links (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/faq.php#q7) on signing up for the different networks. My advice is to use a throwaway email address (http://www.hotmail.com) when signing up to avoid unpleasant surprises. --Eloquence 00:07 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

I very much believe in the throwaway email addresses. Koyaanis Qatsi

Hotmail is set up so it doesn't work in Mozilla 1.2 for windows. bastards. Koyaanis Qatsi

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We should recommend ICQ for the following reasons:

• ICQ does nothing to ban third-party clients like Trillian
• Trillian over ICQ has a SecureIM 128-bit capability - nothing else does
• ICQ client runs even on an 8MB Macintosh '030 - MSN requires 128MB PowerMac!!! Let's support the protocols and clients that actually work for older machines, to help participation from poorer people
• ICQ numbers are random and contain absolutely no identifying data whatsoever, so it's harder to use convergence of usernames for outsiders to tell who's who.

For universality, also we should recommend Jabber or Trillian.

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Is it such a good idea to post email accounts on this page? Won't it be vulnerable to email trawler bots? Erzengel 08:58 May 13, 2003 (UTC)

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I propose that we use a table format, rather than the current list format for the Wikipedia:Instant_Messaging_Wikipedians page. That way, if someone has only AIM, they can quickly scan through the AIM column without needing to check each person to see whether they have AIM. I started making a table, using the first person on the list as an example. It would take a lot of work to do this and it is easily messed up by people with little or no HTML knowledge. Check the bottom of Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page for tips on making tables or click the Edit button for this page to see how I made this particular table.

Wikipedia username	AIM	ICQ	Yahoo!	MSN
AW	AdamWill3	#382969	N/A	N/A

-MatrixFrog 21:15 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Hmm. Seems to me that's probably more trouble than it's worth. I suppose it depends on whether people use this list primarily to build a buddy-list (in which case a table would be easier to use), or to just find a way to get in contact with someone (in which case the username is the first priority, and the services they use are secondary). There's also the issue of possibly having too many columns--AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo seem the most popular, but there'd need to be a column such as "Other" for MSN, Jabber, e-mail, or possibly others. I've never used this list so I am not sure what would be best. :) -- Wapcaplet 21:30 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I don't like the table idea--too complicated, too easy to get wrong with too many columns at a later point; and people would have to remember the order of the columns or put AIM IDs in MSN columns, etc. More trouble than it's worth, IMO. Koyaanis Qatsi 21:33 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)