AIM privacy

May 12, 2005 5:29 PM

Is it just me, or does the "buddy list only" feature not work correctly on iChat? Are there any alternative Mac aim clients that will keep out annoying people? Ability to talk to those in invisible mode/go into invisible mode a plus
posted by Mossy to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Adium
posted by nathan_teske at 6:40 PM on May 12, 2005

Adium's great, except you can't block people. The official AIM client may be your only choice.
posted by boaz at 7:39 PM on May 12, 2005

The "buddy list only" feature on iChat does seem to work correctly for me in iChat AV 3.0. I can load up my work AIM account on a separate machine, add my home AIM account username to the buddy list on that machine, and watch my home AIM account enter and exit as I change the setting in iChat on my home account from "Allow everyone" to "Allow people in my buddy list." If that makes sense.
posted by eschatfische at 7:55 PM on May 12, 2005

boaz - yes, you can block people in Adium. It's under the 'Contact' menu, iirc.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:04 PM on May 12, 2005

I think it's just you - at least, that feature has always worked perfectly for me.
posted by Mars Saxman at 8:31 PM on May 12, 2005

you block people with adium using ichat (or AIM) and then use adium.

What mossy really wants sometimes falls through the cracks - how to message someone who is trying to be invisible.
posted by filmgeek at 9:11 PM on May 12, 2005

The latest version of Adium does include blocking on supported services.
posted by jammer at 9:29 PM on May 12, 2005

Response by poster: Actually, I want two things:

1) To not have to deal at all with anyone not on the buddy list (and be able to block ideally)

2) Be able to go invisible/talk to invisible users

I'll give adium a whirl
posted by Mossy at 12:28 AM on May 13, 2005

Adium doesn't has invisibility (as far as I can tell), but it seems to do an okay job of talking to invisible users. It comlains about them not being online, but if you insist on sending the message, it'll do it. Once the conversation is initiated, it won't complain again, at least for a while. It's a little disconcerting talking to someone who the icons say is offline, but whatever, it works.

Adium also gives you control over idle times, so you can sort of "go invisible" by putting up away message and setting some ridiculous idle time and hope that people won't bother you.
posted by heresiarch at 9:36 AM on May 13, 2005

I've been very satisfied with Proteus - multi-protocol, and looks as good as iChat.
(I wish there was a solution for cross-platform video chatting though)
posted by Popular Ethics at 10:05 AM on May 13, 2005