On-line status of MSN & Yahoo entries

[NowhereMan]

Whenever someone goes idle or away, instead of showing the words "idle" and "away", it shows their on-screen name again. How can this be fixed?

[twopeak]

where does it show?

if you mean in their display name:
check the preferences > advanced
There are some options to change that the status does or does not get as an extension of the name.
I don't know anything about it since I never used it, but it seems to be related to what you ask