checking contacts before adding them?

[sha_angelico]

I keep getting authorization requests, but I have no idea who the person is. I'm active on Facebook and other forums, so it might be a friend from there, but I can't tell from the email address or username. Is there any way we can check who someone is before adding them to the list?

Also, I've looked at profiles of people who are already on my list (if I naively add one of the people I mention above), and it tells me there is no information because the person probably doesn't exist. What is this?

[David Munch]

There's a protocol icon right next to the person, right?

[sha_angelico]

What is a protocol icon? On the authorization request itself, it just tells me that (username) wants to add me to their contact list, do I allow it? The icon next to it is the green Adium duck but I thought that was just the logo. When someone's already on my list, there's a status icon, is that what you mean? Sorry, I'm a bit slow!

[David Munch]

What is a protocol icon?

A protocol is the IM service that you are using, such as MSN, Facebook, AIM, Yahoo IM, and so on. Each of these is represented by a specific icon that identifies them.

On the authorization request itself, it just tells me that (username) wants to add me to their contact list, do I allow it?

In general, if you haven't shared your IM-user, you can count on it being spam, and you can reject it.

The icon next to it is the green Adium duck but I thought that was just the logo. When someone's already on my list, there's a status icon, is that what you mean?

Just to make sure, we are talking about this authorization window (the small one), right? As you can also see here, its an AIM user that is trying to add me, identified by the yellow AIM icon/man. And the user is probably a foreign one I don't know, since the letters doesn't make sense.

[sha_angelico]

It's similar. It's a special box with the Adium duck on it, no lines but says, "User XYZ would like authorization to add <my username> to their buddy list. Do you want to give authorization?" and a checkbox asking if I want to add them. There is no protocol icon, and this mostly happens with MSN.