okay i understand now. Wouldn't it get a bit confusing using an alias in the contact list and display name in the message window though, especially when msn contacts change their display name so often? and also inconsistent, as contacts using the other protocols would just be identified by there username/alias?
bufaso wrote:if i select "show display names as status messages" i won't be able to see the status message
also you still won't be able to get your contacts display names to appear in message windows,
but as yet msn doens't have status messages as far as i am aware (in adium/with gaim at least), only statuses which you can see from the status icons
so i personally find the the best option is to show display names as status message, that way you can identify the contact from their alias, and read their display name in the contact list, and you can make the text smaller so more of the display names fit into the contact list.
i presume the reason why there is no option to use display name as a custom name format in messages is because only msn has display names, most people use their display names as a status message (and it would seem silly to identify aol or yahoo contacts by their status messages). Athough, not all msn users do this, so maybe having the advanced msn option for display names as a custom name format is something worth the devs considering, but i doubt they will feel it is necessary
i think i remember hearing something about msn having custom statuses not too long ago, i wonder how the devs plain to implement this.
This has been suggested a few times before i think, but it seems relevent here, - i think a good idea would be having the option of including the display name in the status message (or including the actual status in the status message(display name set to staus message))
so if the custom status was "boiling the kettle"
and display name "blah blah",
the status message would read "(boiling the kettle) blah blah".
Infact I think this might be pretty cool (but not really necessary) to implement this even if msn dosn't have/get custom statuses and for the other protocols too, so the actual status and display names/status messages can both be read.
How relevant this is to the topic depends on your reasons for wanting to see the display names in the message windows though, is it just so you can access the display name, alias, and status? or is it simply because you want to see the display name in the message window like users of the official client?
