AIM buddy list in iChat menu bar

Question

AIM buddy list in iChat menu bar

This is more of an annoyance then a problem. I have buddies that appear in my buddy list as available but not in the menu bar icon. It seems to only affect some of my buddies. As an example I have two buddies both with .Mac accounts and on-line at the same time and both appear in my buddy list with green dots next to them. But only one shows up in the menu bar icon drop down box under "AIM Buddies" and the other one does not...? What's the deal and how do I fix this problem? I often use this menu to have quick, unobtrusive look for who is on-line and often miss certain people that are available but not visible. Thanks for any help.

Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Feb 17, 2010 12:01 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 17, 2010 10:32 AM in response to Infinite Loop 3

Hi,

Any chance some of these may be Idle but have iChat Set not to allow others to see.

The Menu bar list only tends to Show On-line and Available (Idle but not show allows a false positive as it were)

6:32 PM Wednesday; February 17, 2010

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Answer 2

Feb 17, 2010 6:22 PM in response to Infinite Loop 3

No, I have been in discussions with the people and looked in the AIM buddies list and they still don't appear. Its very frustrating...? I can say this, I do know that several of these people have iPhones and AIM on there phone.... but when I am chatting with them they have been on a laptop computer.

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Answer 3

Feb 18, 2010 5:44 AM in response to Infinite Loop 3

Hi,

I have large Buddy list on the Main AIM Name I use.
I have also created a fairly large number of Status Messages.
In using my Menu Bar list I see only about 10 or so Buddies listed those that appear to be from the lower half of the Alphabet.
Then on checking further these were only the Available Buddies - between 2 Buddy Lists I had all 9 Available Buddies showing up in the Menu Bar icon Drop down

Do you have any Privacy Settings that are set For Allow Buddy List Only or Allow Specific People ?
(This does not appear to effect looking at my Buddy Lists but does add flags to people at the AIM Servers)

I cannot think of anything else that might effect this.

1:44 PM Thursday; February 18, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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Answer 4

Feb 22, 2010 12:13 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

I checked on my privacy setting and its empty - no one in the lists. Also I don't have many people on at any one time maybe 3 or 4, but it can be as little as one person on and that person i not showing up in the AIM list. It also seem to be only certain people each time. So now I am thinking is something with their settings. But if it was their privacy settings why would they show up in my buddy list window and not in the AIM buddy list in the iChat menu bar drop down??? I am still stumped.

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Answer 5

Feb 22, 2010 12:45 PM in response to Infinite Loop 3

Hi,

Today I have 19 buddies over two Buddy Lists that are showing as Available and these are showing in the Menu Bar drop down.

I have several more that are Away but On-line that do not show in the Menu bar.

I currently don't know any of my Buddies Security settings off the top of my head but it is a possible that the Menu bar list is more generic in the info it picks up from the AIM servers and their setting may effect things.
( I went to change one of Mine to find I had already got it set to Allow Buddy List only and it apparently does not make a difference).

8:45 PM Monday; February 22, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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Answer 6

Feb 28, 2010 9:50 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Humm.... Talked to the "buddies" in my iChat about their settings, and everything seems to be set to the default settings. I am still not sure what causes this anomaly but it is something that I will continue to look into. Thanks fro all your help Ralph it was much appreciated.

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Answer 7

Mar 1, 2010 12:16 PM in response to Infinite Loop 3

There is a somewhat sim9ilar thread about someone with two Screen Names.

They have added the screen name of the other Buddy List to the other one.

However on different machine and even different Apps they are seeing both Screen Names as On line but on one computer (a Leopard 10.5.8 boot) they cannot see one of the Screen Names in one of the Buddy lists.

See this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2343214
I find it difficult to judge if the person is just denying the possible I suggest or if they are really checking them based on the way they post back.

I also find that this page http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/ContactTesters.html does not reflect in Table 1 what I see in my Buddy List for the 6 Apple Test Account names.

As the page queries the same Server it points to the Server rather than something iChat is doing.

8:16 PM Monday; March 1, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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