I use Empathy to keep track of a large contact list across multiple IM networks. I am also one of those people who actually organizes his contact list by group, and links people into nice meta-contacts.

I am frustrated by Empathy's insistence on showing me server groups like "Facebook Friends" and "Starred In Android". Don't even get me started on the "Favourite People" group - that one got me in trouble with my wife when she looked over my shoulder and wasn't on it. Thanks, Empathy! ;)

I would like to see Empathy adopting some different view modes for the contact list:

 1. Hide groups - Show only contacts, no groups at all.
 2. Local groups only - Show contacts in groups created locally on the workstation.
 3. Show local and server groups - Contact list slobs would use this

For the "Local groups only" option, having an "Ungrouped Contacts" group would probably be necessary.

Also, I understand that groups are basically tags and that contacts can exist in many of them at once, but that is weird from a usability perspective. It makes my list 'feel' huge and unmanageable. I only ever want one entry in my list for each person.

Having the same person in the list more than once also makes "deleting" a user confusing.

 1. Am I deleting this person from the group, or am I deleting her completely?   
 2. If I'm deleting a metacontact, am I completely removing them from all server accounts?

Please excuse my ignorance of Telepathy's inner workings. I don't know what's possible or impossible. I'm speaking as a user here.