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Bug 626140 - IRC messages barely distinguishable
IRC messages barely distinguishable
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: empathy
Classification: Core
Component: Multi User Chat
2.31.x
Other Linux
: Normal enhancement
: ---
Assigned To: empathy-maint
empathy-maint
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2010-08-05 20:03 UTC by hey
Modified: 2018-05-22 14:19 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Description hey 2010-08-05 20:03:45 UTC 
Distinguishing the different messages in an IRC channel is currently only possible by reading the name. This is very cumbersome.

I know not having user images is a shortcoming of IRC itself, but why not find ways around it?

What about having Empathy automatically query for user photos based on the nickname:
twitter.com/nickname
identi.ca/nickname
launchpad.net/~nickname
google image search + option for faces only

Combining queries with elements from the channel name, e. g. »+nickname +gnome« can also help specifying the search.

In a test with 8 profiles, I found correct images for 5 with Twitter and Google.

I could open a wiki page to explore ways to do this better but I think 5/8 is a good start and definitely more useful than the same faceless bust for everyone.

Even something like identicon, monsterid or wavatar would make the posters distinguishable: http://en.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/

And if nothing of that is feasible, even coloring the busts would help immensely.
Comment 1 Laurent Pointecouteau 2011-01-16 13:45:02 UTC 
This bug can be related to https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=541632
Comment 2 GNOME Infrastructure Team 2018-05-22 14:19:27 UTC 
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This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

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