Hmmm ... if I picked the Online list last in "View Contacts", it seems to remember it for me. If not for you, then you can always sort your "All" list by "presence, first name" and have effectively the same thing.

In speed contacts. the number you can pick depends on the size you the window you give it. Resizing the window so that it takes up the entire top to bottom real estate allows 5 contacts. Admittedly not that many but significantly more than 2.

It sure would be nice if you could have it live update to show only online contacts ... I'll have to submit an RFE bug if there isn't one already.

I don't think you can use all protocals (MSN, AIM, Yahoo) though unless you enter red pill and install the beta rtcomm update though.

Thanks! This helped! =) The Chat app still looks the same though: there is no such option in it.

Looks like I have been using Chat app rather than Contacts. The Contacts app is actually a bit better: it allows only showing the names. No idea why there are TWO IM apps in RTCOMM though. Neither of them comes up when you click on the status bar presence icon: this is what Pidgin does and it is very intuitive.

No, 5 isn't significantly more than 2 by any measure

2/5 * 100 = 250%

You should probably work on figuring out how things work before you spew your vitriol around.

i tried the RTCOM beta again (after trying it out when it was initially released) and i switched back to pidgin the same evening.

-five contacts on the desktop app are nowhere near enough for me. im hoping in the future you can have smaller contacts and fit ten to fifteen in the space that five take up now.
-when you select a contact it brings up a hideous screen to select between chat, email, voip, etc... handy for some, not for me (and did i mention it was hideous? they could at least make it so you didnt have to scroll it downward for any reason)
-i dont know why, but its not making any noise when i receive a new message any more. it used to in the old version, likely a temp bug if there isnt something wrong with my setup (all four noise checkboxes checked, audio turned up to max when troubleshooting -no dice)
-no 'other user is typing' notification
-i wish i could get rid of the smiley icon and make my input box larger like i can in pidgin. multi-line or long sentences get very cramped in that little entry box.

for all my complaints, its a nice app. i wish pidgin had desktop integration (speed contacts, basically), but otherwise i find it far superior.
you can have them both going at the same time without any problems, give them both a shot and see which you prefer.

General, you might consider a chill pill. Vitriol might be a little bit strong. As for the numbers, 2 and 5 are both way short of 10. It depends on how you look at it, and maybe on your religion. I would suggest less religion and more tolerance.

It'd also be nice if the default view for chatting with a contact could be changed. It is a bit of nuisance to have to toggle that left sidebar off every time I open a chat with someone.

say 30 contacts

2/30 = 6.66%

5/30 = 16.66%

still a long way from even 50%

Wait a minute. 2/5*100=250? What kind of math is that? Could you show your work?