1) Certain versions do crash terribly, this is true. Other builds are more stable though. (though I must admit, they shouldn't be pushing releases out that are unstable to begin with..)
2) I don't really see the problem with it having a plain skin as its default.. Of note though, that "excessive white space" is used to display a persons away message or MSN note (if applicable). And you can turn off the pulldown menus to display a row of buttons instead, similar to how older versions of AIM looked (which kills a good bit of white space to the right there too). The fact you "don't care" if it has other skins is rather unfair of you too, you're disregarding possible solutions to your problem here without even trying them. (though I don't claim that it has the most intuitive skinning system, I wouldn't really know honestly as personally I happen to like the plain look Pidgin offers by default over other programs. Though that's just me.)
3) I actually have no idea what you're talking about here, I assume its some kind of feature Pidgin lacks though.
4) Can't say I've ever experienced this. (Not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never encountered it.)
5) This seems to be most prevalent in versions that crash a lot, not usually as much of a problem in the more stable versions. (which might very well be the reason certain builds are so prone to crashing)
6) I really don't see much of a problem with it using plugins.. I'm not saying it was a great idea, but I don't particularly see the stupid in it. (It sounds like you're needlessly attacking the program here.) The Auto-Accept Transfers plugin is also packaged "with" Pidgin, so it seems kind of moot to complain about it not being in the program itself. (and the memory usage of the stock plugins "should" be negligible anyway)
7) I actually don't recall this ever happening to me during the numerous crashes I've experienced before, though I admit I am not one to actively change my settings enough to have likely noticed.
8) There's really no argument there. Although I personally wouldn't squabble over a few megabytes.
Pidgin obviously has its problems, and it certainly wasn't for you as I can tell. But I think you were a bit harsh on a few points.. I've been using it for quite awhile now, and although its crashing issues have annoyed me in the past.. I've really found little else to complain about regarding it. It works, which is enough for me.
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