add multiple IM fields?

Ok, I don't know if its' just me, but why isn't the Plaxo Suggestion thread open for new posts. I thought this thread would be the most appropriate place to post this.

Anyways, I think Plaxo should add mulitple instant messaging (IM) fields in the 'My Cards' tab when your updating your own information. So far, it just says 'Home IM'. But in this day where everyone has multiple IM's such as MSN, Yahoo!, Google, Skype, ICQ, AIM, and others. Surely, not everyone has the same handle for all the services.

Perhaps consider adding multiple drop down fields for your own choice of IM service? Just my two cents.

Hi Luke,

First of all, it was my personal decision to get rid of the old suggestions topic in favor of product-specific categories. I did this so that our specific teams (Thunderbird, IE Toolbar, Online, etc.) could easily read through their relevant topics without wading through the entire forum.

Suggestions are always not just welcomed, but encouraged in the new topics. Not only do we have project leads reading through the forum, but I also personally notify teams of various suggestions and concerns when I come across them in the Forum.

The Forum isn't meant to be an official support channel, but we at Plaxo really do take it seriously.

On with your question... about the multiple IM fields... I definitely see your point, but unfortunately, none of our related clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird) support the extended IM fields, so it'd be a difficult situation of storing (much less sync'ing) the data :|. That isn't to say that we won't think up something in the future to accommodate this issue, but it won't be near term.

Hi Adam,

Thanks for replying so promptly. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I like this public forum idea that Plaxo has started. I was just a little confused earlier. It brings a nice touch to your products and product support, not to mention a human side that other companies don't have. Really makes it feel like your a part of the product development.

Thanks for letting me in on the situation and the troubles associated with it. I totally understand. In the mean time, keep up the excellent work!

(Are you evil?) I want the truth! You have an agreement with AOL.

Why is the field for the AOL IM titled "Home IM"? It is lacking contextual information. It should be clear that this field is for an AOL IM ID; AKA AIM ID. There are may 'I'nstant 'M'essaging programs out there. Calling the AIM IM field a "Home IM" is obtuse.

Secondly if your Plaxo applications can't sync with other IM fields because of host application limitations that is ok. However that is not a reason to limit the IM fields available to plaxo users.

From a UI standpoint you should have IM contact fields with attached drop downs to designate the IM service povider. This way you can support multiple IM's and, you only have to display one IM field. When a user, editing a card, designates an IM account, the web page should update and add another IM field to let them designate a second, third ect....

When it is possible to have more IM accounts designated in a Plaxo card, then you can worry about getting your plaxo applications updated to support the additional fields.

So what is the truth? Will you improve Plaxo? Or does your agreement with AOL preclude you from doing so? (Are you evil?)

Cross Refrence: Skype and/or custom fields? (http://forum.plaxo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=6133&page=0&view=collapse d&sb=5&o=&fpart=1)

PS: You who view this suggestion, if you agree with me you must post here. Or else it won't get done.

> (Are you evil?) I want the truth! You have an agreement with AOL.
>

Yes, we do have an agreement with AOL, and No, we are not evil.

> Why is the field for the AOL IM titled "Home IM"? It is lacking contextual
> information. It should be clear that this field is for an AOL IM ID; AKA AIM ID.
> There are may 'I'nstant 'M'essaging programs out there. Calling the AIM IM field
> a "Home IM" is obtuse.

Agreed - the Home IM field or Work IM field is not intended for you to associate your AIM Screen Name with your Plaxo account. Before you will be able to log into your Plaxo account using your AIM ScreenName, you must first link your AIM Screen Name to your Plaxo account. There will be an "AIM Screen Name" field on your Plaxo card that the member can use to specify their AIM Screen Name. But before you can associate any username with your Plaxo account, you must verify this is your AIM Screen Name by providing the proper authentication.

>
> Secondly if your Plaxo applications can't sync with other IM fields because of
> host application limitations that is ok. However that is not a reason to limit
> the IM fields available to plaxo users.
>

The Other Work IM and Home IM field can be used generically to specify other IM screen names you might have for other services (Yahoo!, MSN, etc...). Many of our members use some type of convention to identify different service within this single field. For example: my Other Work IM field might have: "YIM: PrivacyGuru MSN: Plaxo-Privacy gTalk:StacyMartin AIM:thePrivacyOfficer".

We entirely expect that many people will also include their AIM Screen Name in the Other Work or Home IM field, especially since the AIM Screen Name field is a new feature. While including your AIM username in these fields doesn't link their AIM Screen Name to their account allowing you to log into Plaxo using your Screen Name, we are to do attempt to parse the information in this field using natural language processing to figure out the contact's AIM Screen Name and show presense.

> From a UI standpoint you should have IM contact fields with attached drop downs
>to designate the IM service povider. This way you can support multiple IM's and,
> you only have to display one IM field. When a user, editing a card, designates an
> IM account, the web page should update and add another IM field to let them
> designate a second, third ect....

Unfortunately, this doesn't map well into local mail clients, such as Outlook which only have a single field for IM information. The feedback we've received in the past indicated a single field worked best for most users.

>
> When it is possible to have more IM accounts designated in a Plaxo card, then you
> can worry about getting your plaxo applications updated to support the additional
> fields.
>
> So what is the truth? Will you improve Plaxo? Or does your agreement with
> AOL preclude you from doing so? (Are you evil?)

We are always looking to improve Plaxo. Our agreement with AOL certainly does not preclude us from allowing a member to include information about other IM services on their Plaxo cards. We feel our current approach offers the greatest flexibility for users to specify ANY IM user information, and share this information with their contacts while maintaining compatibility with multiple address book clients.

I hope this helps,

Stacy Martin
Plaxo Privacy Officer