[OTR-users] Pidgin-OTR Logging Behaviour

[Rob Smits]

Hello,

We've had some suggestions to change Pidgin-OTR's default behaviour  
with respect to logging OTR conversations. We would appreciate some  
feedback and ideas.

Pidgin-OTR has an option to disable logging for OTR conversations.  
This option by default is not enabled. As I understand it, Pidgin for  
Windows has IM logging enabled by default (and so the default  
behaviour is that OTR conversations would be logged). Pidgin for Linux  
does not have IM logging enabled by default (so the default behaviour  
is that OTR conversations wouldn't be logged).

In this case, someone who is used to having their IM conversations  
logged (either because they run Windows with the default behaviour or  
they explicitly enabled the IM logging option) will see consistent  
behaviour between OTR conversations and non-OTR conversations. This  
behaviour is especially useful for people who may not realize or  
remember that OTR is running. If you expect conversations to be logged  
you can be certain they will be logged. However, someone who is  
familiar with Google Talk's "go off the record" functionality (or  
simply someone who believes that OTR is making their conversations  
completely private) may not realize that logging behaviour, by  
default, is not affected.

Here are some possible changes:
-Keep current default behaviour, but always output a message like the  
following when an OTR conversation is started:  This conversation is  
being saved/not being saved (depending on current settings).
-Change current default behaviour to explicitly disable logging for  
OTR conversations, and output the above message.
-When an OTR conversation starts, explicitly ask the user whether they  
wish to log OTR conversations (if no Pidgin-OTR logging preference is  
found), and perhaps output the above message. Once the user provides  
an answer, future OTR conversations will not trigger this prompt.

If you have an opinion on this or another idea please share it!

Our main criteria are:
-OTR's behaviour here should be consistent with most users' expectations
-We should not introduce something that would be annoying (to both  
experienced users, and people who may not even realize they are  
running Pidgin-OTR)

Regards,
Rob