Using multiple messenger programs you may not realize or notice that the default category your buddies go to end up in are named differently per application.  With Digsby (and probably any other multi-IM client) you can drag and drop names into the various categories and the changes are then saved back into each separate application. Why I didn’t realize this sooner I’ll never know.

It’s possible perhaps that because I tend to use AIM more than MSN/Yahoo that they had different labeling systems simply due to usage.  Regardless, I’m down to 4 categories again instead of 4 major ones then the defaults for Yahoo/MSN/GChat which made the list a lot longer than it had to be. Combine this with lumping people with multiple screen names together and I have a nice and tidy buddy list again.

On the other hand, I very rarely use IM clients anymore. I twitter more than I send IMs (except in rare cases) which is almost kind of sad considering I can usually count my daily tweets on one hand, but that’s probably the evolution of this type of communication.