Taskbar? Hmmmpf... That would be weird... You would not have conversations in the taskbar so you would have to switch between them using... alt+tab?
Just18 some folks confuse taskbar with system tray as it's all on 1 panel
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If Pidgin is permanently open then different conversations can be in the one window, but on different tabs.
If it is never minimised then there is no need for a Task Bar entry to be showing.
That is as I understand the o-p's use.
Notifications of new messages should still show from the System Tray icon, as well as indicated on the specific tabs.
Examining how I have used Pidgin since this thread started, I can say I do not use the Task Bar icon either, and have Pidgin open most of the time. I do not minimise it but instead close it and open it again from the System Tray icon.
It hasn't bothered me as I have the Task Bar separated on its own panel which auto-hides and there is no lack of space or crowding on that panel normally.
I guess the reason Gkrellm has a 'switch' for the Task Bar icon is because it is designed to run full time on the desktop and so it might not require a Task Bar icon -- it would not be minimised in the normal course of events.
I haven't found a 'switch' for Pidgin to dispense with the Task Bar icon ..... but I suppose it might be possible to do it by editing some config file .....