I log in to several different accounts on Pidgin. Pidgin collates all of my buddies into one buddy list. For example (inexplicably), I have my normal set of AIM groups, and then a group called "Buddies" when I log in to gtalk, and another group called "gtalk". Then, when logging into my 2nd AIM account, those buddies show up in existing AIM groups.
This is annoying! I want there to be clear separation between the different accounts. (Sean Egan's rationale for this is here, "Identity vs. Account Orientation": http://www.pidgin.im/~seanegan/blog/)
Is there a plugin that will let me keep my separate accounts more separate? Maybe a 3rd level of grouping for each account/protocol. Or maybe separate tabs for each buddy list. Maybe it will even let me run separate instances of Pidgin, one for each account (though that would not be fun.)
What have people used to accomplish this (and what version? My Ubuntu box has 2.5.5, but I can easily install the latest if there are new options/plugins that require it.)