&gt; this may just be the way I have my client set up<p>Two explanations are either yes, your client is configured to show active and away people the same; or other people aren&#x27;t using the &#x27;away&#x27; feature, so they show up as active 24&#x2F;7. In the former case, fix your settings; in the latter case, it is other people who need encouragement to change - but encorage them to make use of the built-in away feature, don&#x27;t encourage them to change their nicks :)