If you are trying to set up a type of buddy list you are going to be better off going with a DB setup... The setup he has resets everything once the program is close I don't see how it would support friends unless everything was set to save to a text file but thats going to be a lot of text files Unless of course you dont mind that the buddy list is reset everytime... and since there is no login password anyone could potentially use that persons nickname so eventhough the person who used that name the first time might be your friend... the next person who uses it may not if you understand what I mean... there is an example if you scroll back to one of the previous pages. It has a buddy list and a DB you might want to check it out to get some ideas.