can msgplus tell you when another person has initiated/ended a chat with you? if not,will it ever?

Not currently, there are several plugins that do this...the main one that people use is downloadable at www.stuffplug.com...There are others but I personally recommend this one, there's other features with this as well, but if you don't want to use those aswell you don't have to ...Hope this helps

ah, ok thanks, just wanted to know cause thats the only good thing that messenger mate has over msgplus, but msgmate sux ;x

Check CookieRevised's reply to How can you see if someone opens your conversation box for a comprehensive list of plugins that can do that. And remember that it's not 100% accurate, check StuffPlug-NG-Window opened notifier for more info.