diff -Naur pidgin-2.5.5.o/pidgin/pidgintooltip.c pidgin-2.5.5.p/pidgin/pidgintooltip.c
--- pidgin-2.5.5.o/pidgin/pidgintooltip.c	2009-03-01 20:37:13.000000000 +0100
+++ pidgin-2.5.5.p/pidgin/pidgintooltip.c	2009-04-13 19:00:04.674158157 +0200
@@ -68,15 +68,27 @@
 	if (tooltip_delay != -1)
 		return;
 
+  if(!purple_prefs_exists(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/blist/tooltip_delay"))
+  {
 #if GTK_CHECK_VERSION(2,14,0)
-	settings = gtk_settings_get_default();
-
-	g_object_get(settings, "gtk-enable-tooltips", &enable_tooltips, NULL);
-	g_object_get(settings, "gtk-tooltip-timeout", &tooltip_delay, NULL);
+    settings = gtk_settings_get_default();
+//  g_object_get(settings, "gtk-enable-tooltips", &enable_tooltips, NULL);
+    g_object_get(settings, "gtk-tooltip-timeout", &tooltip_delay, NULL);
+    if(tooltip_delay < 0)
+      tooltip_delay = 0;
 #else
-	tooltip_delay = purple_prefs_get_int(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/blist/tooltip_delay");
-	enable_tooltips = (tooltip_delay != 0);
+    tooltip_delay = 500; 
 #endif
+    purple_prefs_add_int(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/blist/tooltip_delay", tooltip_delay);
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    tooltip_delay = purple_prefs_get_int(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/blist/tooltip_delay");
+    if(tooltip_delay < 0)
+      tooltip_delay = 0;
+  };
+
+	enable_tooltips = (tooltip_delay != 0);
 }
 
 static void