Comment 10 for bug 1068668

To get a more compact list, I have published a new deb package that simply reduces the size of the avatar from 48 pixel high to 24, which seems to work flawlessly on my computer.

My blog post at http://vaab.blog.kal.fr/2013/04/04/fixing-empathy-in-ubuntu-12-10 will give you the 64bit debian package and a lengthy way to get your own package with your own pixel size if you want.