Don't close them, just remove any of the icons that show up. For Adium for example turn off the default jumping action, and sound action, and just leave up a sm

Don't close them, just remove any of the icons that show up. For Adium for example turn off the default jumping action, and sound action, and just leave up a small badge if you require it to feel safe, or turn that off as well. Now your chat client becomes more like email.