mrcsparker:
The reason the gnome-vfs ssh method doesn't work with ptys is because you didn't send us a patch to make it work.
There isn't any deep secret why this hasn't been done, just the normal reason: not enough time for the people working on it, not enough people working on it.
See also: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=117633
