There is a great little instant messaging utility, Pidgin that helps to find who has blocked you in Google Talk. If you not sure how to configure Pidgin with Google Talk, I advice you to first visit this page.
Ok, now when you are aware of how to configure Pidgin to work with Google Talk, I’ll guide how to make smart use of Pidgin to identify who has blocked you on Google Talk.
It’s very simple. Just follow the steps:-
1- Log in to your Gmail account on Pidgin.
2- Go to “Buddies” -> “Show Offline Buddies“. (A person who has blocked you must be showing offline to you. So you need to make all offline friends visible)
3- Now all your contacts are visible to you. Pick any one of those.
4- Right Click on your chosen contact name and select “Get Info“.
It will show you the brief information of your contact. Now, if any of your contact has blocked you on Google Talk, you will not be able to see his/her profile.
6- Select a contact who you think may have blocked you. Again, Right Click on his/her name and select “Get Info“. You will not see anything. Not even the contact’s name.
This goes to show that this particular contact has blocked you on Google Talk and don’t want to talk to you and so it appears to be offline always.
Hope, you like this article. This is the only way I could able to find out to determine who has blocked you on Google Talk. What’s your comment on this?
I am using pidgin & I had a query on system log.
basically I am monitoring the user away/available/offline status & sometimes in the system log I see a log something like this
abcd (abcd@gmail.com) changed status from Offline to Offline @ 1/9/2009 11:45:35 AM —-
—- abcd (abcd@gmail.com) changed status from Offline to Offline @ 1/9/2009 11:45:35 AM —-
when I don’t see a log that particular user online at all why is that I see a offline log for that user…?? is it just a transition log which gets logged or did the user was indeed online & the log is missing…???
if it is transition log when does this happen…?? does it happen when the user is online on gmail but not online in gmail’s chat..?? ( by gmail chat I mean chat window in gmail not gtalk )
thanx a million dude!!!
@Sharath
I have also noticed it… you should check out the following things under which it can occur
1. Ensure that u haven’t blocked that user u r trying to monitor, since its 100% sure that if that user comes online then it will say “offline to offline”
2. Sometimes i have noticed that offline to offline can also appear when someone has logged onto Orkut with chat enabled in it then a person changed the status to offline mode then it may appear. But thats not very consistent sometime it does and sometimes it doesn;t.
3. If a person has logged on to gmail and when to invisible mode or has disabled chat or just using a not HTML version of gmail then also this is not logged in system log as far as i have noticed. I have done lot on R&D on this since I wondered how can it be reproduced.
Note FYI… u can run multiple instances of Gtalk messenger by launching the exe with a /nomutex option.
You can also avoid your status being changed to “I’m not here right now” by unchecking the “Change the status when idle” this will allow you to set the status as u like in the gtalk and while u r away it will not get over written by pidgin’s status.
Though I am fully sure the person has not blocked me but i would like to know how can I know if the person is in invisible mode even without sending a single message
is there a way to know if someone has deleted me (not blocked) from his gtalk?
[...] Rakshit Khare talks about how to check if you are blocked on Google Talk, [link] and [...]
[...] Finding out whether someone has blocked you or is offline: Many a times anxiety engulfs our mind when we don’t find some of our friends (specially girl friends ) online for a long period of time. If it is so, the friend might be remaining invisible or offline all the times or he/she must have blocked you. In the above point, we have mentioned about two cool tricks to find whether a friend is really offline or is avoiding you remaining invisible. But what if they would have blocked you? You’ll presume that they are offline but in realty they may not be. In this case, Rakshit will help you on “how to check whether someone has blocked you on gtalk”. [...]
Thats a great tip……..
I enquired with a person to find this out who also showed up offline to offline in the system logs & I was able to get his information using GetInfo option of pidgin, this person had disabled chat in gmail due to which it showed up like that in system logs
@Rits,
about the offline to offline i guess it is just a transient error & I have seen it happen when the user has login’ed into multiple systems.
for example here is the flow:-
1) the user log’s in to gtalk or chat in gmail ( dosent really matter)sitting behind the firewall. In this cause the gtalk see’s the user through the firewall IP.
2) The user goes home with out signing out when they were behind the firewall & log’s in directly( gtalk dosent need a change of proxy settings)
At this point gtalk sees that the user is connected in two systems a) through the firewall b) through the direct connection with out proxy or firewall.
3) At this point in time we might see log saying that the user is Avaliable –> Avaliable.
4) The same applies for offline –> offline
I think we can ignore this is system log as it is totally transient error. Also we might see this kinda transient error when there is network congestion where the ACK is not received & the packet is retransmitted so it gets log’ed from –>
lets leave this follow up here unless you have something concrete.
I was looking at one other block about finding a person in invisible mode with out sending a single message. Well for me which “ballsq” quoted dosent work … to my surprise even when the user is totally offline & If send a message even that notification in RED which says the user is not online is also inconsistent.
@Sharath n all
Recently, I found one article on the web to find invisible users in GTalk.
Hope it may be useful to you. I haven’t tried it yet. If in case, anyone among you going to give it a try, please let me know about that.
Here is the link :- Find Invisible Users in GTalk
niice tips on how to check someone block us ,very useful sometimes
seema bhatia’s last blog post… Britney Spears Taking Her Sons on Tour
hi Rakshit khare,
Thnak u for added this blog.
this blog is very useful every one
It was so hurtful to know that my “Swittz” has blocked me! Anyway one need to face the truth..! Thank u zillions times, Rakshit for all ur wonderful efforts to make it (to figure out who’s blocked us) possible ! thank u ! Great work !
Hey relax buddy.
Why so sad? I didn’t write this article to make anyone sad.
i can see the photo and the name in that get info option
has the user blocked me or not
i am not sure reply me
thnx! for the post nw i’ll b able to knw who the hell is avoiding me…warning for them…
Thank you
guys i have a query
thru pidgin i found out that one of my gtalk contacts has blocked me. now when i went to buddies and clicked on show only online buddies or rather disabled “show offline buddies” his ID appeared along with my other friends who were online at that point of time. what does it mean? was he online then? if yes, y was it showing on my pidgin buddy list since he has blocked me? btw, the status was offline but the ID appeared nonetheless! somebody please explain.
@ suzz
Even if your friend has blocked you, his id will appear in your contact’s list.
If you are able to see your friend with other online contacts, it may be possible that at that moment he may have unblocked you.
@rakshit
i don’t get it. at that very moment i have seen the get info page and it appeared blank. so no luck thr on the unblocking.
i am also using pidgin software. i found that someone blocked me. i want to chat him. how can i cant. how do i chat with pidgin software
Hi
What does this mean when using pidgin to contact info:status #gmail AD488439,
Thanks I would like to know there is only one contact that has this.
thanks
s.
dragging it a bit but someone plz answer this or solve this mystery..
i am actually able to find out when one of my contacts(gmail) comes online although the person has blocked me …m pretty sure about it coz the get info page comes blank…the person’s ID gets displayed in my online frns list as offline tho…n yes another query ,when u try to send an offline msg if u get a error msg saying that msg could not be delivered, the msg actually doesn’t get delivered or there is some catch even there?
Thanks
hello…bt m nt able to use dis trick….whn i go thru d ID of dat person n by clicking on right click,i dun find ny option of view profile…so can u lemme knw plz..wat do to?
@noor
Could you please tell us which version of PIDGIN are you using??
its a really usefull tool. i use pidgin but didnt know it can be used this way. it really help us out for reducing anxiety !!!
any idea about the difference between the three offline status messages which appears in the chat window.?
1) “abc” is offline and can’t receive messages right now.
2) “xyz” is offline. You can still send this person messages and they will receive them the next time they are online.
3) “lmn” is offline.
This is truly great! Awesome…thanks for bringing this up…I know it hurts when you find out the truth…but as a lot of you have said…it’s better to know the truth
Thnks it was gr8
but one more query 1) i have two gmail accounts and told her to delete me forever from gmail, but in one account she was appearing me offline in gmail and gtalk too so checked with your idea i found she has blocked me (not removed me is it?)
2)in second account she is disappeared from gtalk but always online in gmail and wonder is that when i start gtalk i see her status online a fraction of second and then disappear, when i click the mouse on that status i can still chat with her even she disappear from main gtalk window how is it possible? and in the same gmail account i can see her online so she also can see my status in gtalk ? bcoz she is not opening gmail account.
people
jab koi contact ne tumko block kara hai aur phir future me jab apni display pic badal deta hai hai toh do you get to see the same change in ur gmail or purani pic hi dikhayegi?
hey rakshit! is there a way we can find out, when are the blocked users coming online or no?
Hey Rakshit, this message is of a great help, infact it turned my eyes on to know it…. Its because of a gal friend I got to know about this… Hope you know wat am talking about.. Thank you man
Heya .. m nt able to connct the pigdin.. i use a proxy to cnnct to the internet. n wen i changed HTTP in setings n fed the rite proxy port number .. den it gives an error saying .. unable to create socket!! can u plz figure out wat may be the reason ??
Pls, let me know how to identify the contacts which are in invisible mode.
PIDGIN..wht it??i dun knw abt it…well m using gtalk nthg knw more abt it….
Here is a possible way to tell if you are blocked or not.
I tried to block someone who is a contact but the message that I would no longer receive chats from that person did not show up. When I clicked away from the contact and came back it was back to auto again.
I typed their name into “invite to chat” but it did not appear in the window. I assume this means that they blocked me. Any thoughts? Can you not block someone who has already blocked you?
Hey Rakshit, first of all i’d like to extend my sincere congrats to u on not only been able to find solutions to the users’ problems but also educating them in the user friendly way so that they can easily get through by personal efforts, as i just did
Im not computer savvy but was on the 7th cloud after finding that it was working as much as i had been following the easy-to-understand instructions by you 
Well, coming to the point, my problem right now is that i have clicked on “remember my password” when adding my google id on pidgin. Now it shows my google talk constantly available (in the toolbar, below) to anyone who opens the PC at my home. How can i undo my password on “Add”? And will it continue to serve me the same, after undoing? Thanks for your kind assistance!
gg
hey thnx for the tip.. one query though.. if i can see a persons name but not the photo does it mean that he/she has blocked me? that person doesn have a photo for the gmail id..
in view of my earlier comment.. i asked coz one of my other frnds too doesn have a photo.. but wen u checked that profile i saw a default pic.. so in that respect if i dun see a default pic does it mean that he/she has blocked me?
Thanks, It Works fine!
nice tip man…
Hi,
I find a friend offline all the time. I tried your method on pidgin. idgin does not show up this friend on my buddies list. I try and add the person’s name by clicking on buddies>add buddy. Then i try to see the friend’s info. Pidgin shows up a window which says retrieving…. but even after a very long time, it does not. what does it mean ?
this is great!
but where can I download Pidgin for mac?
I just downloaded “fink” which looks required for downloadind Pidgin but I dont see the point and Im completely lost with this fink… please HELP!
Last quick question that might solve my problem : do you know if your trick to know if someone blocked you might work with Adium instead of Pidgin ?
I get annoyed on that people I send emails to appear in my google talk client. I do not want them there. I know I can remove them, but can I anywhere make setttings that they shall not appear there when I email
them? Thanks for the tips btw.
@Anxiety Cures
Just remove them from your gmail contacts list. Those email ids appear only because they have been added to your contacts list. Go to your gmail settings and you will find contacts link there.
Thanks for your clever work
It was very helpful
[...] need to download an IM client called Pidgin and then follow the instructions at How to check if someone has blocked you on Google Talk They’re pretty simple and they seem to work. Secret [...]
thanks so much