When You Block Someone on Yahoo Messenger, Do They Get Notified When They Try to Send You a Message?

By Melly Parker

Control who you chat with by blocking unwanted messages.
i Jack Hollingsworth/Photodisc/Getty Images

Unwanted messages from contacts on Yahoo Messenger create annoying pop-ups that you have to close; the messages can even continue when you're offline, greeting you as soon as you sign in. Blocking the contact gets rid of the problem, but may offend the person being blocked. Luckily, Yahoo Messenger doesn't notify the blocked person of the block at any point in the process or after it's complete.

Notifications

No notification is sent when you add a person to your ignore list. You can add or remove a person whenever you want without penalty. The only way the person may know that you've removed him is that he'll be unable to send you messages. Since Yahoo Messenger usually allows messages to be sent to an offline person, he may surmise that you've blocked him and disabled communications between the two of you.

Removal

To block a contact on Yahoo, you must remove that person from your Messenger contact list before the block goes into effect. The recipient of the removal is not notified that you've taken him off your contact list. You will still appear on his contact list, too. The only difference will be that his messages will never be sent to you and you will always appear offline on his list.

Offline Messages

People who have you on their Yahoo Messenger list are given the option to send you messages while you're offline. Those messages appear when you sign in. If you've blocked a person, that option still appears; he will not be able to tell you've blocked him based on offline messaging. Your contact will believe you are receiving messages from him when you sign in. However, messages he sends will not be delivered as long as he's on your contact list.

Tips

If you want to let a contact know that you've created a block so that the person can no longer contact you, you can send them a last Yahoo IM or an email to make the reasons for the block clear. If you don't have your settings adjusted to prevent unknown people from contacting you, the user can always make a new Yahoo Messenger account and send you more messages, if he chooses. You can create a new Yahoo Messenger account, too, if your old one has too many unwanted contacts on it.

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