I am still wondering if I am being gamed by a friend.  I am not an AOL
member but use AIM. I have 3 screen names, 2 known to this person, 1
unknown.  He has become invisible because I can IM him with my  2
hames that are known to him when he doesnt show up as online and he
gets it and ans. it.  He has also IMed me when he doesnt appear online
to me.  He swears he hasnt done anything to make himself invisible. 
Question........tonight I tested to see if he was online but
invisible........he was and ans. and we talked.  Then I switched to my
unknown name a second..........then to my other name that he
knows.......and he was on my buddy list and showed he'd been on for 40
min.  Also I have Deadaim which logs events.......never showed him logging on
under any of my 3 names, but showed the conversation, and later showed
him logging off.....of course under the name that showed him on the
buddy list. Could there be something wrong with IM that a person could
show up on one name and not on 2 others or did he fix something?

Blocking from both sides, you blocking him, him blocking you, have as
effect, that a user appears offline. Next to this, AOL users have an
extra option in their program which allows them to be invisible and
still send messages.


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This is the information profided by AOL:
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-Make sure that the "Online" tab in the Buddy List window is the active tab.

-If the number in parentheses next to a group indicates that there are
Buddies online, make sure that the group is expanded. For example, if
it says "Friends (5/10)" but no names are listed, then the group is
not expanded. To expand the group, click the arrow on the left of the
group name so that the arrow points downward.

-Make sure that your Buddies are not blocking you and that you are not
blocking your Buddies. If you block Buddies or they block you, you
cannot see them.

-If the Buddies you can't see are using AOL, then they have enabled an
option that allows you to send them Instant Messages but doesn't let
you see them on your Buddy List. This feature is only available to AOL
users. Ask the AOL users to go the Privacy Preferences in their AOL
Buddy List, and choose one of the Allow or Block options that does not
cause you to be blocked.

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Direct link:
http://www.aol.co.uk/aim/faqs/AIM_FAQ_Buddy_Lists.htm#wheresbuds