Your question has been one asked by discussion sites frequently, and
many people have tried to engineer solutions to this problem, with
some definite success - there are techniques. They are not all 100%
fool proof, but you have a very good chance. It will be difficult to
download add-ons for the Mac, but there are techniques that do not
require this.
A very good thread is located here:
BigBlueBall Forums
http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=715
Here are some of the valid quotes from that page:
"Loads of people in Big Blue Ball are wanting Ways of seeing if your
being blocked. Below are 5 ways of finding out.
A) The Alien Passport Technique
This trick is no shocking discovery: most of you will have thought of
it before, but if you haven't... here you go!
1) Create a new Hotmail Passport with a user name that has no relation
whatsover to you (tip: use a foreign name).
2) Download the MSN Polygamy patch for your version of MSN Messenger
from the MSN Downloads section here.
( http://www.mess.be/pafiledb/pafiledb.php?action=category&id=4 )
3) Start a second MSN Messenger client after applying the patch and
log-in using your fresh and clean MSN Passport.
4) Choose "Send an instant message" from the Actions (or Extra) menu
and instead of selecting somebody from your Contact List (which should
be blank with your new account), fill in the e-mail address of the
person you suspect of blocking you.
5) Send him a message like: "Hi, are you the person who mailed me
earlier about my site?" or something completely else (whatever might
get him/her to react).
6) If this person replies while being offline on your other account
(ALT+TAB to switch)... you are a bloody annoying person! ;)
Add-on based on this technique:
- Real Status Viewer by Sweet Devil Mark
B) The "You're a filthy blocker"-Indicator Technique (by Stasz)
Another method was figured out by Stasz on our forum and I quote:
"There's a reliable way to find out someone is blocking you.. if you
know how to make an online status indicator fot yourself (website),
well, why don't you make one for another person.. (this only works if
the person accepts the email of the server.. but heck that one is
never online..). It works just as good as the tip on mess.be but
hell.. lets spread this one!"
More info: FAQ on how to make your status indicator.
(This sentence links to this page =
http://www.mess.be/_scripts/faq/faq.php?lang=en&display=faq&nr=29&catnr=8&prog=1&onlynewfaq=1
)
C) The Call/Page Number Technique (by {Vivo))
"If the person you think has blocked you has a CALL or PAGE number and
the option is grayed out when you right click on the name, then you
have been blocked. This doesnt work if the user doesnt have a CALL or
PAGE number activated!"
Add-on based on this technique:
- Block Buddy by Cyrillic.
D) The IP Scan Method (by inspiron2002)
1) Find their IP (difficult!)
2) Scan the IP for the MSN PORT (1963)
3) If there's none, the guy is offline.
(no add-on yet)
E) Trick to double-click (by Kapdap)
The key is to receive an alert when somebody who has blocked you opens
a conversation window anyway. "Why would somebody do that?", you might
ask yourself. Well, if you change your nickname to something that
catches people's attention they might wanna double-click your name to
find out who you are. I know this method is -like most of them- far
from 100% proof, but it does tell you who blocked you on some
occassions.
Add-on based on this technique:
- Block Buster by Vivo
Here are the instructions:
1) Pick a nickname you think will catch the attention of a person
who's blocking you (eg. "double-click me please!!").
2) Log in and out 2 or 3 times to improve your chances of getting
noticed.
3) Now, should the blocker double-click your name, you'll get an alert
through Block Buster (it doesn't work if they just right-click your
nick)."
There are 5 valid techniques there. Here is another from the same
page:
"You can also have a friend add the person who you think has blocked
you to the conversation. If they are invited in the convo, and offline
on your list, well you have your self a friend who has blockded you.
Your friend does not have to add themto their list either. So many
people think that. When you click on add to conversation, or something
like that, at the top there are two tab tyoe buttons. click on the
second one and just enter their email address and there you go. If
your friend gets a msg that you WILL NOT see saying that they are not
added to the conversation, you know they are offline.. Make sure its a
friend that doesnt have that other person on their list too.. "
There is much discussion about these techniques on that message
thread, so do have a look at it.
There is a site that has dedicated itself to "messing around" with MSN
messenger - it keeps you up to date with all the news, new versions,
add-ons, skins, etc. Take a look - it will be invaluable to you:
"Mess with Messenger"
http://www.mess.be/
The specific utility that you are looking for is located at this site
- several applications will be of use to you. Here are some that I
think will help you. You can find these programs by clicking the
"search files" link at the top of the homepage, and searching with
"block", then clicking on the links to these programs.
(I do realise that this may be difficult considering that you are
using a Mac, but there are some utilities that may work on a Mac.
Also, the program "Virtual PC" for the Mac allows you to run PC
software on the Mac, if you are not already familiar with it. Here is
its homepage: http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc5m.html)
"REAL STATUS VIEWER"
"Just enter the MSN Messenger account you want to scan and use the
default OR one of your extra hotmail accounts. You might just find out
if this person has blocked you!
Features:
* View the real status of a person (Offline/Online)
* Information Messagebox when someone has blocked you and opend your
window. [Classic]
* Settings now has a Check On User Leave option, When this is checked
and an user goes offline it will automaticly check if the user just
blocked you, if so, it will give you a Messagebox telling you who just
blocked you!
* Messagebox will be shown Always on top, this way you don't have to
have the program selected to view the messagebox (Thanks to FuriouS)"
"BLOCK BUSTER"
"This add-on will detect if someone who has blocked you opens a
conversation window with you anyways. Again, this is not 100% proof,
but it helps."
"if you suspect somebody of blocking you, pick a nickname you think
will catch his/her attention (eg. "double-click me please!!"). Log in
and out 2 or 3 times to improve your chances of getting noticed. Now,
should the blocker double-click your name, you'll get an alert through
Block Buster (it doesn't work if they just right-click your nick)."
"BLOCK BUDDY"
"This spy tool uses the greyed out phone trick to detect if you are
blocked. It saves this information so that when someones phone number
disappears it tells you. Not a 100% proof, but it's worth a try. By
the way: source included, so feel free to make an improved version of
Block Buddy yourself (and send it to mess.be)"
"ARCANCE LIGHT MESSENGER TOOLS"
"nickname tricks, contact list manager, alert boxes, annoying tricks,
emoticon picture designer, special messages, color changer, msn
messenger tweaking, various protection and detection tools, background
changer, mass messaging and file sending, anonymous e-mailer,
extensive logger, integrated real status viewer (find out who blocked
you!), voting system, remote control, hotmail account creator, etc.
Click here for a complete list of all the features."
(The "Click Here" link leads to
http://mess.be/click.php?url=http://arcanelight.msnfanatic.com/features.html)
Screen shot = http://arcanelight.msnfanatic.com/main.jpg
Homepage = http://arcanelight.msnfanatic.com/
Now here is a FAQ from www.mess.be that I'm SURE will interest you:
"Q. Can I become Unblockable?
A. Thanks to Evil Karma's discovery, you can!
1) Download Heavy_K's Nick Changer from our MSN Add-ons & Bots
section.
2) Use it to change your nickname to &#xxx; (select and copy this text
string).
3) Now beg someone to block you, because obviously you're way too
popular to get blocked unasked, and as a result he/she will disappear
from your contact list.
4) Now here's the fun part: you will STILL be able to send this
contact messages (Actions > Send an Instant Message > Other > fill in
the blocker-wannabe's passport).
5) If you don't like his/her status to be offline, you'll both have to
log off and sign in again.
Before you start using or testing the unblockable super power trick:
A bunch of visitors have been reporting problems with getting a
contact back on his/her contact list after blocking him. The &# ; part
of &#xxx; will tell msn that the user has been banned (not blocked),
the user will not appear online until the name of the user has changed
from &#xxx; to something normal, but since msn caches the &#xxx; name
on the server the user will never reapear with the new name, another
thing msn does with the &#xxx; name is that the person will not be
re-addable after you have deleted the person. MSN recognizes it as a
banned name and won't let you show it on any of your lists if you try
to re-add the person, this is also caused by the server cache, because
the old-nickname is still on the server (and not allowed) and since
the server only updates itself if a user is online... so with msn your
stuck in a endless circle....
A) Timothys Monster (comprehensive) solution
1. Remove the contact from your list
2. Let the contact change the name to something normal
3. Re-Ad the contact (contact will not appear)
4. Download Trillian (yes, ouch... www.trillian.cc) and do the
following things on trillian:
5. Log-in with your msn account
6. Remove the user again (will appear blocked)
7. Add the user again
8. Hit unblock at the user
9. Hit block at the user
10. Remove the user
11. Close Trillian and start msn
12. Log in on your account and add the user
13. Unblock the user, and if everythings turns out allright the user
should be back in your list.
The solution works this way, since trillian does not see &#xxx; as a
forbidden name the user will show up on your list, but since the msn
server says the user has been banned you can not normally unblock the
user. And the information cache can not be removed by deleting the
person in trillian. But you can partely remove the user now. And here
comes the trick, if you re-add a user in trillian, trillian will
recache this user so if the user is online the user name will be set
to the new name, or if the user is offline to the log-in name on the
msn server, this means that if you re-login on msn the cache will have
the new name, and you`ve got your user back
B) Heavy_K's fix
NOT for public use! Read more at Heavy_K's (
http://mess.localdispute.com/_scripts/track/odtrack.php3?url=http://users.pandora.be/heavyk/
). A full article on this topic by Heavy_K is available here (
http://users.pandora.be/heavyk/articles/unblockable.htm )."
To find this actual FAQ, click the search FAQS link at the top of the
www.mess.be page, and search "blocked" or "unblockable".
If you need any more information, or need any help with anything
instructions I've given you, please feel free to ask for
clarification.
Thanks for this question!
Cheers,
Bobby_D-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
bobby_d-ga
on
27 Oct 2002 01:48 PST
I am very sorry that my answer did not meet your needs. When I
answered the question I did think that my response legitimately
answered the your question. If there is any way that I can help you
find the results that you are looking for, please post a request for
answer clarification as to what you wish for me to research.
Here are some programs and links that may be of use to you:
MSN Messenger Patch (Unofficial) (for Mac)
"The patch installs the same icons that the PC version has, plus a few
extras. It also makes it so you can have more than 400 letters when
you are typing."
http://www.zdnet.com.au/downloads/mac/swinfo/0,2000036795,9001987,00.htm
I have posted a message at this site for any information on seeing
blocked users with the Mac version.
http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=715&whichpage=2
Here is a quote from another thread from BigBlueBall:
"(1) Go to Start
(2) Run
(3) Type regedit
(4) OK
(5) HKEY_CURRENT_USER
(6) Software
(7) Microsoft
(8) MessengerService
(9) ListCache , and here you will see NET Messenger Service and MSN
Messenger Service. You can choose either one. When you choose, you
will see on the right side Allow, Block, Contact, and Reverse. Allow
is for the buddies that you allow them and you didn’t block them.
Block is for the people who have blocked you, BUT if you have blocked
them too, it’ll be the same, so if you have blocked the person, it’ll
appear the same … Therefore, you shouldn’t have blocked any or at
lease the person you are trying find out it whether he/she has blocked
you or not. And the word Reverse is for the people who have blocked
you and unblocked you later. So, you can find out if this person has
blocked you and then unblocked you. It happens to you too. Meaning, if
you have blocked a person and then unblocked, it will be the same.
Let’s go back to our friends who have blocked us. When you go with
your mouse and then right click, you see modify. By clicking on it,
you open a window with lots of #s that I don’t wanna explain them
here, but you will see the email address up at the corner.
(10) You’ve done "
http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=278
This, of course, is for navigating Windows Registry Keys. If there is
any equivalent for the Mac, and you know how to navigate it, you could
do the same. I will continue to research these two points.
Thank you for your patience, and again, I apologise for not meeting
your needs. Please do not be disheartened with the services offered
by Google Answers, and, of course, if there is any other way I can
help you, please feel free to ask for clarification.
Good luck,
bobby_d-ga
|
