The message could not be delivered?

Question

The message could not be delivered?

I keep getting this message when I try to IM my friend, and I see no users in my buddy list...

"The message could not be delivered. Your privacy preferences are set so they prevent you from communicating with this person."

Mu friend is listed as a buddy, and I have "allow all" in my privacy setting. Please help me figure this out 🙂

Mac O.S.16x Snow Leopard, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Snow Leopard

Posted on Mar 28, 2011 9:22 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 29, 2011 12:02 PM in response to MustangFilly77

Hi,

Welcome to the  Discussions

It sounds like the Security settings have got stuck at something else.
Change it to Block Specific People and see if suddenly people appear in the Block List.

Do the same for Allow Specific People (this can happen if you tested your iChat Details in another Mac User Account that you tried Parental Controls on).

Changing this setting (Away for Allow All) should write to the .plist involved.

If nothing appears to change try deleting com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist found in your Home Folder/Library/Preferences (Just drag it to the Trash)
Restart iChat afterwards.

8:02 PM Tuesday; March 29, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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Answer 2

May 19, 2011 2:16 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

I too am getting the same message, and the answer above didn't help for me. I also have "allow all" in my privacy setting.

When I change the security settings to "Block Specific People" there are no names generated in the block list. The same is true when I change to "Allow Specific People."

Deleting the .plist file also did not help when I restarted iChat. Note: The file, com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist didn't exist, so I deleted com.apple.iChat.plist (no AIM in the name) just to try it. Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

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Answer 3

May 20, 2011 2:37 PM in response to stevemacc

Hi,

You obviously have a Screen Name that logs in to AIM (you don't get the Security tab with the others)

This means you must have the com.apple.ichat.AIM.plist You cannot login without it and it wasn't there it gets recreated as you Login.

There are two ways to create this situation.

1) On another Mac or possibly another App you have managed to set the "flags" on the Screen Names at the AIM Servers to be Blocked (Or Not allowed)

This does mean you are using the same Screen Name.

If for instance in that other App or computer you deleted the whole Buddy List then it would no longer exist.

Then for any Buddy that requires that you are in their Buddy List or are one of their Allowed Buddies will not be "On Line" to you as you will not appear as On line to them (it is sort of reciprocal)

There can be issues if the Buddy is not allowing you. In these cases they may be On line but either Blocking or Not Allowing you (including removing you from their Buddy List).

This means they will not appear in your Buddy List but at the same time you will not get an message about them Not Accepting Off Line IMs as the AIM Servers will know they are Not Off Line

2) The second I partially mentioned before.

Creating a Test Mac User Account in System Preferences > Accounts (Or using another account that is already set up) then entering your current iChat detail in to the iChat app there - AND then setting Parental Controls to be ON and setting the iChat Limits Blocks all your Buddies until you add some to the allow List in Parental Controls

So... I have such a Test account on my Mac.

I have it as a Non Admin Account so I can turn On Parental Controls if I want.

It is set up with my main account details from iChat (I can use the same screen Name whichever account I have logged on to the Mac with)

Now If I turn On Parental Controls and the iChat and Mail Limits - then - at this point all my Buddies are Blocked (Flagged at the AIM servers as if I had set Block All in iChat).

If I then use Fast User Switching and Open iChat in my normal Mac Login the Buddies will appear in the Block list there.

It seems as soon as you add one Buddy to be allowed under Parental Controls they appear in the Allow Specific People List in iChat.

It is because your Buddy List as Screen Names is held at the AIM Servers
The various options of Allowing, Blocking and the sort of partial that Invisible creates can cause some strangeness when combined with Parental Controls.

3)

Separate from that are quirks that happen when the various AIM servers go out of Sync

If this does not resolve itself in a day a two that is the time to delete the com.apple.ichat.AIM.plist

10:37 PM Friday; May 20, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

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