How do I turn off offline messages?

[Thornton]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

I don't want to start steam and have x amount of drunken spam, pointless messages, etc.

So how do I turn this function off?

And if I can't turn it off, who's amazingly bright idea was that?

[Antspray]

I agree I really wish I could turn it off.

[HJ|Morthy]

If you are getting messages from your friends that you do not wish to receive you should either tell them so they stop or remove them from your friends list.

[Thornton]

You mean we can't?

Stares at palm.... must resist urge to bring to face rapidly....

How can they do this without thinking this through?

And I don't even have that many people to worry about. But what about people with large followings??? If I woke up and my first 10 minutes of steam was watching a series of windows pop up I'd spit my breakfast on my keyboard in frustration?

And Morthy, we should have the choice. You aren't helping. Infact now I'll add: how about the option to select certain people to block purely when offline? Maybe there are some people I do want to know if they message me offline and some I don't. Maybe I know people who I can tell to shut up when I'm online. What about trolls who wait until I'm offline and spam me with messages? Just having it always on isn't sensible nor desirable for some people. Are ou telling me they shouldn't have ANYONE on their friends list? I don't want my steam bloated with unwanted stuff.

Go and think it through.

[real human beansprout]

The option would be nice. The option is ALWAYS nice. Options should be standard.

[Sang-Drax]

seeing these comments make me think of this http://xkcd.com/1172/

[Leegethas]

Originally posted by MÜN OR BUST!:

seeing these comments make me think of this http://xkcd.com/1172/

Well, this might sound stupid to you, but there are legit reasons to want to start Steam in offline mode, without that annoying popup.

I installed Pinball FX2 on a cabinet and I'm able to start it through the PinballX frontend. But when it starts, it shows this freaking popup, everytime! Since it's a cabinet, I have to fetch a keyboard/mouse, to click on 'start offline'. And even if I managed to do this with the buttons on the pinball cabinet, I just want it to start without this popup, asking me everytime if I really want to start it in offline mode. Every-f*cking-time! I just want it to start Pinball FX2 smooth, without any hassle. Since the cabinet is not connected to internet, I HAVE to start Steam in offline mode. And hooking up a pinball cabinet to the internet, only to get rid of this popup, is just INSANE!

Gabe, are you reading this too? Fix this insanity!