Is there a way to disable notifications from a particular person in google hangouts and not be invisible?

Question

I'm using Windows 7 Running Chrome 38.0.2125.111 m, Google Hangouts plugin 2014.910.433.1.

I'm experiencing the behaviour whereby if I disable notifications for a particular person, it makes me invisible to them.

I'd prefer this to not happen. (At face value it seems like odd behaviour but on reflection it seems in line with the rest of the design decisions that have gone into the product). Is there a way to disable it from happening?

edit: I'm trying to disable notifications by unticking the 'Notifications' checkbox in this option for that user:

Answer 1

It sounds like you mean to mute a single conversation but instead have blocked a particular person. Blocking is explained here and has repercussions like you describe:

When you block someone, we won't proactively notify them (unless you block them from within a video call). But since blocking someone limits the interactions that person can have with you, the person may figure out that you've blocked them.

Since you're talking about the chrome extension, you really have one (native) choice: you can mute notifications for a given amount of time under the gear. The options look like this:

If you want to mute just a single person or a thread of people, it seems you really can't. You can only uncheck the box for Notifications so it doesn't pop up.