I can confirm that Empathy does not respect the Gconf setting (apps > empathy > ui > show_offline).
As Luca mentioned on IRC, this change is marked as being released upstream (https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=612448). Whether this function used to work or not is currently unknown, so it could be a regression or it might not be.
I can confirm that Empathy does not respect the Gconf setting (apps > empathy > ui > show_offline).
As Luca mentioned on IRC, this change is marked as being released upstream (https:/ /bugzilla. gnome.org/ show_bug. cgi?id= 612448). Whether this function used to work or not is currently unknown, so it could be a regression or it might not be.