Can I appear offline before I sign in?

If you was appearing offline last time you were online then you should appear offline all the time until you change it to appear online in the settings.

Check privacy settings, I believe you can permanently make yourself appear offline.

Before you sign in you can appear offline and once you switch online there is no notification.

Going offline before setting appear offline works. Don't forget that your kinect if you have one can sign you in before doing these settings. I wanted some quiet gaming for myself without feeling guilty not joining others that invite me. And then there was
kinect with its magic 1 second I looked up it signed me in. Lol

Quite simply before you log out, go to home, where it shows your gamer picture, name and gamertag move to that option and push A. Then select my profile, you'll see appear online, change it to appear offline.

Then when you sign out, it will keep you as offline, but also when you sign in next it will still say you're appearing offline until you change it.