I would like to see the addition of a listing of who is online at any given point with the option to disable online status in one’s profile. Most of my old message boards used to do this at the bottom of the main page. It’s just handy to know if one is likely to get a prompt response to a post or it will be later on once they come back to site.
Not sure if it would make much difference with differing time zones and a multinational membership. I’m happy to leave a reply and have people respond whenever it’s convenient.
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It doesn’t make a difference as much as it let’s a user know if someone else is online. Most of my posts are after bedtime in the UK given I am GMT-5 but there are a few night owls involved. IMO… it would just be nice to know who is online at any given time providing they allowed to share that info.
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It seems stalkerish to me.
It may also encourage some members to try to engage on one to one for example…and there are some who like to read but don’t participate who want to stay in the background.
I for one would disable that feature if it became available.
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If someone replies straight away i know they’re online, if not i assume not.
From my experience on here, and my own habits i think most people dip in and out during the day in between work and life etc. So one minute they may be online and the next not. So a feature indicating who’s online would likely be pointless.
Have been on various other forums over the years mostly music related and none had any indication of who was currently browsing and it never bothered me.
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stalkerish… good word I had to look up. Not talking about calling anyone out but if logged in with an open profile and… why not show online status?!
I personally don’t need to know who is online when I am. Not a feature that would be important or useful for me.
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I wonder if it could lead to people expecting a response if they see someone/people online, and potentially feelings of resentment if they don’t get any interaction. Especially if others do.
I stay logged in here on my phone 24/7, it’s one of many tabs I have open, so it may look like I’m online, when I’m actually not on the site and haven’t been/won’t be for a couple of hours.
I personally don’t think it would add anything 
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What I have found is a who’s online feature indicates how active the message board is at any given time. Those concerned about privacy can simply disable the option.
Exactly! I often have a quick glance at work or just as i’m about to leave. I may drop a one word answer in a game, but i won’t be writing a muli-paragraph reply if i’m just about to leave. So someone might see i was online, but suddenly not, then wonder why i didn’t respond. Also i think the amount of people responing and the time they respond which we already have, gives ample idea of how busy the forum is at any given time. Obviously it doesn’t give an indication of people content to just browse, but they just browsing cos they don’t want to participate.
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And if members have the option disabled then it wouldn’t give a true reading of who’s on line anyhow…
Why do we “need” to know how busy the message board is?
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Perhaps it would be better to explore a more inclusive and vibrant ‘lounge’ space. Rather than imposing an ‘online’ setting across all of the forums, finding a way for people to interact in real time in ‘the lounge’ thread could be the way to go.
Maybe people self check in with their local time and broad location is enough to indicate “walking through the door to the lounge” and doesn’t breach forum rules by being a one-on-one chat space. It keeps all real time conversations in one place and easy to moderate.
It would enable people to check in on threads but not be in the lounge specifically on their devices.
Only Brenna and Lovehoney do really i guess.
Yes many sites do have this but that’s with forums that allow private messages, If it was activated here it would encourage one on one chatting.
They could activate it so you just have the stats of how many people are online but that could encourage one on one if there was only a few people and you were seeking someone out.
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Yeah… i don’t think we need to track and display user data
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That is a valid point @teacake
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Profile’s that aren’t private already have a ‘Last seen’ section on them under the other stats (I’ve popped a screenshot of mine below to demonstrate).
I don’t think an additional online notifcation system is entirely necessary, and I especially agree with @teacake’s point regarding it potentially encouraging 1-on-1.
People will reply when (and if) they wish. Hounding them because they appear to be online but not answering something would only seek to push them away from the forum, and potentially cause further issues.
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