Who's Online?

Meta
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EIGHTEEN PEOPLE NOW. I FEEL WATCHED.

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For the record on mobile when I’m not signed in, I can still see who’s online, not huge deal just thought I’d pass it along.

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Oops - thanks. I’ll change that now.

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Oh good, @near_blind can now take his stalking to the next level and see when Nicolas and Matt are online! This’ll be fun to see how he gets himself a restraining order in two different countries!

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Ok, after a week or so field trial here’s my thoughts on the Who’s Online UI bits:

  • There’s a bug that causes Google to index like crazy on people’s profiles. It’s all public info anyway, but it is not intended and causes some server load when the googlebot comes a-calling (pretty much all the time now).

  • I liked watching the wee circles come and go, but I don’t like the idea of members thinking they are being watched.

  • I don’t think people really found it that useful for seeing who would be in chat.

So, on balance I personally think it is about 51% not so good and removed it. If people want to lurk then I’d rather they be left alone rather than see they are online here. It was kind of neat, but if it even made a single person feel uneasy then it’s not worth it.

I’ll look at extending the ‘chat window’ to see who’s ‘in the room’ or something (like when you open up the loudspeaker thing), as I think that might be a more specific and better change rather than a rogues gallery up top for everyone to see (that’s signed in).

Happy to hear other opinions and ideas on this. Thank you for participating in the Mudspike / Aperture Science trial - try the cake :cake:

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My cake is not moist enough. That said, if the alternative is death- I take the cake. :slight_smile:

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In a close brush with which can only be described as ‘people who work with computers complete ignorance of common-sense human feelings’, I wanted to change the prefix ‘Online (3)’ text to ‘Still Alive (3)’. Luckily my right brain caught that just in time. :slight_smile:

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but now how am I going to know when to start posting :f14: :f111: :a6: If I can’t see when Matt Wagner is online?

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So I’ll put that down as 1 for/against 1 votes to cancel that out then. :slight_smile:

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How about ‘In Testing Chambers (3)’? ‘Doing Science (3)’?

Actually, how fun would it be to have random phrases there?

I’m discussing ideas to change a tool we don’t even have on this site again, aren’t I?

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I liked having it but I’m not going to cause a stink over it being removed if that’s what people prefer.

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I am fine with not having it. Felt a bit weird.

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