XF 2.2 How to show number of hidden users
- Thread starter taydin
- Start date
AndyB
Well-known member
taydin
Member
I want to respect the user's decision to not show up in the list. But I want people to know that there are X number of hidden users. People increasingly choose to remain invisible, and without showing that there are X number of hidden users, the forum looks like a no man's land.
digitalpoint
Well-known member
So I know it doesn't answer the question about how to show them, but is there a real reason to try and show the number? Like have you ever been on a site (take this one for example) and been like, "Man, I wish I knew how many hidden users were doing something on the site right now."
For me, I've actually started to remove the entire "Members online" block because at the end of the day it really doesn't do anything useful and just adds some resource intensive queries to your database (that don't scale well, so it starts doing nasty things if you actually have a ton of users online at once) for every page view.
For me, I've actually started to remove the entire "Members online" block because at the end of the day it really doesn't do anything useful and just adds some resource intensive queries to your database (that don't scale well, so it starts doing nasty things if you actually have a ton of users online at once) for every page view.
digitalpoint
Well-known member
I would yes... if the forum seems like I could get an answer from it. I've never once in my life decided to use (or not use) a site because of how many users it said it had online in that moment. Also, "online now" is subjective... like Facebook could show millions of users that did something in the last second, I've seen sites that count activity in the last 24 hours as "online now", and XenForo does it for the last 15 minutes by default. So unless you are also given the info about what the site considers "now", it's still useless info. I guess everyone is different though, if you actually have decided to not use a site because of how many users it told you were "online now", the easiest thing to do is just fudge the number. Add 100 to whatever it actually is if you think that it's going to somehow make people want to use the site more.
taydin
Member
I wouldn't go as far as having fake users online. But I have set the duration of people appearing online to 60 minues in the forum settings, which is the maximum. I think a forum with many users appearing online will be more appealing, and people are more likely to become a member, because in a technical forum like mine, the biggest motivations to become a member are: getting answers to technical questions, and showing off projects that you have done. Both require an audience.
digitalpoint
Well-known member
Like I said, I've never personally experienced that (where I joined a site because of how many members they had online), but if you actually have (and you aren't just overthinking what "other" users that aren't you would do), then I guess it's a thing. As I mentioned earlier, I tend to just remove the who's online block and I've never had a user complain about it or ask if they could somehow see who's online.
Similar threads
- Solved
- Question
- Question
- Solved
