Online Status Indicator - Add different color for invisible users

Isn't the point of invisible users to be considered offline? If there was a different color, couldn't people just tell that they're invisible & counter the whole point of doing it?
 
Isn't the point of invisible users to be considered offline? If there was a different color, couldn't people just tell that they're invisible & counter the whole point of doing it?
Just visible to Administrator ou moderator or usergroup those who have permission.
 
Just visible to Administrator ou moderator or usergroup those who have permission.
I think there should just be one colour to show they are online, whether invisible or not. You just show the online indicator for invisible users to admins and those who have the required permissions. Those without permissions just don't see anything for invisible users.
 
Hm. Not a bad idea. vBulletin did this:
  • Green: Online
  • Orange: Online invisibly -- only the user and staff could see this
  • White: Offline or invisible -- they would just appear offline to those that couldn't bypass privacy
 
Hm. Not a bad idea. vBulletin did this:
  • Green: Online
  • Orange: Online invisibly -- only the user and staff could see this
  • White: Offline or invisible -- they would just appear offline to those that couldn't bypass privacy
Why are multiple colours needed? It seems unnecessary. There is no need to have a different colour for online invisible users - if you have the bypass privacy permission, then it doesn't matter that they are invisible or not, you just need to see that they are online. As for offline, a colour for this is just not needed - the absence of a coloured dot clearly indicates that they are offline.

So my suggestion is:

Online and visible - Green dot
Online and invisible - Green dot to users with bypass privacy set to Allow, nothing for everyone else.
Offline - nothing
 
Why are multiple colours needed? It seems unnecessary. There is no need to have a different colour for online invisible users - if you have the bypass privacy permission, then it doesn't matter that they are invisible or not, you just need to see that they are online. As for offline, a colour for this is just not needed - the absence of a coloured dot clearly indicates that they are offline.

So my suggestion is:

Online and visible - Green dot
Online and invisible - Green dot to users with bypass privacy set to Allow, nothing for everyone else.
Offline - nothing
Good idea but, I think the administrators and moderators should see invisible users.
 
Maybe I don't understand the importance but why would we want to know (or care) if a user wanted to be invisible? I'd rather have zero knowledge of anything that has to do with user privacy.
 
That's exactly what it does.
Brilliant, that's exactly what is needed. :)

@Allan I'm with @Sheldon and @melbo (and going by the likes, several others too) - there is no need to have any distinguishing colour for invisible users. Why do you need to identify from there that they are invisible? You can clearly see who is invisible from the Online Users list. It really isn't relevant to see that they are an invisible user from an online indicator. The online indicator is just that - to show if they are online or not, it's not for anything else.
 
Isn't the point of invisible users to be considered offline? If there was a different color, couldn't people just tell that they're invisible & counter the whole point of doing it?

In a other forum network, the invisible users have an "invisible" icon. So you only know that they have setted the "invisible status", you don't know if they are online or not. Personally i like this choice, with this you know if a users is online, offline or invisible.
 
Brilliant, that's exactly what is needed. :)

@Allan I'm with @Sheldon and @melbo (and going by the likes, several others too) - there is no need to have any distinguishing colour for invisible users. Why do you need to identify from there that they are invisible? You can clearly see who is invisible from the Online Users list. It really isn't relevant to see that they are an invisible user from an online indicator. The online indicator is just that - to show if they are online or not, it's not for anything else.

I'm not for or against the idea but to be fair one could argue why have a color for invisible users on the sidebar list. The online list is just to show if they are online or not :D.
 
I didn't realize this about users in the online list. For consistency, they shouldn't be listed there either. :)
 
I'm not for or against the idea but to be fair one could argue why have a color for invisible users on the sidebar list. The online list is just to show if they are online or not :D.
I didn't realize this about users in the online list. For consistency, they shouldn't be listed there either. :)
It's useful to have the invisible users show in the online list (though you don't have to, you can change that in the style properties) as it give admins/moderators (those with the bypass privacy permissions) a quick overview of who is invisible, plus it's relevant here as the total online is made up of invisible and visible users. It's not really relevant though in the online indicator.
 
It's useful to have the invisible users show in the online list (though you don't have to, you can change that in the style properties) as it give admins/moderators (those with the bypass privacy permissions) a quick overview of who is invisible, plus it's relevant here as the total online is made up of invisible and visible users. It's not really relevant though in the online indicator.

Let's be real though, would it really hurt if admins/mods with access could view some sort of "invisible indicator".

Would it be bloat? No. I usually do an edit to remove the invisible ability anyways but I can't see why it'd be a bad thing to allow a third color for invisible.
 
Let's be real though, would it really hurt if admins/mods with access could view some sort of "invisible indicator".

Would it be bloat? No. I usually do an edit to remove the invisible ability anyways but I can't see why it'd be a bad thing to allow a third color for invisible.
I agree with Russ.
 
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