# Colored dot next to poster's user name **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 19, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851 "2009-12-19T09:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/1 "2009-12-19T09:23:10Z")
What is the significance of the color of the dot appearing next to the poster’s name within a post? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/2 "2009-12-19T09:27:47Z")
I think this has been covered before, but I’m too lazy to look it up. It’s your online status. Green means you’re online, blue-gray means off line. Red means you’re invisible, but only you and the mods see that. Everyone else sees the blue one. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/3 "2009-12-19T09:43:45Z")
Yeah, I asked this very same question before and got the very same answer. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/4 "2009-12-19T09:52:43Z")
“African-American” dot, please. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/5 "2009-12-19T12:42:57Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > “African-American” dot, please. Sub-continent Indian. Please.😃 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/6 "2009-12-19T15:39:52Z")
This has now come up often enough that I’ve added it to the [Beginner’s Guide to Glossary of Terms](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320298), so we can just reference it in future. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/7 "2009-12-19T16:10:48Z")
If I do a mouseover of the button, it tells me that the person is either on or off-line, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/8 "2009-12-19T22:01:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I think this has been covered before, but I’m too lazy to look it up. > > It’s your online status. Green means you’re online, blue-gray means off line. Red means you’re invisible, but only you and the mods see that. Everyone else sees the blue one. A subtle but important clarification. The user may in fact be online but not signed in to the SDMB. The green light only indicates a user who is signed in, and not whether the user is online or reading the Dope. I have a one button clean-up that clears cookies, passwords, and internet clutter that I hit a couple time a day, because some web sites (not the SDMB) add so much crap and cookies that it will slow things down. So I might be reading for hours, but usually will not sign in until I have something to say. Hitting clean-up button, but I am still here. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/9 "2009-12-19T22:54:24Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > A subtle but important clarification. > > The user may in fact be online but not signed in to the SDMB. The green light only indicates a user who is signed in, and not whether the user is online or reading the Dope. Good point. I’ll also mention that, if you don’t sign out, but stop clicking anything (like thread links), your status will remain “online” for 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/10 "2009-12-20T03:17:11Z")
Also, when you hover your mouse over it, it will tell you what it is. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/11 "2009-12-20T07:20:32Z")
It also works like a peephole eyepiece on a door. If you get close up to it, and look in with one eye, you’ll see the user on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-dot-next-to-posters-user-name/521851/12 "2009-12-20T07:38:32Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > It also works like a peephole eyepiece on a door. If you get close up to it, and look in with one eye, you’ll see the user on the other side. Be careful. Sometimes they squirt water into your eye. I learnt the hard way. And if you try it in the Pit, it could be other liquids.