# Green circle by username... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 6, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253 "2006-11-06T03:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/1 "2006-11-06T03:59:45Z")
… but some not. Why? ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/2 "2006-11-06T04:08:48Z")
It shows who’s on the board when the circle is a brighter green. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/3 "2006-11-06T04:10:33Z")
I’ll echo the response you got when you asked [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7935740#post7935740). The green light indicates the person is surfing the forum. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_McChoakumchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@Dr\_McChoakumchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_McChoakumchild)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/4 "2006-11-06T09:16:34Z")
Just testing my posting ability, nothing to see here. Begone! ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/5 "2006-11-07T16:16:26Z")
NNNI see black and purple spots around my user name.NNN ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/6 "2006-11-07T16:31:24Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] NNNI see black and purple spots around my user name.NNN [/QUOTE] Mark of the Beast. Call Security. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/7 "2006-11-07T17:48:30Z")
[QUOTE=Santos L Halper] The green light indicates the person is surfing the forum. [/QUOTE] Surfing the forum or surfing the board? Say I left Cafe Society and popped over to MPSIMS. Would people in Cafe Society see a dark circle? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/8 "2006-11-07T18:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Surfing the forum or surfing the board? Say I left Cafe Society and popped over to MPSIMS. Would people in Cafe Society see a dark circle? [/QUOTE] No – it’s at the site, not in a particular forum. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/9 "2006-11-07T19:24:09Z")
A slightly more technical answer. The “board” has no real way to know if you have a page of the SDMB currently up on your screen. It only knows the last time you requested a page. After that, you could go on to surf a dozen other sites, or you could leave the same page up for an hour or more. There is a “timeout” value (I think it’s 15 minutes) where the SDMB assumes that if it hasn’t heard from you within that time, you have gone away. So, it is possible that your “green indicator” could be on for a while after you have left, or it’s also possible that if you are spending a lot of time reading a particular thread that your indicator may go out while you’re still here. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-circle-by-username/379253/10 "2006-11-09T00:34:45Z")
Move your mouse pointer over one of the circles, a tooltip comes as follows: _[username] is online/ offline._