# How is "Currently Active Users" calculated?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 5, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037 "2001-08-05T21:47:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![onesbureaucratictendency](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/898d66/32.png) [@onesbureaucratictendency](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onesbureaucratictendency)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/1 "2001-08-05T21:47:08Z")

</div>

Currently Active Users: There are currently 79 member(s) and 17 guest(s) on the boards.

Just now I dialed in again, but I hadn’t logged out, because I have cookies. How do you know when I’m gone? Will I be listed as active forever, or is there some kind of timeout involved?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/2 "2001-08-05T23:27:10Z")

</div>

Answered your own question. “Because I have cookies.”

Besides, Cecil knows everything, so you shouldn’t be surprised.

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/3 "2001-08-05T23:31:46Z")

</div>

If you haven’t clicked anything in 5? minutes it doesn’t count you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/4 "2001-08-06T21:40:41Z")

</div>

Yes, it is the last 5 minutes for VBulletin before it stops counting as an active session.

Also, it only counts unique users, rather than numbers of sessions - ie if you have 3 windows open on the SDMB, even if you are clicking in them like Shakespeare’s monkeys on crack, it will still say “There are currently 79 member(s) and 17 guest(s) on the boards” not “There are currently 82 member(s) and 17 guest(s) on the boards”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/5 "2001-08-08T21:42:15Z")

</div>

So are the guests people that are clicking, but not logged in?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-currently-active-users-calculated/75037/6 "2001-08-09T01:16:29Z")

</div>

I guess so, yeah. I think the best definition would be “IP-assignable hits the board detects, but can’t associate with a logged in name”.