# How many users logged in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052 "2003-08-09T17:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/1 "2003-08-09T17:21:01Z")
I’m curious. How many users are logged in to this board at any give time? Is there a way to check this? I have seen other boards that will say “There are XXXX members currently logged in”. Are any such options available here? ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/2 "2003-08-09T17:32:20Z")
[FAQ - technical issues - please read this BEFORE posting a question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103503), a sticky in ATMB. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried_ > Q: Why can’t I do (some vBulletin action)? > A: We have disabled the following features at our message board. Some were disabled because they were abused in the past; some because we thought the usage might become abused in the future; some to protect the privacy of our members; some due to site speed considerations; and some for other reasons. Below is a list of disabled features: > > [ul] > [li] \[/li] [li] viewing who’s online, and IP addresses[/li] [li] \[/li] [li] displaying logged in users[/li] [li] show users browsing fora[/li] [li] \[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/3 "2003-08-09T17:33:16Z")
There is a way to know, but you have to be a moderator/administrator to see it. It’s discussed [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199456) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/4 "2003-08-09T17:34:13Z")
If so, the number shown would be low. There’s an option available to keep the fact that you’re online from being seen by others. Whether that option has an effect on such messages as yours being accurate, I can’t say. But if you tried to verify the message by counting users replying to messages, you’s still get a low number because of lurkers. Also, the message would probably be changing every minute or so because of people coming and going and because the hamsters would try to keep it a secret. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/5 "2003-08-09T18:04:54Z")
I wasn’t talking about seeing WHO is logged in, just how many. It would be useful as after awhile you could get a feel for how many users on average the server could comfortably support and if there were too many users on, just come back later. However, if the board categories page takes 4 minutes to load I guess I already have an indication… ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-users-logged-in/194052/6 "2003-08-09T18:35:55Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by SkyBum_ > I wasn’t talking about seeing WHO is logged in, just how many. It would be useful as after awhile you could get a feel for how many users on average the server could comfortably support and if there were too many users on, just come back later. > > However, if the board categories page takes 4 minutes to load I guess I already have an indication… **samclem** suggests that the board’s slowness has a [different cause](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=3739040#post3739040). > [@](#): > > I think I’m correct in that it’s not how many people are on line at a given moment. Rather it’s a function of how many people are _doing a search_(and how extensive the search is) that bogs down the boards. > > This does NOT include searching the archive of Cecil’s and the Staff’s columns from the home page. > > If there were no search engine for the SDMB, then it could probably handle more people than ever use it at its peak. It’s the search engine. Of course, the usage of the search engine is correlated, to some degree, with the number of logged in users, so your suggestion of an average number of logged in users that the board can comfortably support might have some merit.