# List o' members? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 15, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332 "2000-09-15T18:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/1 "2000-09-15T18:14:22Z")
_blink_ Hey! New feature! I’ll admit looking at who’s online is kinda amusing, though. I know vB has a PM feature…any chance of us getting that here? ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/2 "2000-09-15T18:15:48Z")
Now it only shows the number of users online. ---
**Author:** ![Bilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@Bilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/3 "2000-09-15T18:18:56Z")
Was turned on right at the start and instantly turned off. One guy got a list of names off it and some stats, but I forget the name of the thread. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/4 "2000-09-15T18:22:26Z")
That was the members list feature. The feature Falcon is talking about is the info displayed in a blue bar at the bottom of the SDMB main page. Right now it says: Currently Active Users: There are currently 123 member(s) and 45 guest(s) on the boards. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/5 "2000-09-15T18:35:58Z")
How 'zactly does this feature work? How do you define “on the boards”? I mean, if I access the board first thing in the morning, I assume I’m counted as “on” for some length of time, but when do I drop off? After the download is complete (in which case I’d be on-off-on-off-on-off as I skip from thread to thread)? After a fixed length of time? After a fixed length of time without re-accessing? Only when I log out (which I don’t, at all)? How about if I have two browser windows open? Seems like an interesting feature, but, lacking any real understanding of Internet data-dowloadin’ protocol, I’m curious about how the Active Users numbers are obtained. And does a 2:5 ratio of guests to members seem high to anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/6 "2000-09-16T01:18:28Z")
Actually, I think that the guest/member ratio seems reasonable, for a couple of reasons. First, the majority of our posters are actually just flybys who post a handful of times to a single thread, and many of them lurked (unregistered) before and/or after posting. Secondly, a registered poster will also show up as a guest if not logged in. This could be the case if they’re not using their usual computer, for instance, or if they routinely log out, and don’t log back on until they post again (a likely MO, for instance, for multi-poster families). ---
**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:** [September 16, 2000, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/7 "2000-09-16T18:06:14Z")
Aw hell, that’s supposed to be turned off. While we’d love to be in an environment where we could allow all those features, in the interests of system and personal security it’s just not feasible. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, must have gotten accidentally turned back on in the maintenance work done in the past couple of days. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![AM\_PM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AM\_PM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AM_PM)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/8 "2000-09-17T15:55:54Z")
You’re right that the list of members feature is always misleading. People log on and then go to another site and are still listed. It’s misleading at best, and usually just a worthless feature. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-o-members/33332/9 "2000-09-17T23:19:03Z")
I like the PM feature. It’s too bad we have processing time concerns here on the Dope. It would be cool. I could say, email **Falcon** with some trivial info and she could respond with an epic poem about my greatness. 😉 One thing about guest/member ratio: I belong to a vB board with this feature enabled and when I signed on without cookies I still appeared in the members online. I’m not sure if that is significant.