member online, but not visible

[thelonelylife]

is it somehow possible for a forum member to be online, as in...actively viewing the forum, but somehow not show up in the who's online list? (to an administrator) i don't mean, be invisible with the asterisk, i mean, totally not show up? but when you click on their profile you see their last visit as the current time or whatever?

[Joshua Mayer]

As far as I know, this isn't possible. I'm not completely sure what could cause this, but possibly the Last Online isn't updating instantly?

[Sajuuk]

This is completely impossible. You can't make a member not show up to anyone when he/she is online.

[thelonelylife]

ok, here is why i ask.

i had a new member register yesterday. i noticed and clicked on the link to this member's name. it said the "last visit" time was basically the current time. but this same member was not listed in "who's online".

so, i went into admincp to see which usergroup this member was in. i thought maybe it was a case of members awaiting activation don't show up in the list. but he was listed as a regular member just like everybody else. so that wasn't the cause.

anyway, as the night wore on, i would periodically click on his name and each time that i did, it showed the exact current time for "last visit". i mean, each time, without fail.

now, correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't a member's "last visit" status in his or her profile only update when they click on a link or view a page on your forum? if that is the case, how could a member be recently on the forum, viewing pages, and not show up in the "who's online" list?

btw, my "who's online" is set to show members active over the last 60 minutes.

i have a couple of theories.

first, is that the "last visit" isn't updated by a member clicking on things, that it actually is based on whether or not they have a browser window open with your forum up? that could explain showing the last visit as the current time, but not showing up in the who's online list because they haven't clicked or refreshed in over 60 minutes.

second, maybe it has something to do with this member's browser settings?

idk. it was odd enough to catch my attention. because every other time i see that a member's "last visit" was within 60 minutes, that same member always seems to appear in the "who's online" list as well.......

[Matt]

URL so we can see it ourselves??

[thelonelylife]

URL so we can see it ourselves??

sure matt. it'd be great if somebody has the time to see if they can recreate this.

the URL is http://www.thelonelylife.com/

i tried to be very specific with my explanation in the previous posts so that it was clear what was happening.

[Matt]

Is it just a specific member this happens to?? Can't seem to see it happening on any users I looked at.

[thelonelylife]

yes, just this one guy. it's totally weird.

there was a point where i got so curious that i would click on his name every minute or two (not all night long or anything, lol)

and everytime i would it would show Last Visit as exact time! but he would NOT show up in the who's online list.

yep, just one guy.

at first i thought maybe he was just logging in and out or having some sort of cookie issue. then i realized no one could be logging in and out every minute.

[Matt]

Which user is it...??

[thelonelylife]

Which user is it...??

can i pm it to you?

i don't want to violate a member's privacy by posting his name on another forum.