When am I "NOT" online?

[ChrisGreaves]

I see often enough that I am online, especially when I am online to Eileen's lounge.

Untitled.png

As I understand, I should see this display if
I am awake
and The laptop is powered on
and The laptop is connected to the internet
and I have loaded Eileen's Lounge in my browser
and I have logged in/on to Eileen's Lounge
which is my status as I type this.
No doubt about it - I am logged on!

But what can trigger my status to change to NOT logged on.
If I topple from the chair and breathe no more, I am dead, I am not awake, but I am still logged on, from EL's point of view.
If I walk into the kitchen to refill my mug, I am still logged on.

If I quit the browser, then immediately reload it and visit EL, do I remain logged on? Or was the death of the browser a signal to EL that I am NOT logged on, but reloading the browser and revisiting EL automatically made me logged on because I have checked ON such a switch in my preferences?

If I restart the laptop, then immediately reload the browser and visit EL, do I remain logged on? Or was the death of the browser a signal to EL that I am NOT logged on, but reloading the browser and revisiting EL automatically made me logged on because I have checked ON such a switch in my preferences?

I don't think that I am perpetually online on account of me checking ON that switch.

I could post this, leave the laptop on tonight with the browser in EL and see what my status is in the morning, but even if EL had logged me off through my inactivity, how would I see that without refreshing the browser, thereby signalling to EL that I am, once more, online?

Thanks
Chris

[Leif]

I think that if you do not navigate within the lounge for 10 minutes, you are no longer listed as being "online". (Doesn't it say so in the 'Who's Online' screen?)

In other words, I probably no longer appeared online by the time I finished reading your post...

[Argus]

In other words, I probably no longer appeared online by the time I finished reading your post...

Chris, another reason than what Leif mentioned is when people start typing a reply and it takes more than 10 minutes; from the outside they seem to have left the place, but then suddenly they are back, and with a new post. Happens all the time.

[John Gray]

Chris - whether you are online or not, you are always in our hearts!
© 2021, Smarm Inc.

[ChrisGreaves]

I think that if you do not navigate within the lounge for 10 minutes, you are no longer listed as being "online". (Doesn't it say so in the 'Who's Online' screen?)

"based on users active over the past 5 minute"
Ah yes, Leif. Thank you. There is a smiley for that:

In other words, I probably no longer appeared online by the time I finished reading your post...

Ha hah.
Coming soon to a forum near you: "what does 'active' mean in EL?" If I spend five minutes typing with one finger of my right hand, is that five minutes of activity, or does 'activity' means changing a page (new tab, using Refresh etc)?

Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

Typing does not count as activity, since the Lounge does not monitor keystrokes.

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris, another reason than what Leif mentioned is when people start typing a reply and it takes more than 10 minutes; from the outside they seem to have left the place, but then suddenly they are back, and with a new post. Happens all the time.

Thanks Argus.
I have seen this often enough when I spend half an hour trying to trim a reply down so that Leif can get through it within five minutes , but I had always assumed that the message (?? "someone has made a new post; thought you'd like to know before you hit Submit") came about only because a new post had arrived since the instant I clicked Reply. That is, it was not because I had exceed the five-minute time parameter for in'activity'. It was just that (at least) one more reply had been submitted in ther interval since I clicked reply.

[later]But does an update to an earlier post, such as I am making now, qualify as a new post? I think it ought; it is, after all "new material since you started your reply", is it not?

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris - whether you are online or not, you are always in our hearts!
© 2021, Smarm Inc.

Ah Good and Faithful John!
Even 'though I might have lost Ken, I still have you!
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Typing does not count as activity, since the Lounge does not monitor keystrokes.

Hmmm.
So if I start typing now and press one key per second for five minutes, after my 300th keystroke, EL will declare me "not active" and therefore I will be removed from that "Who is online box", and I will obviously remain logged in (because I have checked that box ON), and am obviously online (because I can continue typing and word-wrap occurs every 80 or so characters), but the instant I choose "Preview", my name re-appears in the "Who is online" box.

This would be confusing to a FlatLander because it would appear that ChrisGreaves was hopping in and out of existence for no apparent reason.
And of course there would be no way for ChrisGreaves to verify this, because the act of switching away from the typing box would render him active again.

Even if ChrisGreaves used a smartphone to check status he would, by definition, be online by virtue of the smartphone.

Also, opening a new tab in the middle of a response and taking more than five minutes to hunt for a good reference to "FlatLander" renders me persona non grata for that 'who is online box', right?
[later] There is a difference between "being online" and "being mentioned in the 'Who Is Online' box".
Cheers
Chris

[GeoffW]

This is like the question of whether the fridge light goes out when the door closes.

"Yes, the light does go out. Please let me out!"

[Argus]

Typing does not count as activity, since the Lounge does not monitor keystrokes.

Hmmm.
So if I start typing now and press one key per second for five minutes, after my 300th keystroke, EL will declare me "not active" and therefore I will be removed from that "Who is online box" ...

As I said.

Do we need a refrigerator smiley?
(Too late ...)

[ChrisGreaves]

This is like the question of whether the fridge light goes out when the door closes.
"Yes, the light does go out. Please let me out!"

Hi Geoff; yes indeed, and that was when I realized that "There is a difference between "being online" and "being mentioned in the 'Who Is Online' box"
I was confused with the word "online"; it would make more sense if the box were "Who is active right now", or even "who has not changed their focus in the Lounge for the past five minutes".
Strictly speaking "who has done something other than typing in a response box over the past five minutes".

But then I'd be asking what that meant

[later] The more I think about it, the less sense it makes to me to see my own name in the "Who is online" box since, by definition, I must be "online/active" in order to see my name in that box.
And yes, I understand that eliminating the equivalent of %User% from the box contents is not worth the cost of the electrons.

Cheers
Chris