The message board offers the feature of showing who is online. We have had this turned off, but the moderators could access the list and I always enjoyed knowing who was posting at the same time as me. Sometimes I would email people because I saw they were online.

I also liked to see the number of members vs. not logged in visitors on the site.

With the new release of the software, the moderators can no longer see the Online Now list unless everyone sees it. I would like to make this list public. It will display at the bottom of the main forums page and show everyone who has posted with the last 30 minutes.

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SEEN TO BE ONLINE, you can set this in your profile. Click Go > My Space > Preferences and under Profile & Appearance - Online Now Visibility check HIDE ME. Then you will be counted in the number of members online, but your name will not be shown.

Once we implement Chat Rooms, it will be usefull to know who is online. Maybe you want to start a chat about a specific topic and you see a bunch of people are online, so you can announce it and then go to the Chat Room (or at least I think that is how it might work).

I am going to implement the Online Now feature in the next few weeks. I will be doing a mass mailing telling everyone about the new message board format and will mention the Online Now there.

I encourage everyone to let their member names show up proudly in the Online Now, but I can understand if you want to keep "private".

Copied from the EVERYTHING ELSE forum so everyone would see this.