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Question: Who's Viewing?

Kura

Kura

twitter.com/puccarts
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    So I know with the whole DB errors, the who's viewing thing at the bottom of pages/ threads was taken out.

    I was just wondering if there were any plans to have it implemented back onto PC in the (possibly near) future, or if it looked like it would be permanently gone for now?
     
    From what I know it was removed so that it wouldn't further stress the server, and it's unlikely that we'll switch servers anytime soon. D: If we do, then yeah, it'd probably re-appear. If not.. there's not too high of a chance - at least I wouldn't think so, could be wrong. Right now it's only viewable to staff, and that's only because it's helpful to us in some situations.
     
    The thing I find odd about this is that user activity is still tracked.
    Like with myself:
    Last Activity: Today 12:57 PM
    Current Activity: Viewing User Profile Drew

    So how is it stressful on the server to display this apparently already-processed information in forums?

    Drew said:
    Right now it's only viewable to staff, and that's only because it's helpful to us in some situations.
    Click to expand...
    What might those situations be?
     
    Last edited:
    Cassino said:
    The thing I find odd about this is that user activity is still tracked.
    Like with myself:
    Last Activity: Today 12:57 PM
    Current Activity: Viewing User Profile Drew

    So how is it stressful on the server to display this apparently already-processed information in forums?


    What might those situations be?
    Click to expand...

    It's a much bigger strain on the server than our profile keeping up with our viewing history.
    Think of it like a chat room; It has to constantly refresh in order to keep up with who's currently online in that thread, and who isn't in the thread anymore.

    There could be multiple people going in and out of sections at any point and time, whereas your profile just keeps up with your most recent click. That could stress the server if it gets too busy.

    Yeah, it's a cool feature, but i'd much rather take less downtime over seeing who's currently viewing a thread.
     
    Last edited:
    It does reduce overhead to not display who's viewing a thread to just anyone.

    Additionally, I think it is a win for Privacy so to speak...people don't need to see who is viewing the thread with them...staff members are the only ones who have a need to see that. If you must stalk someone, watch their profile. XD
     
    Yeah, when I checked the forums and the threads... I noticed that the "Who's Viewing" no longer appears. At first I was thinking "something's odd... didn't PC used to have a list of who's viewing the thread and such?", and until I saw this thread... it gave me the reason why they're missing.

    Just be greatful that we're not like SPPf (not to be mean or anything)... because they have the "Who's Online?" thingy at the index taken out, probably to reduce lagging on that forum maybe. I hope PC doesn't go in the same direction with their "Who's Online?" thingy. D:
     
    it cuts out a few unneeded sql queries.. any unneeded ones that we reduce gives that many more to real use like reading threads, logging in and posting/editing.
     
    Rukario said:
    it cuts out a few unneeded sql queries.. any unneeded ones that we reduce gives that many more to real use like reading threads, logging in and posting/editing.
    Click to expand...

    When you put it like that... XD

    I am not to bothered about the 'who's viewing' not coming back. It is more of a luxury that we can deal without I think.

    I would have thought they would be permanently gone, since there hasn't been a word said about them since they went down.
     
    Have we ever removed a feature for server-stressing reasons and brought it back, with success? Drew's response made me curious.
     
    The only time I've found it useful is when updating my game, then obsessively seeing if anyone is viewing it xD
    It isn't really a necessary feature.
     
    I just enjoy it because of it's convenience. If I can see that there's someone viewing the thread then it's easier to talk to them.
    @_@ Otherwise.. good luck trying to talk to someone who's idle or not even there anymore.
    :/ And I'm not going to continue refreshing a "who's online" page just to see if someone happens to be on the same page I'm on.. >_> Because then I won't even be on that page, I'll be on the "who's Online" page.. so it defeats the purpose of it.
     
    Kura said:
    I was wondering the same thing.. hahahah!
    Click to expand...

    In general, it's nice to be able to see who's viewing your forum in case some sort of situation arises. If there are a few members getting into some sort of argument, you can see if they're still viewing whichever thread it's in and deal with the situation right then and there instead of waiting to see if they reply again.

    That's just one case, but I'm sure other mods would agree that it's a helpful feature if you're on staff. I realize that most regular members really miss this feature. I remember when it was gone for everyone, including staff, for however long that was, and yeah I missed it too. But hey, I'm sure we'd all rather have a steady database instead of a feature that may crash the forums. Then you wouldn't be about to see if anyone was doing anything :(
     
    The only reason it's on for staff is because we kept having issues with staff closing threads at the same time because we couldn't see if any other staff were viewing it. So instead of closing a thread, it would be closed and then opened immediately and no one would notice until it got like 10 more replies. ~_~ It happened enough times that we turned it back on for staff to avoid that, since most of us will quickly check if anyone else is viewing the thread (and thus likely dealing with it) before we do anything. Same goes for, like Aura said, arguments and any other issue, really. If someone else with jurisdiction in the forum is already viewing the thread, chances are they're dealing with it so it makes no sense to do it twice and seeing who's in the thread lets us see that.

    I know it's annoying not to have it but Steve says it really, really did make a difference to keep turned off so until we have a better server, it sadly won't be coming back.
     
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