Am I, or am I not, online to these forums?

[tomikawaTT]

Several times a day I bring up the Trains.com forums and look around.  I've noticed that my avatar doesn't always come up in the "Users Online" block.  In fact, my bedtime lookaround usually includes, "There are no users online."

On the other hand, My 'wooden toy person' avatar and screen name do show up sometimes.

So what's the story.  Does tomikawaTT exist, or am I the invisible man?

Chuck

[selector]

Chuck, I just found your post.  I looked and only two avatars appear at right for those on line.  Mine is not one of them.

[Phoebe Vet]

As I write this, my screen also says there are no users on line.  That, of course, means I am not on line either.

[richhotrain]

It is just one more screwed up aspect of the software.  The Users On Line box often shows no users on line even though they are on line.

It is also possible to change your settings to conceal the fact that you are online.  I know for a fact that some users elect this setting.

It is also possible to change settings so that your activity on the forum cannot be monitored.

All in all, the software is self-defeating in many respects.  

Fortunately, if you are somewhat expert at navigating the forums, you can at least read and reply to threads.

Meanwhile, each new update to the forum software results in the forums being less and less user friendly.

Rich

[Paul of Covington]

   About four hours ago when I saw this, I checked and I was the only user on line.   Now, there are two users on line, and I'm not one of them.   Must be some kind of random pick generating program.

[NorthWest]

This site has tracking cookies so you don't need to log in every time...and yet they can't program the software to display the avatar of those cookies which are presently on the site. Strange, but not the first weird thing that has happened on these forums. Remember the post count problems?

Posting over here is definitely a strange throwback to my first years here. If we have spell check here, why can't we anywhere else?

[Semper Vaporo]

I wonder if anybody has clicked the link at the bottom of the "Users OnLine" box to see the longer list? That list is usually longer (but not always!) and is often just as confusing as to who is really on-line. I have noted that sometimes I am not in that list either, yet when I close that page to go back to view the original page with the shorter list, then it will show me as present in a completely different list than before. These lists are quite fluid as people come and go and the system seems to be rather slow in updating it. ============== Note: Cookies are not stored on the site, they are stored on the member's computer when they log in. If they log-out the cookie is either deleted or somehow marked as not valid any more. ============== The cookie is used to re-establish the Log-in the next time the user accesses any Trains dot com site, whether it is an immediate click on some link right after logging in, or after the user closes the browser/turns off the computer without logging out and then comes back to start over next week. Each transaction between any Trains dot com site and the user's computer passes that cookie to the site to indicate who is accessing the site and that determines what privileges the user has and what they see and can do on the site. ============== I think that part of the problem is that there are several servers involved in the Trains dot com forums and just one of them is keeping the list of who is logged on to show in that sidebar list, and it doesn't get updated immediately as people come and go. Many people log-in, look around and then go away, but don't necessarily log-out. So are they logged in now or not? How does the system know? ============== The system has a countdown timer that gets reset every time a user accesses a part of the site and if that timer ever gets to zero, then it automatically removes that person from the list of users presently logged in, but it might take a while for that list to actually be updated. The next time that person accesses the system (any site in Trains dot com) that cookie on their system re-establishes the log-in and the user doesn't notice the fact that the system decided they are not one of the present users. If they lose the cookie somehow (some "Computer Cleaner" programs will delete cookies) or if the system decides to not honor it for some reason (like maybe there is a date associated with it that gets updated every transaction and if the last transaction was too long ago then it is not honored) then they have to log-in again. ============== This is all a non-determinate system because of the random timing of what people do. People log-in in the morning (whether intentionally or because they had a valid cookie) and then click on things to catch up on what is happening, then sit and read some postings, or go to another web site to read there, then come back to a Trains dot com site and click on something else. The length of time between actual accesses to the site might be long enough to cause that person to be dropped from the list even though, from the user's viewpoint, they are still logged-in. ============== ============== Sorry about this posting being all one long paragraph... I put double spacing between them! EDIT: I just went back and TRIPPLE spaced the paragraphs! EDIT: That didn't help either, so I added a string of "=" signs between the paragraphs... Remember, Computers are neither smart nor dumb... they are just plain MEAN!

[Paul of Covington]

   Paragraph one.

   Paragraph two.

   Edit:  The computer is nice to me.  (This time, anyway.)    Windows 7,  IE11.

 

[Semper Vaporo]

Paragraph A Paragraph B See if this works... pressed Enter twice between paragraphs Winders 7, IE11 EDIT: Cornpuker HATES me... and the feeling is mutual! :-)

[Paul of Covington]

   Semper, I'm just guessing, but is it possible you have customized some settings?   I know you know a lot more about computers than I do.   I don't know enough to use other than default settings.

[gregc]

when i refreshed the page my avatar appeared

it  appears that when you first go to a forum page, that 1st page is brought up w/o recognizing that you've logged on.   my avatar appeared after refreshing the page or going to another

[Semper Vaporo]

Paul of Covington

   Semper, I'm just guessing, but is it possible you have customized some settings?   I know you know a lot more about computers than I do.   I don't know enough to use other than default settings.

Who, ME? Customize something? I just wish I could remember all the things I have had my pinkies into! But this is the only forum I post to that won't do paragraphs for me. Go fig! hee hee hee! I'll still blame the computer!

[Paul of Covington]

   Ah, the wonders of modern technology!

[Deggesty]

I have my desired font and type size

and paragrabs and spel czech.

I do not know if I am shown as being on line; I do know that I am on line.

[Semper Vaporo]

Just replying since I got a new PC... the old one would not turn on so I bought a new one that came with Windows 8.1 and I got sick of that rather quickly and updated it to Windows 10.

 

I just double-spaced (hit Enter twice) to start this paragraph to see if the new EDGE browser (replacement for Internet Explorer that came with Win 10) will do the paragraphing.

 

We'll see, eh?

 

 

EDIT: Seems to work for me now... and we'll never know why it was silly before.