One thing I really admire about wikiHow is how much of a “community” it is. Some of the things that make us a community are, but not limited to, the RC widget, the ability to leave talk page messages, the forums. and IRC. So as an addition to these things, I’d like to suggest a public “Who’s Online?” statistic. The statistic could be in an object with a format such as
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ | **Who's Online?** | | | |• All Users Online: xxxxx | |• Registered Users Online:xxxx | |• Admins Online: xx | |\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_|
This object could go between the “wikiHow in Other Languanges” and the “Things to Do”, or any other place on the page for that matter. The “Registered Users Online” part would have a link to a page that lists the currently online users with accounts, and same for “Admins Online”. In addition to this object, there would be an option users can select when editing their profile box that will make text show up under the “Website:” that would either display green “Online” text when online, or red “Offline” text when offline. This would be useful for people to know who to leave a message for if they need help, or which admin to contact. What are everyone’s thoughts?
Jordan
2
It’s interesting, but I’m not sure how very useful this would be. It seems more of a statistical feature than something for the Community Dashboard. (Just my thoughts.)
The Community Dashboard might be a good place to put the object.
system
4
I like it. When I’m too lazy to pester those in irc, I like to see whose name pops up for help. It’d be useful to always be able to see who’s available. Not sure what the use of noting the anons online, since IP addresses change and many people may share them…it could be hard to get a number on that too. Maybe just “Registered Users” and admins?
@Cece123
there won’t be a list of online anons. As stated above, only the “Registered Users Online” and “Admins Online” parts would have a link to a page that listed them.
Maniac
6
I like the idea…most forums have this feature and it’s pretty handy. Not everyone likes having their name publicly out there that they are online, though, so it would probably be worthwhile to implement an “opt-out” option in the user preferences if someone decided they didn’t want to be listed. This list could also be connected to the Firefox wikiHow toolbar, which identifies the number of users editing wikiHow right now. If you click that button right now, it takes you to recent changes…instead, it could take you to the page that lists exactly who is online.
system
7
We kind of have this already, in a few ways. There is the Recent Changes widget on the home page, which scrolls and shows you who did what, just now. There is also recent changes, which is the most accurate way to see who’s online: http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Recentchanges
On the wikiHow editor’s toolbar, it also tells you how many registered members are online. For example right now it’s 27. When you click on the number it takes you to Recent Changes so you can see who those people are
I like it. As @Maniac
said, it could be on the toolbar!
It is
on the toolbar! Anyway, I think it could have a purpose, if someone needed help with something, they could get immediate help with something.
@JKL1234
@Krystle
@Maniac
What would the people who don’t/can’t have the tool bar?
@Maniac
, please look at this:
This could also apply to the list.
Oliver
12
I’d kinda rather this didn’t happen, because I’m not so interested in people burning down my proverbial door whenever I’m online because they happen to have a question and I happen to be working on something else. If anything does happen, it should definitely be opt-in. I don’t particularly like being hounded about questions I haven’t gotten to yet, and I’m sure it would occur much more frequently if this were implemented.
Aparently the posts above aren’t obvious enough. It is opt-in.
Oliver
14
@WikiRicardo
Could you please not jump straight to insulting my apparent lack of capacity to comprehend information? I did read the posts above, and opt-out is not the same thing as opt-in. Opt-out means that it’s on by default, while it is possible to turn it off, and opt-in means that it is off by default, but one can turn it on. Also, the first mention of the word “opt-in” in this page is in my post. If you’re going to insult me, at least please know what you’re talking about.
That is merely a small technical difference. Please, stop arguing.
@Catspjs01
If you look at the quote above this, @Maniac
was the one who suggested it be opt-out, while I merely directed him to the part where it says it would be optional, and no where did I say opt-out nor opt-in. Whether it would be opt-in or not has not been specified, meaning right now that part of the suggestion is up for discussion. So please next time, don’t say you’d rather not have this happen because of one thing that has not been decided yet, just say that if this were to happen, I suggest it to be opt-in.
Okay, I think opt-in is a good idea. Failing that, there’s always opt-out.
Bor
18
this is kind of stalker… just sayin’
I thought it might be a good idea to have a little widget at the top of everyone’s userpage that would say something like this: Status: Online Location: [[How to tie a tie]] or Status: Online Location: Editing [[How to Live in a Small House]] or Status: Offline
I don’t see any reason to say where they are. It’s not like you could go to [[How to Tell a Lie]] and meet up with them. Just simply “Online” or “Offline” would be fine.
