Chat room difficulty

[rye1945]

I have been trying to get into the chat room. During the login process, it shows me that a number of people are in the chatroom. When I login, I seem to get into the chatroom, but I am always the only one there. Can anyone explain what the problem might be?

Thanks

[Steven Edwards]

HC,

The "Who's Logged On Now" screen isn't always accurate.

-Steven

[Wise Young]

The reason that the names are left on is because people often crash or quit without logging out. When that happens, the name is left on for a while. It eventually does clear after several hours. Wise.

[Jeff]

Actually, I really, really wish people could simply log out and we could capture that event. But we can't. Only when someone goes to a different page or closes the browser entirely do we know they've left chat. That is when the Goodbye window pops up. At that time a person is deleted from the chatter list.

But....logging out without closing the browser window is convenient. It means one can enter chat again without downloading the applet again. They simly need to click the log in button. This can be a significant time savings.

I just had an idea...

What if we allowed users to delete chatters from the list whenever they log in? Like when we launch the chat applet, also launch a window where one can delete any chatter from the list that's not logged in? At that point a user can simply close the window if they like. OTOH, someone who wants to help can compare the chatter list to who is actually in the room and delete anyone on the list who isn't in the room.

I really think an accurate current chatter list will improve use of the chatroom. In that event we could display chatters on the main page.

I think I'll try that solution as it is very low cost. If that doesn't work well, maybe I can finally get a bot to do the job.

~See you at the SCIWire-used-to-be-paralyzed Reunion http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/wavey.gif ~