First thread- I triple-checked for this topic before posting, so if this was already suggested, then I fully deserve the wrath of *insertnamehere*.

I was looking at that 'member count' statistic, which I assume logs the number of IP addresses that have accessed the site, when an idea occurred to me. What about something similar (in addition to the existing one) that displayed the number of IPs currently accessing the site? Since it gets the information already to do the total count, it doesn't seem like a major thing, but I'm no webpage wizard so that's not for me to say. It would be nice to see how many fellow Dollars are on the BBS at any given point in time, though.

Anyone agree?

...It could be possible to implement a counter that clears the count every so often or something, or only retains the IPs of those who have logged in within a timeframe.

It's not the most accurate thing, since not everyone is always on the site, and some people take breaks for days/weeks at a time. Membership is both easy and transient, as well as immutable unless actively breaking ties with the group. But it is a nice idea to have that sort of counter.

After reading my own post, I'll clarify a little bit. The general idea was to show how many people were on the site at that time- kind of like how the chat section has the "X users online!" part, but using the IP instead of the login step. It would change as people entered/exited the site and wouldn't be a tally of "active" members per se. Agreed, it's not intended to be a count of how many people out of that ~65,000 are regularly here- just how many are here right now. But I don't know how exactly that would work.

Oh. Well that works too, though I'll admit I have no idea how that would be implemented. It's a common feature in basic forums though, so I can't imagine it's especially difficult to count oncoming connections and display it as a number every time you refresh.

It would serve as a nice gauge for activity, in any case, but nothing else. The lack of usernames cuts out the feature that forums have, of showing who is online.

I agree though, I wouldn't mind having something like this on the site, just out of curiosity.

After Googling the topic for a few minutes, I found something that appears to be exactly what I'm talking about- tracking visitor activity in semi-realtime without requiring any login stuff- although without knowing how this site operates I'm not sure how useful it is as an example. This example uses PHP and MySQL, whatever that second one is.

http://php.inc.ru/main.php?t=p_active&view=tutorials

Alright, it's oh-dark-thirty now, so I'll get some sleep and come back to this topic soon. Thanks for the feedback, Misuto.

Skimmed the link - It will work at first, but oh god I shudder to think about long term.

MySQL is My Structured Query Language, essentially a coding language for creation of databases that are very commonly used with PHP script. The tutorial given logs individual IP addresses and trip codes as entries in a database - Following me so far?

It keeps count of when they logged in, making each individual IP a row in a table. Initially this table is fairly small, like our member counter was initially. As time passes and more people log in, and the dynamic IPs start kicking in, more and more entries are logged into the Database table that was created.

We have almost 65k unique IP addresses after one year, imagine a database that keeps up with that. Some idiot mentioned earlier that 'bumping' threads makes the site lag, well, he's an idiot. But something like this, I predict would be a good danger of site lag.

Something like that particular tutorial, mind you. The counter itself can be built in multiple ways so as to avoid that particular problem. Most basic forums use accounts systems and just track the account activity, but that's useless to us since we're transparent.

One solution would be to figure out a way to do an automated database flush every X days or so, to reset its size and keep the amount of data it has to sift through to a minimum.

That kind of idea reminds me of another forum I used to frequent that had "nightly scripts" which kicked in every night around 2am - It was essentially a self-automated maintenance and repair for the database that kept the site and forums afloat. We don't really have anything on BBS that requires that kind of silliness, but the idea lends itself to altering a member counter to include a routine flush.

Also, due to the way the site works, it would be either impossible - Or damn difficult - to implement a "X amount of people are viewing this thread" count. Per board may work, but individual threads are complicated as fuck and shouldn't really be considered part of the overarching site at all... For that matter, the boards themselves are all separate entities - Meaning some jury-rigging would be required for a "total members online currently" counter.

tl;dr

Entire Site Counter: Possible
Board Counter: Very doable if we get around the database issue.
Thread Counter: Dear god no, just no.

Yeah, now that you've explained it I see how that SQL could wreck response time, that wouldn't do at all. I'll keep stumbling about the net and see if I can find any that are more server-friendly while still not requiring accounts, and update this if I do.

Would it be possible for the counter to display IPs logged into dollars-bbs.org and all of its branch pages, or do they have to be for a specific board? It'd be a lot easier to deal with one overarching counter as opposed to about a dozen sub-counters.

I have no idea what any of you are talking about, but would it not be possible to get the numbers from the seperate boards n have em add together n show up on the main

I'm too lazy today to get into details today, so...

>>8 Yes.
>>7 Also Yes. Conditionally.

What about this?

I've seen an online users counter thing being used on a lot of people's blogs for example and it links to that site, which does all the hard work for you. But then I really don't know how it would work with boards and such. I just thought bringing it up wouldn't hurt.

Okay, I'm resurrecting this, as I've found a couple of code sources that appear to handle the problem of the database issue- they seem to both automatically remove table entries after a user-specified time of inactivity. I would figure this out myself, but unfortunately two weeks (and counting) of web design classes does not a web designer make. Seems like a worthwhile thing, though, if we can get it figured out.

http://www.shaddeen.com/posts/read/id-1326397267
^This appears to be more in-depth, but it also has some unnecessary functions as well, like displaying IP and page viewed.

http://www.phpeasystep.com/phptu/9.html
^This is simpler, but again I'm not sure how viable it is.

Anyone qualified to weigh in on these?

Sounds like a promising idea. You should take this up with Reltair and see if he can modify the site for the new counter. Be sure to link him to this thread, as well.

The other issue with IP counter is the fact that some people use multiple computers. I use three different computers and my phone to sign on to this site. I don't really know if there's a way to fix that.

Well I am pretty sure all Router use an IP, and that is one that doesn't change. Computer IP can, but not the router you're using.

So if we could find a way to add an IP counter for computers, that are accessing the site (live), plus with the Router IP, it might be possible.

For example: (IP)-(Router IP)
(Different IP)-(Same Router IP as above)

Then it'd be nearly impossible to really trick us.

>>14 It'd only be a novelty feature, no need to go that in depth with it.

>>15
It's actually pretty simple. Not really in depth at all.

>>15

Also how would it be a novelty feature? It would be used to HELP keep banned members off.

>>17 Well, I suppose Reltair could incorporate that into the banning system, but this particular thread is just for an online member counter.

>>17 It wouldn't help with bans at all. It would just tell you how many others are looking at the same page as you.

No, from what I said, it'd tell how many are in the same household. If you ban the Router IP, it bans anyone in that household from coming on here.

I repeat.
>>20 This thread isn't about banning, Thiamor :| While it could be used for banning, that's not what we're talking about.

>>21

It isn't about it, but I'd rather not have to go start a new topic, when the general idea is loosely the same. It'd show the same IP of 1 household, instead of each computer. Then also it'd be easier to keep people banned.

2 lists. Computer IP, and Router.

They ban the router IP now.

+Bump+ over literal shit.