# order of users in the online list?



## Philippa

Hello!
I've been wondering about this for a while.....
On the main page, at the bottom, there is a list of who is online (and visible). It used to be alphabetical. Now it seems random.
Is it in the order that people log on that day? Is it Mike's special secret hierarchy?! 
Just curious.... (although I reckon this is a good test to see if Jana really does know everything about the forums!!  )
Philippa


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## Jana337

Philippa said:
			
		

> Hello!
> I've been wondering about this for a while.....
> On the main page, at the bottom, there is a list of who is online (and visible). It used to be alphabetical. Now it seems random.
> Is it in the order that people log on that day? Is it Mike's special secret hierarchy?!
> Just curious.... (although I reckon this is a good test to see if Jana really does know everything about the forums!!  )
> Philippa


Hate to disappoint you, Philippa - I have no clue.  To me, the list is totally random. I have tested many hypotheses and had to refute all of them. Clearly, there are some patterns. When you refresh and compare the lists, you will see that most names stay in the same neighborhood, but some nicks move forward, some sink a bit, newcomers are randomly distributed... So it must be Mike's special hierarchy because I am always the first. 

There's no correlation with last activity, last post, last login, date of registration, number of posts, forum viewed and many other crazy indicators that crossed my mind.

Many users would like to have the list alphabetically ordered again. Mike was asked to test the server load. If it is negligible or bearable, he will probably arrange it somehow. 

Jana


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## Rayines

> So it must be Mike's special hierarchy because I am always the first.


Oh!, Jana, I HATE TO DISAPPOINT YOU too, because I've discovered that the person who is first is always the user,(in my case, it's me ); But I don't know with regard to the rest!


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## Jana337

Rayines said:
			
		

> Oh!, Jana, I HATE TO DISAPPOINT YOU too, because I've discovered that the person who is first is always the user,(in my case, it's me ); But I don't know with regard to the rest!


Hi Inés,

Glad to return the favor: You reinvented the wheel - have you seen the  in my post? It was there for a reason.   

Jana


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## Rayines

> You reinvented the wheel


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## timpeac

Rayines said:
			
		

> Oh!, Jana, I HATE TO DISAPPOINT YOU too, because I've discovered that the person who is first is always the user,(in my case, it's me ); But I don't know with regard to the rest!


 
Inés - I hate to disappoint _you_ because, in fact the first person in the list is always ME.


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## Philippa

Ah, Jana, you haven't disappointed me at all - because you've clearly been trying so hard to solve it and so that means it must be random and unsolvable!! 
And thanks for the information!


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## cuchuflete

While Mike seeks a solution--if there is one--please note that there is an alternative.  Click on Quick Links, then select the bottom option: Who's Online.   Go to the bottom of the page and change the display number to 100 or 150.  

If you have tabbed browsing available (This is in your browser, not in WordReference) keep this page open in a tab, and press F5 to refresh it/update it.

It's not perfect, but it works, and it's in alphabetical order.


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## Kelly B

You might try my new favorite strategy, which I learned, of course, from Jana. Add the people you usually want to know about to your Buddy List. You do this by clicking on someone's user name to open the Public Profile page, then click on Add xxx to your Buddy list. Then click on Open Buddy List in the Quick Links menu to find out whether the people on your list are online.


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## Bienvenidos

Kelly B said:
			
		

> You might try my new favorite strategy, which I learned, of course, from Jana. Add the people you usually want to know about to your Buddy List. You do this by clicking on someone's user name to open the Public Profile page, then click on Add xxx to your Buddy list. Then click on Open Buddy List in the Quick Links menu to find out whether the people on your list are online.


 
I've noticed that those who are on my buddy list have a "+" next to their name in the ONLINE USERS LIST; it kind of helps the username to stand out a little more, I think.

*Bien*


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## cuchuflete

Mike did some testing this morning.  Putting the members in alphabetical order on the main index page did slow forum performance quite a bit.  The forum software developer warns against doing this for forums with our number of active users.

So...I suggest we get used to the Quick Links options.


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