# How to get the most out of following people



## siares

Hi all,
So far I haven't find any advantages to following - anybody else?
I can go to anybody's content via their profile page, whether I follow them or not. I prefer this to mixed News feed..
I noticed that not all of followed people appear as avatars above the other members in 'members online now'; so I can't even tell that.
Am I missing something?
Thanks


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## mkellogg

There might be other advantages, but if you follow 10 people, you can see what they are all up to in one page. That is easier than visiting 10 pages.


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## osa_menor

Hello *siares*,
you get alerts on any activity of the people you follow. 
If someone decided not to show his online status then you don't see his avatar.


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## siares

Thank you osa menor.


osa_menor said:


> If someone decided not to show his online status then you don't see his avatar.


Really? I was under the impression that online presence is visible to members, and invisible to non-members if one chooses such a setting...?
Also, i can see the people in the list of those online - I just don't see their avatar above the hard-to read list. Sometimes the same person has their avatar above the list, sometimes they don't.
Anyway this I don't really need to know, whether they are online or not in a particular moment, but would find it hard to find out in case I did need to know.


osa_menor said:


> alerts on any activity of the people you follow.


Alerts are not generated for them; do you mean News Feed?


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## osa_menor

> Alerts are not generated for them; do you mean News Feed?


Than that has changed. I think, in the beginning of this new forum outfit I got alerts when the people I followed changed their avatars or posted something.
Maybe I am wrong.


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## qu'est-ce que c'est

You can accept conversations only from those people whom you follow. Just other two dinars.


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## siares

qu'est-ce que c'est said:


> accept conversations only from those people whom you follow


Thanks for this - can I tell if someone has this setting?
In other words, can I tell whether people don't accept any PMs whatsoever, or only accept them from those whom they follow?

Also, if A (has this setting and) is not following X; then X's conversation remains somewhere but is unseen by A.
But in case A does start following X later on, would the X's old conversation now appear in A's Inbox?


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## Wordsmyth

siares said:


> So far I haven't find any advantages to following


 I can think of several.

If I'm having discussions in 'real time', seeing who's online will affect whether I stick around for a while, or shut down and come back later. The general online list isn't so useful, especially as it's not in alphabetical order.

Also, if I can see instantly which of my 'favourite people' are there, I can join in discussions while they're 'live'. An analogy: If I know Joe's in the pub, I'll pop down and have a pint with him. If I don't know when he's there, I'll go in at some random time and ask the barman if he's seen Joe. Barman: "You've just missed him, and I don't know when he'll be in next, but you can leave a message for the next time he comes." 

And as Mike said, to see what those people have been posting recently, the News Feed is much more practical than visiting a lot of separate pages.

Also, there are people whose posts I like to read, but who don't visit the forum regularly. Seeing that such a member is online can provide opportunities for exchanges that would otherwise be missed.



siares said:


> Also, i can see the people in the list of those online - I just don't see their avatar above the hard-to read list. Sometimes the same person has their avatar above the list, sometimes they don't.


Since you posted that comment, siares, I've checked regularly. On no occasion have I found any disparity. I wonder whether there may be a momentary lag between the list and the avatars being updated, and you've happened to notice a disparity during such a lag ...? I always keep the forums home page open when I'm logged on, and I refresh it whenever I go back to it — though I don't know whether that would make any difference.

Ws


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## siares

That proved me wrong very thouroughly! (I'm leaving the extra u in - to underline the thoroughness).
Some advantages you list are irrelevant to me as doesn't 'drink beer' so I didn't notice them.
But I had discovered an advantage I do use: Some inactive members don't come up in search options, one doesn't see their avatar; and when I want to read something by them I would have to remember how they spelt their nick fully. They are easier to remember if they are in list of followed people..
As for active members I follow, when they are online I usually see them posting on first page so I open the threads from there, and so don't go to Newsfeed. 

The technical stuff: the discrepancy may have been due to keeping several pages open and not refreshing. I've tried to pay more attention now and I couldn't spot the same occurrence. Where I spotted was some delay between the green corners of avatars within threads/ online list.


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