Fake users in the chat box

[firestorm]

So I know you know this has been going on for a while, but today something weird happened. Usually when you see that there is two people in chat it's pretty good chances there are actually people there conversing. Well today, I saw that it said DaughterofZion, and Exlon was in chat so I went to go say Hi, and all of a sudden this happened.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8183945209_b7ced9a624_b.jpg

This has been happening quite often where it says there is someone in chat but there isn't. However, I've never seen it say that 2 people are in chat when there is actually none. How is this even possible? is chat slowly taking over? In all seriousness, this is kind of annoying to me because chat is one of my favorite parts of the site, and it seems like it's just going to pieces.

If I'm wrong and I just have very unfortunate timing and they decided to leave at the same time, then that's a different story but if not I hope this is fixed soon, cause I'd like to be sure that when I see someone in chat, that they are actually there when I get there.

Thanks for all the help. You guys are wonderful and I pray the Lord continue to use you in countless and unimaginable ways.

[goldenspines]

This has been going on for a really long time, as far as I can remember, at least.

It's some sort of lag in the system and I believe it's the result of members not using /quit when they leave the chat. Their "ghosts" will stay in there unless someone enters. I usually try to pop in there and clear them out (just by entering, they get "scared" off), but I haven't been as good as keeping up with this. It is a bit odd that there were two "ghosts" in the chat, but it's not too far-fetched.

Anyway, I'll ask the White Wizard about it and see what he can do. Until then, we can all prevent this problem by making use of the /quit function in the chat when we leave! =D

[mechana2015]

It's always done that and it's tied, like Goldy said, to people not leaving the chat properly. I usually just log in to knock any ghosts out of chat but I've been occupied recently and haven't done it as often.

[Kaligraphic]

They're just chat ghosts. I believe it's caused by people closing the page/tab and the chat not realizing that they've left until someone else's entrance prompts it to check.

They're harmless, and hardly ever murder/eat anybody.

[Rusty Claymore]

Maybe someone should start a CAA "List of Friends"...

[DaughterOfZion]

Odd, I can't even recall being in the chat yesterday or the night before. Of course I'm not always the best at remembering, so I could have been in there at some point. I try to use /quit if I'm the last to leave, but chat's been freezing on me a lot lately(computer issue, not chat) so I may have forgotten if I had been in there the past day or two.

[Furen]

I usually just log in to knock any ghosts out of chat but I've been occupied recently and haven't done it as often.

I do it pretty well every time I'm on as well. Though, I think it's funny, almost every time I am in there, it's you I'm clearing the list from Fire

[Bobtheduck]

Ah, this dance. I remember there have been many times I just wanted to talk to anyone, and no one was on any IM programs, so I came here and saw "Oh, two people in chat" and go in... They both "leave"... Facebook does the same thing. I'll see a green light on someone, go to talk to them, and user is no longer in Facebook chat. I have two FB accounts, and they are friends, so when I log out of one and go to the other, it looks like the one I just logged out of is online.

[Mithrandir]

I've been considering something for the new system. Would it be helpful if the list of chat users showed up on all site pages? Meaning the threads you're looking at, etc? I don't know if it's possible, but if it was, would it useful/wanted?

[MomentOfInertia]

I think that adding it to the whole site would just clutter and weigh down the site with adding anything useful.

Now, If you could just add it to the New Posts page, along with the rest of the Currently Active Users box from the main page, that would be cool.

Or just leave it as is, I'm sure you've got enough coding to deal with as things are now; work on bells and whistles after the big update.