Something like - "[user] is online almost every day" - "[user] is online about twice a week" - "[user] is online about once a month" which shows how frequently a user is online. (In addition of showing the last appearance.) In comparison to the last appearance, it would allow users to guess how long it might take until the user is able to approve your chapter or sth. (The activity could be measured by a number which could start at 15. Each day, you would multiply it with 0.966. If a user logs in for the first time a day, add 1 to the number. If someone is online once a week, the number would settle down at about 4, if someone is online every second day, the number would settle down at about 15. Each range could lead to a descriptive text.)
I see large amount of glitches written all over this. I want to hear more people before saying anymore though.
perhaps instead of numbers we could see the last few times they logged on? otherwise it seems pretty good
I would have it reset to 20 the first time they log in for 5 days straight in any 30 day period, but other than that, looks good.
The reduction of one-thirtieth could be done directly within the database. I just tested this with 50,000 values on a dummy database table which took about 0.1 seconds on my local machine. This could be done once a day similar to starting backup routines. The addition of 1 could be done at the same time, checking if the last time online was on the last day (in the DB), or each time the last time online value gets updated. What do you mean? The number isn't meant to be seen at all, especially as interpretation would be hard. (A difference of 2 around a value 30 isn't the same as a difference of 2 around a value of 4) So there should be only the text about it. To achieve this, you have to keep records of several days and refresh them every day. Having one number keeps it simple.
true having a number is seemingly more simple but even then you have to keep records of the past times you've logged on
No, it is only necessary to know the last time a user logged in which is already a stat which is available.
yea but you do realize the ip holds when you've logged on?the webmaster just has to make that available
You can't identify anyone with an IP. Dynamic IPs, public wi-fi and mobile phones are a thing. It's the browser's cookies that would identify the user.
Why should we check on the IP? This suggestion is only useful when applied to logged in users, so the last login would fit perfectly. The "last login time" gets updated with most actions on the site. ("[user] was last seen: a few seconds ago")
