Friends online, difference between website and inworld

[Mari Titanium]

When I compare my  'friends online' list on www.secondlife.com and the one I see when I'm in SL I see a difference.

Some friends I have still when I'm online, are disappeared from the list I see on the SL website!

I suppose they have unchecked the first box in their friends list, but it's also possible they have deleted me.

Can anyone explain it?

[Linda Spargel]

Have you checked weather or not they were really online or just asumed they were?? Even in SL the friendslist only mentions if one is online or offline untill you actualy write them an IM...Furthermore the secondlife.com website can by definition not be Real Time, it depends on how often the site gets refreshed (in my eyes once every minute or 2).

[Kathy Amsterdam]

There is about a 5 minute lag between what you see inworld and what you see online.  Sometimes its less...depends on the LL server performance.

If you want to know if someone is hiding their online status from you....you can look in a common group (one your both a member of) to check their online status.  BUT Remember to hit the Refresh button...because...again....you can often get the wrong information.

And of course...the sure fire way is to just send an IM and check for the "i am not line" reply.

[TD Timtam]

I can't explain the why as I am sure it is just an issue interfacing between SL and the website, but I have seen what you mention happen. I have 2 or 3 friends on my SL friend's list that often don't show on the list on the website. If they are online in SL then they show up on the website friends online, but when they are offline in SL they may appear as offline on the friends online or there names might not even show up on the list at all. The 1st time this happened I thought someone had either removed me as a friend or quit SL, then when I logged on to SL later I was glad to see that they were still on SL and still a friend. I guess you just have to use friend's online on the website and keep in mind that it might not be exactly what you'd see in SL.

[Ando Joubert]

I've looked at this carefully, with one avatar I know is prone to "hiding" their online status. The Dashboard friends list (left side column), lag issues aside, will tell you if your friend is online, offline, or possibly hiding. If they show as "offline" on your friends list inworld, and "offline" in your web dashboard, then they are simply "offline."  However, if they show as "offline" inworld, and do not appear at all in your Dashboard, then they are hiding their status.

Personally, I look forward to the day when we can simply appear offline in all lists, groups, "IM for status" attempts, Greenlife, etc.  There are times I just do not want to be disturbed, during work, or play, or just because I want a quiet hour or two on the grid. I've actually lost newish friends that way because they thought it was personal.

Anyway, that's what's going on. The list is a dead giveaway if somebody is hiding.

[TD Timtam]

Have you ever checked to see if it holds this setting. There are a couple that rarely show up on the list and they don't seem to be online or at least it's the not the time of day they are usually on line due to sleep or work. I suppose it is possible that they leave their av on while sleeping or something, but it could also be possible that if they were hiding and logged off or crashd that maybe they still don't show up on the website friends list.

[Ando Joubert]

l will do a more scientific study with an alt, but I know that if somebody who has also friended my alt decides to hide, it doesn't matter which account I look under - that person, when hiding, is simply not on the list. When that person is not hiding they will show up on both lists. It's actually convenient, given SL's poor implementation of hiding.

[SilverVenus]

This has been happening for so long, I don`t understand why Lindenlab doesn`t do something about it!!!!!

[Peewee Musytari]

@SilverVenus, you have posted on a thread from 2009!! lol LL is unlikely to "do something about it" because its not a bug, the system does what it was designed to do, not liking the system is not the same as it being broken.