As the forum administrator, I often pay attention to how many users are currently online and how many users are currently browsing each category. I also like to see which names I recognize as being online a lot to pick out who the regulars are. But I never actually go to the Who's Online page. I just use the information provided at the bottom of the forum pages of currently active users.

I use it to see who's posting to threads I started or posted to or who's making new threads.

To see that information, I hit up the Today's Posts link throughout the day. Especially using Today's Posts in my Subscribed Forums.

Checking my trusty statistics, not very many people at all use Who's Online. We're talking about an order of magnitude in the hundreds, granted they are only available to registered members.

However, as someone who is a frequent forum goer and never uses who's online on any of the forums I visit, I'm curious to know what it is about that page that works better for you than the list of recent posts in your subscribed forums, for example. I would think the latter makes it easier to see exactly what you're looking for instead of trying to wade through a list?

Also, you commented that it's a feature that's lacking ... but what, specifically, is it lacking? What, specifically, are features that it should have that it doesn't?

I like the real time aspect of who's online. The list of recent posts in my subscribed forums doesn't show me who's replying or creating a thread right now, it only shows me who's already posted.

If I only follow the people in like tech talk or coffee house, the list is smaller and it's easy to look for 'replying' or 'creating thread'.

I dont check it very often..........

I use the todays post thing mainly. Its good . I occasionally use whose online if i want to pm and ask someone to look at a log for example

I'm still confused by the first post of this thread (poke Dave poke) saying that the Who's Online feature is lacking. In what way??

Oh, I have no doubt that the number of users of this can generally be counted with a hand or two.

I didn't make it very clear, true. But I thought Hamrick covered for me quite well. (But also, it was option #2 in the poll.)

Patience.

I guess it's somewhat of a continuation of my post the other day.

I use a number of tools available. When I first log in, I use the Control Panel and first Ctrl+Click subscribed threads and private messages (if any), then subscribed forums.

After I've gone through that pile, including the new posts to subscribed forums, when I have finished any new posts and am relatively "caught up", I generally use Who's Online to see who may be viewing these threads. I also use Who's Online to see who else may be watching particular threads. When I see the little icon indicating "my threads" (where available in forums) by folks, it perks my interest.

I also like to revisit ancient threads that a Guest may be viewing. For me it's nice feedback that indeed someone has interest in my posts, perhaps.

Then I refresh the Control Panel, but in less frequent intervals than the Who's Online updates.

Watching for creating new threads by someone who just posted in a particular forum, and having an Advanced Search feature that let's me search for a particular user's posts in a specific forum sometimes gives me an opportunity to preview what his/her next question might be -- often there are "continuation" type issues. Or else it's just a quick check to see if they're a frequent code tag non-user or whatever.

Perhaps it's a "getting the drop on folks" kind of habit I picked up in my early Cprog days where it was like speed-posting the best answer.

That's really sophistimicated compared to how I use it. I guess I need a few thousand more posts to figure out all of the cool features of the forum.

Speed-posting the best answer... It must be nice to be _that_intimate with a subject.