Privacy Setting - time logged onto board

Hello all,

I believe it is an invasion of privacy to show the length of time each member spends on the forums. I would rather not have this information displayed. Not because I have anything to hide, but merely because I don't want it known to everyone on the planet how much time I spend on a particular website. There should be a setting in which I can shut this off. I notice there is an invisibility setting, but this claims that it merely hides your name from appearing on the bottom of the screen under current users browsing the same forum.

What are your thoughts regarding this?

To be honest, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I don't feel it is an invasion of privacy, nor do I see why you should think it is.

It's more of a point of pride for me

But I totally understand what you're saying, user's should have the ability to either choose not to display their time or to at least disable it altogether, at a mimimum. While it's not really a big deal, it's definately something some people may not want displayed, especially to their spouses or bosses

btw, 2 weeks, ait? I didn't know that

I agree that it will not bother most people. I am sure most are totally ok with this... but, please do not expect everyone to be ok with it merely because the majority feel this way.

The reason it is an invasion of privacy is that the forum is releasing information regarding my surfing behaviour without my consent. It should be my own prerogative to allow the release of such information into the public.

I would guess this is the reason the information is displayed. It's similar to showing the post count. Some people certainly get a kick out of this, and others may look up to these veterans for their experience. I am sure this is why it was implemented to begin with. And, in that sense, it is a cool idea... but...


...like you said, it's not really a big deal, it's just that some of us may not want it displayed. That's all.

Don't read too much into it, it's all rubbish. Look at the members list,
If you ignore testpig cos he cheated, I'm the second highest repped
member, I have the longest time online by quite some margin, and I'm
he 6th highest posting member - does that make anyone give me any
more respect than anyone else? No...

Heh. I totally get the fact that post counts are unrelated to respect, I just thought some may look at them in that way. Post counts are some kind of indication of contribution to the board, and perhaps this is why some people are so attached to them. Whatever the reason, I would assume the "logged in time" statistic is held in the same regard.

If anything, it get him less respect.

I am a pretty paranoid individual, I even get paid for it, but this is not one of those issues that gets my panties in a wad.