Posted by Michael Fesser on 07/15/07 17:26

..oO(Hadron)

>Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> writes:
>
>> There is no way to know if someone si "currently online". All you
>> know is he was online when he last requested a page. Anything else is
>> a guess.
>
>Jesus H Christ.

He's not connected at the moment. Didn't pay the bill I guess. SCNR

>Yes. But he IS connected.

Yes, for the blink of an eye. You know how HTTP usually works?

open connection -> send request -> get response -> close connection
open connection -> send request -> get response -> close connection
open connection -> send request -> get response -> close connection
....

Even two subsequent page request from the _same_ user could come from
entirely different IP addresses (hint: proxys, load balancers)! There's
nothing like a connection in terms of "being connected to a website for
more than one request". Such thing simply not exists in HTTP.

>The session IS open.

Then you have to say that on the page. "10 users currently online" and
"10 sessions currently open" are two completely different things. While
the second information is accurate, it's absolutely meaningless for a
site visitor.

>Whether he is physically
>sat there is something we can NEVER know.

Exactly. So you can't tell who's online ATM, because you can never know.

Micha

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