Do you hide your online status and why? I see people heavily engaged in various topics and forums, yet when you check the "Online" function on the homepage, it shows only a handful of people being around. Why would somebody need to hide their online status? Not judging, just curious.
I was thinking of hiding my online status so my wife doesn't know when I'm online.
So the secret society spies can't see me of course
Cyber stalker huh?. Understood
Personally, I turned that option off, because it's kind of a dumb feature, and I don't see any reason to advertise one's online status - what benefit is there in seeing a particular member is online?
Aside from that, my internet browser open whenever my computer is turned on, and one page or another on this forum is often up. It makes no sense to appear online when in fact I'm either focused on other things, or not even at my computer, and I can't be bothered to double check to see that it's closed.
Normally I hide mine. I'm usally logged on two or three different computers at a time and I never log out even when I step away so I hide my status so people don't think I'm on all the time. No other reason than that.
I don't hide it. I've had my share of online stalkers, and if they want to spend their day refreshing the homepage looking for when I'm online, why should I spoil their fun?
I've never understood why tube socks are white, don't ask me to explain what an online stocking is.
No, I don't hide my status.
Apparently I'm a deterrent. For what, I don't know.
Ticks and mites maybe.
I set mine to hide in the past to prevent my employer from checking up one me.
I told my employer that I go by the name 'Bootlegga'. he can never figure out when I am online.
I had my online status hidden at one point but when I was reviewing my prefs I turned it back on, not sure why I had it hidden to begin with! Maybe I misread the question when I originally joined and set up the prefs. I like to see who is around when I come on, it's weird when you read a post from like one minute ago and the member is not on the list of "who is online". Oh well, I guess some people have their reasons, as some have indicated. i did not realize until I read Canadaka's post that after 5 min of idle time you drop off the list. Sometimes I have 2 or 3 tabs going, often when I'm googling for further info on something I've read here or listening to music on Youtube or home files when the radio is not on here.