I really would prefer it if people didn't know I was online. "Online" translates to "they need to respond to me immediately because they are here." One of my main issues with IM. - Mark Trapp

Mark, This would be an easy fix on FF. Users should have the ability to turn their presence indicator on or off. You then could surf in stealth mode. - Mike Fruchter

Visibility could be a choice of course, just like it is with IM :P You can take as long as you want to reply to me, Mark! - Tim Hoeck

*cough* Facebook. *cough* I thought FF was different on purpose?!?! Please, no online indicators with chat options... My $.02, if it's worth even that. - Lisa L. Seifert

I was thinking about that feature too. I couldn't decide yes or no. :) - Yolanda

I'm almost always "online" on FF but through the Google homepage widget (like now). How would that work? - Rochelle

Can't agree with you on this one. Even if my "status" were something I could hide, I don't think FF needs a status indicator. - Sally Robinson

I'm so so on this. Good idea though. - Kyle Lacy

NO!! Isn't it safe to say if we use Friendfeed that we are online all day anyway? - Amber Spence

Think about it like this: If I'm "online" and I'm not participating, I may as well be offline. That being the case, it doesn't matter whether you know I'm online or not because the determining factor that makes my presence significant to you is that I'm going to interact and engage with you if I'm online. So, this feature is really irrelevant because my presence is easily discerned by my activity. It's not like you're going to Poke me if I'm online and not active...that would just be annoying. - Rahsheen ™

IM is already a time waster for me. Throw in conversations with hundreds of subscribers, and I can just forget about programming. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

My default status in ALL IM clients is "away/DND". Of course, I don't really use IM much anyway, but that's another matter... and when I DO use it, it's another account entirely, usually project-specific (and thrown away when the project is complete). I guess I'd be more for an "available/unavailable" indicator than an "online/offline" thing. - abacab

Combine my previous comment with the fact that I NEVER want to see FF get anything even resembling private messages and it all makes a little more sense. - Rahsheen ™

"It's not like you're going to Poke me if I'm online and not active...that would just be annoying." I wish I had your friends. A status indicating I'm online always means available for whatever. IM is as annoying as sin because of this. And the status set to invisible or DND doesn't help: rather than leaving a message or commenting and letting me comment at my leisure, they hold onto it until i'm online and then I have to immediately respond. I want to think on things! I want to ignore things! AHHHHHHHHH! - Mark Trapp

HAHA POKED by Mark Trapp - Kyle Lacy

Mark, the solution is simple; if people can't respect a DND status, they don't get a response. There are some -very- few exceptions to this, of course. Basically, anyone that comes across as -demanding- my attention...doesn't get it. - abacab

I like FF because you *dont* know when I'm online and I dont know when you're online but we can still share stuff.. and all this online but invisible - why have an online status then? - Kim

FF is almost always 'on' because I have it in an open tab. Sort of a false positive. - AJ Kohn

Mark, it sounds like you might have answered one too many messages while in DND ;) - Tim Hoeck

How would Friendfeed tell who is online? - Morton Fox

+1 AJ - Ruth Ferguson

Wouldn't make a difference in how I post or respond. They're either there or not. - Ernie Oporto