can you tell who is online?

No, there isn't a way to do that on this site, well, not for us members anyway, I'm sure the people who run it can see who's on.

Tsk, tsk, Richard! You'll get deleted for asking a non-gardening question! ;-/

No - we did have a chat with P&A about this a couple of years ago - but it didn't happen. Why don't you do a 'contact us' and ask?

It would be interesting if that were available on this site. I've just noticed that you can hide guest questions....don't know if that is a new thing or not....but it's nice to have the option.

A live forum would be great too but I suppose it takes a lot of monitoring? and a member search too. I'm forever forgetting who is who...but then I'm new here so I'm sure it'll all be clearer soon! lol

A live forum requires a moderator to constantly be present... not really feasible for GoY. The option to hide Guest questions has been available since long before you joined Whistonlass. You can do a search on members you just type their name into the search box.

Thanks MG....I did notice the search box but thought it would be the same as google search online.

And yes I fully appreciate the forum idea is not feasible but it's good we can ask questions and always pm one another so it's great anyway. :)

If you click on the members tab and then scroll down the page to 'latest comments' on the left, that gives you an idea of who might be on line at the moment.I think you have to 'refresh' by clicking occasionally to update it.

Thank you all for your valuable help I see that it is not possible to live chat to anyone. I just wondered because sometimes it would interesting if you knew who was online at the same time as you, especially if you are posting on the same thread for example. I didn't know about the members tab and latest comments Aster that is a useful one. Thank you all once again for answering my question :-) Richard

If you are chatting on the same thread a notification comes up on your homepage.Just return there occasionally as I have done to answer this.

Thanks again Aster ;-)

I see quite a few exchanges where goyers are more or less exchanging banter on what looks like the same visits. So some manage to do this. I am an old fashioned girl and would prefere online chat to remain on its many other sites. As MG points out things can sometimes get out of hand even on this site, in the past, and caused people to be upset. There is a lot of research coming in now on how too much time on the internet is having an adverse effect on people. If you switch off and go and do something else it is good for the brain!!!!

Well, each to his own Dorjac - depends what you mean by "too much time" really, how you define that. I find a couple of hours a day on here to be largely very rewarding, and a useful addition to my emotional and intellectual well being. I think the research you refer to is more to do with sites like Facebook, where people spend all their time counting their "friends" and checking their photos, without doing anything much else other than working. It's all a question of degree really - using the internet for social and informative purposes for 2 or 3 hours a day, whilst still leading a normal, active life off line, is not, as far as I'm concerned, going to be harmful. So carry on guys, always remembering the watchword for life - Moderation!

I agree with you Bamboo. It is good to exchange gardening ideas on here with friends and also to get to know each other at the same time. You can really get to know each other by interactions such as 'chatting' and we all have a common interest in gardening anyway. I have made some lifelong friends by doing this, and get such a sense of 'belonging' to a community. I spent a lovely holiday this year by meeting a gardening friend who I 'met' on another gardening website and had a really good time.
Maybe it would be good to have a special thread where us gardener's can just talk about other things also and call it 'general chat' then those that don't want to go on it can leave it alone. The chat need not be in 'real time ' either but it would be somewhere else that we can share ideas and forge more friendships on here.

I like the idea too Richard because it would give us somewhere to post when 'other' posts are limited according to forum rules. I've exchanged a couple of PM's with some people from here but it would be nice to have the opportunity for general posts too.

Of course it could be that the forum hosts would prefer to keep things mainly 'gardening' in nature and I'd understand that too.

I spend time on the computer a fair amount because I have family and friends in Canada with whom I regularly make contact. It's a lifeline for me :)

Well Whistonlass, I have done similar. There are times when you don't just want to write a blog or put up a picture, but just want a chat about something to do with general gardening ideas, thoughts, recipes for your produce for instance, how your pet, or other wildlife interacts with your garden..etc maybe admin would approve of this.

Too much time may be when a person stays up very late online and has to go to work next day. Or spends so much time closeted away from a partner that the relationships is affected. I am well aware that people meet up at garden shows who have met online on GOY.I might even have done that myself. Then we are in the real world. Our first computer was an ATARI. So how long ago was that???? We belong to a computer club too. Friends almost certainly consider us computer nuts. I still ration myself because I get very uncomfortable if I sit and stare at a screen too long.