'What's Going On?' Modification

What's recommended option to have visible for guess??

regards

I'd rather see it fully disabled for guests.

why isnt this in vbseo then? and how what do i need to change?

This is a change in usability. Our goal is not to start disabling vBulletin features with vBSEO. We have to search engine optimize without significantly impacting functionality or usability.

However, vBulletin is designed to be configurable based on individual preferences.

So you can disable it if you choose for your forum.

Note: Some users prefer to keep this information visible to guests, particularly if it is an active forum to show the activity. The thinking is that this would encourage users to join an active community. Personally, I think there are better ways to represent activity, and the more users online with this module, the more mess of irrelevant content that is added to the page, diminishing its overall content quality and link value.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

This is a change in usability. Our goal is not to start disabling vBulletin features with vBSEO. We have to search engine optimize without significantly impacting functionality or usability.

However, vBulletin is designed to be configurable based on individual preferences.

So you can disable it if you choose for your forum.

Note: Some users prefer to keep this information visible to guests, particularly if it is an active forum to show the activity. The thinking is that this would encourage users to join an active community. Personally, I think there are better ways to represent activity, and the more users online with this module, the more mess of irrelevant content that is added to the page, diminishing its overall content quality and link value.

i wish to hide it from guest...

You'll need to do a template edit.

Except rather than remove it, you'll want to wrap a conditional around it to display for members only (i.e. not guests).

Template:
vBulletin Community Forum - View Single Post - how to remove "What's Going On?"

Note: If they were using vBSEO permalinks, I would have sent my link value directly to the thread page, instead of the NON-link consensus link above.

Conditional:
vBulletin Template Conditionals List

HTML Code:

<if condition="$show['member']"></if>

Done, Kent Talk imo site does look better without it lol, but i've only hidden it for guests.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

Personally, I think there are better ways to represent activity, and the more users online with this module, the more mess of irrelevant content that is added to the page, diminishing its overall content quality and link value.

Originally Posted by Martyn

Done, Kent Talk imo site does look better without it lol, but i've only hidden it for guests.

I've always had a big issue over webmaster mentality when it comes to website optimization vs. social psychology... A well designed piece of software doesn't constitute make a well designed website; the same as a well optimised website/server doesn't automatically mean your website will be popular or even used. I think far too often we (website owners) trade off very important sociological elements without thinking it through properly.
Case in point: I've seen it said tons of times on this forum about cutting out all the 'crap' at the bottom of FORUMHOME, but I defy anyone to show me a website they've signed up to when it looked like they'd be the only using it (unless it's for something free). People just don't sign up to forums if they think they are going to chatting to themselves. You have to convince them there is something worth staying for. Fact: 'Web browsers take an avarage of 3 seconds to decide whether or not to click off and find something else'. The easiest and most effect way to get someone to give you more time is to use peer pressure (or the net equivalent) which is a big box at the bottom of the page saying 'HEY, look here! Look how many of us are online... We are obviously online for a reason, don't you want stick around and find out what that reason is?'

Your members don't want very much from you. In my opinion they want:
a.) Theme & stucture - Give them something to talk about and a set of well thought out and stuctured forums to do it in.
b.) Someone else to talk to - You only need a handful of mates and vBSEO to start getting sign ups...
...BUT what what is the point of all that ^^ you could have 2 million posts and 100,000 members online and you'd still lose potential members because you look quiet.

Just my 2 cents.

That's true. That's why you should explore the better ways of doing it.

A list of 100 linked usernames is going to show some activity, but is there another way to show the activity without having to add that mess to the bottom?

"x users are logged right in now" somewhere prominent on the site would show activity (if the forum is active). In this particular example, the "What's going on?" is actually going to "demonstrate inactivity", exactly the opposite of what you would want to achieve in part (b) of your summary of member desires.