litphoria

I would suggest adding a "day and time last on line for the "recent" listing on profiles." The reasoning is to know if they have likely seen a post or message sent to them, and to make the recently on line listing more informational.

Search results are ordered by activity. The lists are ordered by last edit or creation date, whichever is most recent.

But yes, emphasizing contacting people who are currently offline (or not at the computer at that exact second) asymmetrically is a large point and draw of this site.

The reasoning is to know if they have likely seen a post or message sent to them, and... (another reason)

This isn't reliable.

I have more than one character. As far as I know, a character's activity is only updated when I make them my active character.

I could have a character who's been inactive for weeks (because I haven't switched to them in a while), but I've seen every PM sent to them because I can read it with a different character active.

Being active recently could indicate they might have read something^, but not being active doesn't suggest they haven't. So regardless of recent activity, your stuff might have been read.

^ In fact recent activity doesn't suggest anything's been read either. Maybe they just came by for five minutes to check on a feedback item or post in something, and they haven't checked their inbox or other PMs yet.

So, nothing reliably suggests anyone's read or hasn't read anything.

My thought is, knowing if someone has been online and when will give me an idea if a person simply has not had the time to log on, or if for some reason they have elected not to continue our play. A major irritant to many players is when other players "poof" out of a play with no additional reason, and no further contact. I am trying to find some sort of gauge to tell if a person has been here and is simply not continuing, so I should just give up on the play, or if there is still some chance I might hear from them. Once one has sent a private message asking politely how they're doing and if they want to continue the play, it gets a little stalkerish to send more messages. If I know a person simply has not been on, it may be that real life interfered. If they are on all the time but have not posted nor replied, I know to move on. Is there an existing mechanism that will serve me in this way?

If I know a person simply has not been on, it may be that real life interfered. If they are on all the time but have not posted nor replied, I know to move on. Is there an existing mechanism that will serve me in this way?

You can do a search for profiles like theirs online since x days ago or such. However, with PMs sending e-mails out, it is safe to assume that people will see every message you see them regardless of how active they are, if they still care about the site - meaning you should care less about the online time, or restrict your searches only to people you know are active (again, online since syntax).

That all being said, I am rejecting this. People will post when they want to, and you trying to stalk out an online time is not really going to help things (it will just make you seem really creepy if you then confront them about this).