The current system for active chat icons goes as follows:
- creator
- random user from last 200 posts
- another random user from last 200 posts
- etc
The problem with this is that, because many of the chat systems are not used on a daily basis, the icons showing might be from users that have not posted in several days. This leads to the idea that characters are active/ available for contact, when the fact is that they may not be.
I propose a system where the icons will land as follows:
- most recently posting user
- next most recently posting user
- next most recently posting user after that one
- etc, updated on a ~15 minute cycle
While this would still give false positives if no one has posted in several days, I feel that it would paint a more accurate picture of who is actually actively partaking in chat. The current method gives a wider swath of users who partake in a particular chat channel. This is useful in showing a wide swath of users, rather than certain, select faces. The other method may limit the icons, but would be clearly active profiles. I would like to hear discussion on what my fellow users would find more useful/ appealing.