How do you post offline?

[mitsuki lover]

Just curious but I see where some people post offline so I was wondering
how you do it.

[Arnobius]

I suspect that's a mod/admin secret...

[Alice]

It is my secret. But I will never tell.

[uc pseudonym]

It isn't possible, speaking on strict terms. If you aren't online, there is no one to post, unless you created a bot of some sort (which, one could argue, actually isn't you, so while your account is online you are not).

However, moderators and administrators can hide their presence online, so they always appear offline. This post is an example.

[Arnobius]

It isn't possible, speaking on strict terms. If you aren't online, there is no one to post, unless you created a bot of some sort (which, one could argue, actually isn't you, so while your account is online you are not).

However, moderators and administrators can hide their presence online, so they always appear offline. This post is an example.

To keep you from being deluged with PMs as soon as you log on?

[shooraijin]

Or the groupies. You just need some time off from that once in awhile.

[Arnobius]

[quote="shooraijin"]Or the groupies. You just need some time off from that once in awhile. ]
Maybe if you changed your avvy to Happosai, it would help...

[Alice]

Tell people you aren't really a doctor, and maybe the groupiness will stop.

Seriously. Girls are programmed by their mothers to want to marry doctors from a young age. It's like a conspiracy!!!!

I plan to buck the trend and marry... Hatori!!!!!!!!!! Oops.

[shooraijin]

Okay, I'm not really a doctor. ... Was that convincing enough?

[uc pseudonym]

To keep you from being deluged with PMs as soon as you log on?

That, but also because trolls will have no way of knowing if a moderator is truly online or not.

[Alice]

Okay, I'm not really a doctor. ... Was that convincing enough?

Works for me. But I wasn't your groupie anyway.

[Kaligraphic]

You can post offline if you have direct database access (Insert into posts, values(12512,1251,2215,109,"This was posted from offline. Ph34r teh 1337 SQL p0w4h!");) (I actually have no idea what the actual database structure is that vBulletin uses, so don't bother copy/pasting that.)

The thing is, it would probably only work for Mithrandir. (#109) I know that I, for one, don't have insert privileges on the database, and I doubt that too many others do either. (this is a good thing)

Of course, if you post and then log out real fast...

But the "Online" or "Offline" on the left just means at the moment you're viewing that page, it doesn't mean when it was posted, if there was confusion there.

Oh, and Shooraijin - the shop's almost sold out of your photo, if you could autograph another boxful or two that'd be great. If not, well, things could get a little scary down here.

[Mithrandir]

Sorry Kali, you're totally off. There is NO access to the backend database on this system except through the main I/F. And there's no GUI I/F either. I probably COULD do it from the CLI, but you're talking about modifying about 9 tables on a single insert. See the vBulletin site for more info.

[Arnobius]

That, but also because trolls will have no way of knowing if a moderator is truly online or not.

Ah, that is a good idea. If they know, they can just cause havoc when they know someone's not there.

[shooraijin]

> Oh, and Shooraijin - the shop's almost sold out of your photo, if you could autograph another boxful or two that'd be great. If not, well, things could get a little scary down here.

My Sharpie's dry. Pencil okay?

[Kaligraphic]

Wow, nine tables? Impressive. I actually had guessed about three, but I guess that shows how little I know of vBulletin's internals.

And Shooraijin, you can use my pen.

[uc pseudonym]

But the "Online" or "Offline" on the left just means at the moment you're viewing that page, it doesn't mean when it was posted, if there was confusion there.

You make a legitimate point, but looking at your comment the wrong way it is actually humorous. Can you imagine if each post's "Online/Offline" part only registered the user's status at the time they made that post? [Yes, you can all imagine that, but you know what I meant.]