I'm just saying....Hello???? Hello???? Is anbody out there???

[Pops]

Okay, here is a scenario.  It's now 2:45 am Thursday 03.16.2017, and I can't sleep.  Today I am well into my quit, and do not have any craving going on.  However, I'm not quite there, because I aint all here...lol (anyway, I think that is how that goes)  

Seriously though, I and several other members have mentioned on multiple occasions that we miss being able to see when other members of the EX community are online.  That gives us a great open invite to call out to another addict in recovery and just sit back and shoot the breeze, and just sort of talk away or at least talk about whatever comes to mind.....

Well, I am talking to my keyboard....and guess what....it is NOT conversing back!!!!

Now you might find that sort of cute, or funny because I still have somewhat of a sense of humor and posted a "cutsie" sort of emoji....but I am not so pleased....note the expression of my emoticon....

This is a shortfall of the site, and I have said before, that I plan to champion the effort to get Admin to return its' presence in some sort of form one way or another.

Now, I realize that the hour is nuts, and most all are asleep,,,(as I wish I was right now...).  However, when you do awaken...please read this discussion and take the time to respond to it.  Like it if you care to, I don't really care about that.  What I (and ADMIN as well) are looking for is an honest overview of the membership as a whole.  This discussion is meant to put our finger on the pulse if you will of our community spirit.

Have a great day, or sleep as it turns out.  I am going to attempt to go back to bed and get at least one full hour before I am required to return to work.  

By the way, I really do love you guys...and I have 296 days of freedom today....yeah baby!!!!!

[MarilynH]

Great Mark , Lord willing you'll be able to help us help those in need that are struggling it's really hard when we're wearing blinders!

[NewMe]

OK.I'm going to be a little bit of a Devil's advocate here. I absolutely agree that for those who are struggling with their quit, being able to see who is online and available to converse would be EXtremely valuable. Any time of the day or night. Even for those whose quits are well in place and are either looking to help another person or just shoot the breeze. And if it can be done on Facebook, I agree it would be a valuable asset to the community. Now for the devil in me. I agree with Ellen. My very first thought when reading this is that all the health experts agree. If you are having trouble sleeping, looking at electronic devices (phone or computer) is going to EXacerbate your problem getting to sleep. I thankfully have never had insomnia, so maybe I just can't completely relate. But the experts do agree to stay away from electronic devices late at night if you have sleep issues. I still think in the middle of the night, newbies could support each other. Retired folks who are free to nap whenever they please could be middle of the night helpers. But if you need to be functional at work all day the next day, a good old fashioned book made with paper and ink is a good choice to get you sleepy again.

[Giulia]

Didn't they say during the chat that that feature simply wasn't available on Jive?  Didn't they say they had put the suggestion in to Jive to have it?  

[Jennifer-Quit]

Reading back through the summary of the call - Giulia it does not sound very hopeful that we will get this feature back.  This is a copy of their report that relates to this:

Online Presence (Knowing Who Is Online Right Now)

• Many members who participated in these discussions (and have posted in the Community) have voiced a desire to bring back online presence so that members can see who is online at any given time.
• Online presence can be a supportive feature so that in a moment of extreme craving or need of support, members can reach out to a specific person instead of posting a message and hoping someone sees it.
• Members acknowledge that there are privacy concerns here, as some members may not want it to be visible to others when they are online.
• Mark noted that seeing recent activity can give you a sense of who is online – if someone posted within the last few minutes, it’s likely they are still online.
• The Jive platform does not have “out of the box” online presence available. The EX Team will explore alternative options to bring this back in some form.

[freeneasy]

I'm back- went back to sleep for 3 or 4 hours and now I've been up for 3-4 hours. When I was a smoker, I'd wake up at night and have to smoke. Now if I wake up, I can choose to come here.

[EXProductMgr]

Good afternoon, EXers!

First things first: I want to stress that we hear you, and we are in support of (not opposition to) the idea of having online presence on the EX Community so that you can see who else is currently active.

The EX Community lives on a community platform (Jive) that the EX Team did not build. It always has (Ning, Elgg), and it likely always will. Even with our team of excellent software developers, it is not a task we want to take on to build a whole community platform from scratch.

When you buy software, sometimes it can be customized and sometimes it cannot. For example, when you purchase Microsoft Office to be able to use Word on your computer, or you install a mobile app, you can’t make any changes to it - it works the way it works. With community software, our EX Team went through an extensive and lengthy search to select a platform that was customizable in many ways that our Community wanted and needed it to be. We also chose Jive because of features it has the will enable us to grow as our Community continues to grow and evolve.

At this time, the following features are not supported by Jive:

• We cannot customize a profile page to add an icon indicating that user is currently online.
• We cannot customize blogs/discussions/documents to indicate who or how many people are currently viewing it.
• We cannot add new privacy settings to Jive (and we take privacy very seriously on EX).
• One-on-one or group real-time chat a la Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts.

Our EX Team is exploring creative workarounds for creating some element of online presence within the parameters of Jive. We cannot promise that any of them will be feasible, affordable, able to maintain proper privacy for users who don’t want to be known when they are online, or consistently functioning without seriously slowing down the rest of the site.

I want to point out a few things that are available on Jive that give you a sense for who was recently online and active:

• All Content shows you recent activity for everyone.  If you click the “See the Latest Updates” tile from the homepage, you'll see who has recently been online based on the timestamp of last comment.  
• @My EX Feed has a Following > Most Recent option to see activity by people you follow. This will also give you a sense of who might be online of the people you're close to.
• You can also go to @My EX Feed > All Activity to see all activity, sorted by most recent, with a date and timestamp.

Please know that Mark has been extraordinarily proactive in recommending to Jive that they add some form of online presence, and has given them lots of ideas for ways this could happen. Trust us: If Jive adds it as an option, we’ll be the first community to turn it on!

Regarding the feeling that “If Facebook has it, EX can have it.”:

• Facebook is a multi-billion dollar company, who sells advertising and user data to support the massive cost of maintaining a “free” service for users.
• Facebook owns their own platform, and thus is free to add or remove features as they please and choose to prioritize.
• EX has not, does not and will never sell your data. We also do not sell paid advertising on the site. We maintain EX as an open resource to help smokers quit, and the Community is a huge part of its success! That being said, it is simply not financially feasible for us to build our own community platform and thus we are confined to the platform’s limitations.

Our EX Team appreciates your feedback, insight, desire to see the EX Community continually improve, and genuine support for others who are quitting. We understand that online presence is a way for you to give and get support. Our sincere hope is that you continue to give and receive support through other ways - commenting on blogs posts/discussions; celebrating successes; answering questions; participating in traditions like Freedom Trains, Bonfires, and Daily Pledges; and the general responsive, caring, funny and heartfelt ways you respond to others on this site each and every day.

[JonesCarpeDiem]

Thanks.

I knew you were doing what you could. That's why I linked my original.

I could light a fire under jive but it might burn the house down.  🙂

just kidding

[Pops]

Well, 

Thank you for explaining it again, but this time, I think it needed to be said again to the masses after I sort of called them to arms.  I am trying to impress upon you just how important this is to me and countless others here, and we do not want this to get swept under the rug to be forgotten about.

I liken this scenario to a small town of about 28,000 population (the approximate total membership of EX by todays' count)...being told that the 911 service was being changed to a voicemail application.  After dialing 911, you will receive an automated message, please leave your contact info, nature of your call, and when someone is available we will be in touch.  Have a nice day, and please...don't smoke, because we really care....

Is that too harsh?  It isn't that far from reality when you think about it.  Please do not think of me as being someone who is unreasonable. I instead am someone who is inspired to keep this issue alive as long as it is necessary to do so.  I am not going to give up on the EX community, as they "never" gave up on me.

Thanks again,

Pops

[EXProductMgr]

Pops‌, glad to hear you won't give up on us all here!

We're doing as much as we can to recognize the needs of the community as a whole, and know that we've heard this desire loud and clear

[Pops]

Good morning exproductmgr , and all of my EXer family....

Okay, Okay, I get it now....I have heard from enough people here on the site, that I have come to the following decision:

First: A massive amount of people here in the community feel the "same" way that I do with the desire to get the feature back.  (that gives me a great sense of validity and self satisfaction)

Second:  You, the administrative staff get it.  You are aware that this is something that needs to return if it is at all financially feasible.

Third:  The norm, or happy median for lack of a better descriptor...wants me to shut up and leave it alone.  (I am, but know this...all successful movements start with a voice, and for that...I am not ashamed that I have been so forceful in my viewpoint.)

Finally:  The majority of this community think of me as a pain in the butt....

Have a nice day.....