Most members online...

How much weight does this stat carry? (If any at all) You know, the one that says "most users online at one time was _____ on Dec 8 2005" or however it reads...

Maybe it is a sign of how popular the site is? Not the end all of stats, but it couldnt hurt to have a good number IMO. I mean, if you are trying to get advertisers or recognition and the most users online at once was 5, then that looks pretty bad compared to a site that had 300 or 500.

I dunno, but as of now that stat is 47 for my site. I've come up with a way to boost that number, and i think it might work. I managed to score a nice high quality Road Racer calendar for 2006 from a vendor. Probably a $15 value, but still cool to have. I sent out a mass email that I am having a contest and will give away the calendar.

To enter, all you have to do is be registered and online from 7pm EST to 7:10pm EST.(this sunday) The winner will be randomly selected from the list of who is online during that 10 minutes.

Hopefully, more than 100 people will be online together. Its about the easiest thing you can do to enter a contest, and it forces people to all log on at a specific time.

I'll report back with the results.

Not much really. Because that number includes unregistered guests and search bots as well.

There is a hack at vB.org that will also track how many members logged in during the last 24 hours. That would be more relevant IMO.

Yea, I've seen that hack. Plus, I think it is something a little different to keep the forum active.

For me I am not displaying the "most users online at one time was..."
I guess the number could work for you or against you 150 vs 850 for example.

I like the hack Joeychgo mentions. It seems it would be good eye candy. Has anyone found it to be an effective way to gain or at least maintain returning members?

I see a lot of sites that inflate these numbers all the time. I think in the end the best thing to have is great content and great users. I know difficult to have but silly mods like that won't fool anyone.