{last_visit} - The date when the user was last active on the site PRIOR to their current session.
{last_activity} - The time of the user’s last page load.

I’m observing (what I view as) inconsistency’s between our “users” {last_visit} date and their {last_comment_date}/{last_entry_date}. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that their {last_visit} would coincide with their {last_comment_date}/{last_entry_date}?

Some of our “users” data seems to follow what we’re expecting, others do not.

Could this be a result of those users implementing the “auto-login”?

Would it be viable to use the {last_activity} variable in place of {last_visit} in order to circumvent this issue?

Thanks

Greetings,

last_activity: The time of the user’s last page load.
last_visit: The date when the user was last active on the site PRIOR to their current session.
last_comment_date: The date of the user’s last comment.

None of these should coincide. Is there something specific you wanted to accomplish?

Hello Justin.

Well, let me describe what I’m observing first.

We’re observing, in some instances, our “users” “last visit” date days prior to their last_comment_date.

Doesn’t the “user” have to have visited to have commented? Do you see where there might be confusion?

I understand that the variables output what they output. What we’re concerned about is providing a user experience that makes sense.

Could the auto-login option (if selected) be causing the last_visit variable to not increment with each visit of a user who has that option enabled?

Would it be a viable approach to use the {last_activity} variable in place of {last_visit} in order to circumvent this issue?

I seem to have processed only some of your initial post, more coffee for me obviously! - It makes sense that they would match in certain circumstances, but I wouldn’t expect them to. The last_activity variable would allow them to match up more often, however it still only updates every 5 minutes. Auto login wouldn’t impact last_visit as it still expires as a normal session would, but it auto-renews. last_visit is strictly “when was the last time I was at this site prior to me logging in now”. This would be great for something like “We last saw you on: {last_visit}”. It wouldn’t be useful for displaying anything current though.

I seem to have processed only some of your initial post, more coffee for me obviously!

I totally understand!

It makes sense that they would match in certain circumstances, but I wouldn’t expect them to.

Me as well, but the differences we’re seeing in some cases are quite extreme. I understand there are a lot of different factors; I could be catching users in the middle of a session…but I would always expect the difference to favor the {last_visit} variable (only down to the day portion) as being the most recent of the two if a difference exists.

(I’m not too sure that made any sense)

Last Visit: July 31st, 2008
Last Comment: July 19th, 2008

Differences in the dates as illustrated above seem normal. What seems odd is when a users {last_comment_date} is 6 days more recent then their {last_visit}.

Live example here (could change though given this link is to an active user)

If {last_activity} is not an option, I’m not sure how to correct.

last_activity would work fine.

Any other concerns/questions that I may assist with, or is this ready to be closed out?

I’m apologize for not responding to your last reply.

I’ve been running a test template that users (last_activity} in place of {last_visit} and it seems to alleviate what we’ve been observing.

I’m still not sure why {last_visit} was behaving so inconsistently for us but it looks like swapping the variable address our concerns.

Any other concerns/questions that I may assist with, or is this ready to be closed out?

We’re good. By all means…close it out.

Thanks for the assistance.

House keeping.