Hadn't noticed that before.....

 

Yes it is a new feature from TPTB

 

This green dot...is it supposed to be just to the left of or just above the user's ID and show Online if you put the mouse pointer over it?

 

That green dot is not new. The new green dots look like this:

 

I noticed it today for the first time.

 

Is there a way for me to disable this feature in my browsing? I like to see the threads I am following, and this just gets too busy.

 

Not currently. This is an experiment, so the feature may change. I forwarded your feedback.

 

I saw it yesterday and thought I had somehow changed a setting and was trying to get rid of it. Today it seems to be gone (thank goodness) and I'm glad. I didn't like it and really don't care who or how many are reading a thread. Useless information.

Well its still there when you click on the "New" tab at the top of the page. Yuk.

 

And I suppose that many of the 400+ people listed as @GUEST in the "currently online" listing are bots/google, etc.
Perhaps there needs to be a way to filter out hits from web search engines in that list?

 

I believe they are working on that.

 

Not a fan. Makes new posts page too cluttered