The definition of online is not cut and dry.
Am I online when I leave my PC running FoE for 3 days, attached to my city - and am away? Yes, Inno has some constraints on me staying logged in that long, but how about "overnite" which I routinely do?
Am I "online" if I"m attached to the website, in my cityspace or on the GbG map, or GE screen, but physically sleeping in my bed?
I'm in agreement with many of the other posters here - I think Inno's level of "who is here and who isn't" is just about right.
If you're looking for something akin to what this forum does (when you login in, stay in, or exit this forum, and what specifically you're doing here...), it wouldn't make a lot of people very happy in FoE. It way too invasive.
Last thing someone wants to here is:
Oh, so you WERE here, why didn't you respond to my message?
Oh, so you WERE here, why didn't you help in GbG?
Oh, so you WERE here, why did you disregard that urgent plea for diamonds on that sector?
and the list would go on, and on and on...