Only if they're grounded to stations

What purpose would that serve?

What purpose would this serve at all?

It would make VO more like a chat application and less like a space combat MMO.

Good call tosh.

*thumbs down*

complete and total fail

Indeed. Even with my attempt to make it slightly less fail.

Being "offline" yet still on and flying around makes no sense.

What actually makes no sense is being able to communicate with absolutely anyone if they're playing both through various chat channels (i.e. A chat application...) as well as private messages. Even the fact that you know exactly who is on at any given time makes it seem more like a chat application than a space combat MMO.

It isn't a stretch to think there should be an option to appear "offline" to everyone save for those in the same sector as you.

Option no. Game structure yes. But that's a whole different issue.

Yeah like Lecter says, it would be a more interesting discussion (which I think has been had before) to look at taking away global chat channels and PMs in general.

I would absolutely love to see 100, etc. done away with. There was a thread at some point where that had some decent ideas but I don't think any real conclusion was come to. I don't remember a dev participating in the thread so I figured the removal of global chat/PMs wouldn't be implemented for quite some time - unless the devs have worked it into the Universe Redux, which I don't think is likely. Due to this, I thought I'd make a solution (even if temporary) that could solve some of the issues that I think are involved.

*cloaked option.

You can log on as *cloaked

Your name appears on the web page of active players as "*cloaked"

If you use system or channel chat, the option is turned off, and the web page updated with your correct name.

/leave ch 100
/leave ch 11

Now you only have to deal with people talking in your sector and if someone sends you a pm, just pretend you are afk and do not answer.

Problem solved.

Noo bojan, we need the devs to incorporate that into the game! No, wait! We need it to be doable in LUA! Or, even better, make the entire chat system go away! Then we'll all seem offline!

You forgot system-wide chat.

Speaking of which, should there not be a shortcut like t or T to send a message to the system? ^T?

@bojansplash
I fail to see how thats a solution.
I would like to continue reading the chat. I would not like anyone to know that I'm online. Sure, you can pretend you're afk. Sure you can just not answer.
Am I the only one who finds simply 'ignoring' these things annoying?
I want stop them from sending me messages in the first place.

IRC.

Options > Game > Show Private Channel > Off

Then you dont have to ignore anything, all PM's simply do not show :P

Silly idea btw, if you dont want anyone to know you are onlne, keep an empty buddy list! I do, and unless I speak on 100, most do not know I am online.

I usually check the active player list using IRC, so that's a no go. But, as diqrtvpe said, IRC helps lurkers. You just have to log off.