Would it be possible to have a status that shows on your profile page similar to those that chat apps have (EG online, away etc)?

I think its called "+show users online" ;-)

I mean if you are leaving your computer (for example) but staying logged on you could change your stsus to "away" until you get back. Or if there is no activity detected for more than 30 minutes it could read "not available". SO people wouldn't be peeved if they send you a PM and you don't reply because you've gone to work and left your computer on.

that would be a nice feature...i ALWAYS forget to log out.

I you leave the computer for more than 5 minutes then the site considers you to be offline. It is based on when you last requested a page, not on whether or not you logged out.

Very nice to know, I seem to stay logged in for weeks at a time.