reduce api calls - please add last_modified to user structure

Question

When updating a cached list of questions, I can query min last_activity_date, drastically reducing traffic.

using creation_date, one can efficiently maintain a cached list of users with minimal network traffic.

without a last_modified there is no way to efficiently update a cached list of users.

Answer 1

Hmmm.

I like this idea, for the record.

However, currently we don't track this information. You'll note there's no notion of a user's profile having a history, or an edited date, or anything like that on the sites themselves.

Given how far reaching introducing this feature would be, I'm going to [status-deferred] this request. It will be revisited by the time we get to a 2.0.

Until then, be aware that user profile updates are very rare*. On the order of weeks, or months I'd guess.

_{*Once the autobiographer badge has been obtained, at least.}