Running a vanilla server, I see this output in my console:
list
2012-12-04 12:13:19 [INFO] There are 0/20 players online:
2012-12-04 12:13:19 [INFO]
2012-12-05 00:00:01 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:00:01 [INFO] [Rcon: Saved the world]
2012-12-05 00:00:01 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:00:01 [INFO] [Rcon: Turned off world auto-saving]
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] [Rcon: Turned on world auto-saving]
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] [Rcon: Saved the world]
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:02:22 [INFO] [Rcon: Turned off world auto-saving]
2012-12-05 00:11:20 [INFO] Rcon connection from: /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
2012-12-05 00:11:20 [INFO] [Rcon: Turned on world auto-saving]
2012-12-05 00:31:13 [INFO] <username elided> [/<ip address elided>:50586] lost connection
list
2012-12-05 00:39:55 [INFO] There are 0/20 players online:
2012-12-05 00:39:55 [INFO]
So there were no players on the server, then some time passed during which no players joined the server, then a player disconnected.
Related issues
Comments


I'm pretty sure this is what happens when someone loads their server list with your server in it.

Kumasasa: The bug is that the connected message is missing. The username and IP were included in the original output and look reasonable; I redacted them here for privacy because this is a public tracker. This text was actually taken from the server console, not the log file, though the same appears in the log file as well. There was enough scrollback in the console to see server startup, and note that the “list” command was issued at the top of the snippet and indicated no players connected at that time.
Mustek: I obviously have my own server in my client’s server list. I started my client, went to the server list, even pressed Refresh a few times, and shut down the client. There was no output on the server console. Viewing a server list containing the server in question does not produce this effect.

I would like to add an additional piece of data: the username listed in the disconnect message does not have a file in the players/
directory!

Was this a public server (do you ever have any players other than you and your friends) and was the <Username> someone you know?
Do you host the server or do you use a hosting company? (i include through a VPS as you - i mean a hosting company like minecraftserverhost.net)
EDIT: so the player did not actually join - it just said that they left

Aden: This is hosted on a machine under my physical control. I am the only person with SSH access. It is not whitelist-controlled, but is not advertised anywhere except to friends. Your last line is indeed the problem: player disconnect message without player connect message. While I did not recognize the username in this particular case, I am fairly sure (but not 100%) that I have seen the same effect with people I do know. Also, the IP address was from a local ISP and could very reasonably be a friend-of-friend.

Failed connection? My guess is that they attempted to connect, but failed for some reason. Perhaps the connected line only shows up once the player has connected, but the disconnected line will show up even if they didn't complete the connection?

Torabi, that seems very likely. In which case the bug is that one of the messages is printed in the wrong place: either the connected message should be printed earlier (so it would show up in this case), or the disconnected message should not be printed for a connection that fails at this stage.

Then how would you know someone had even tried to connect? I think in such a case, there should be a "connection failed" message, instead of either the connected or disconnected message.

Is this still a concern in the current Minecraft version? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases.

Unfortunately, I do not know how to reliably reproduce this bug so cannot answer one way or the other whether it still exists in current versions.

No more updates, assuming no longer an issue.
Is your report about missing the "Connected" entry or is your problem that an (unwanted?) player has connected ?
Do you know <username> and/or the <ip address> ?
Was the logfile archived by logrotate at midnight and the "Connected" entry might have been some time before ?