[stonecypher]

From Wikipedia: "In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely or never participates actively."

Hard to admit, but I have days when I'm too tired or just fresh out of ideas for witty repartee, devastatingly zingy bon mots, intellectually stimulating opinions, or even marginally creative or useful contributions to any of the threads on this site. Damn, it sucks growing old...

As a longtime lurker before I gathered my courage to post here and to eventually start my own threads, I was curious about the evolution of the whole lurker concept. I was surprised at some of the things I read about the lurker phenomenon:

1. Lurkers reportedly make up the majority of members in online groups and discussion lists.
2. The term "lurker" is generally not pejorative.
3. Lurkers have been described as "communicationally incompetent," as in they do not feel competent enough in their abilities to post.
4. They are uncomfortable with the tone and hostility of public forums, the cliques, and the feeling that they are alone in their opinions.
5. Lurkers fear tracking through the persistence of cyberspace data storage.

A good monograph on this subject:

http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/Papers ... ker.01.pdf

So I'd love to hear some feedback. For you active posters here, do you ever lurk here or elsewhere?

How often? Why?

[Quinny]

When I lurk outside someones house (or stables) I don't think it gives them a very comfortable feeling.

[dunewalker]

I lurk more than most who post here (.78 post per day), and lurked for a year before even joining. It's more mood than inspiration, as many of my infrequent posts add little to the topic, but hopefully, some do. Part of the reluctance to post comes from lurking observations that many posts on this site are entirely without redeeming value. Some of the members with the most posts have added the least to the education of all of us. If a suggestion is in order, it would be to ask the question: "is this post of mine really going to add anything constructive to the conversation?".

[aldente]

We (participants in "regular live") all start lurking in the first place and eventually, through exposure to simple begnin everyday live events either become participants- or not. The virtual world here is not an exception to this rule.

To participate in society is not a mistake but rather a "measure", which possibly could be of strategic importance at some point in the future.

Hence - posting is better than inhibiting.

What is it that ALL humans have in common?

Answer: We all are exposed to an ongoing series of situations. Either one deals with the cards that we've been played on a daily basis, or one "checks out".

[Sleepy]

I agree alot with what aldente said but i think some people are just more predisposed toward lurking more than others. I admit that I am a lurker most of the time, until something pulls me out.. but I think it has to do with the mindset of the lurker... I have a tendency to be an observer most of the time and not participate but instead form my own opinions and such, and this doesnt really work in the world since we are all both observers and observed... but anyway, i can relate with some points auntie made, i think i can overanalyze a lot too and can cut down what i write until there's nothing at all and just end up not posting but sometimes i post like now, anyway back to lurk mode

3. Lurkers have been described as "communicationally incompetent," as in they do not feel competent enough in their abilities to post.
4. They are uncomfortable with the tone and hostility of public forums, the cliques, and the feeling that they are alone in their opinions.
5. Lurkers fear tracking through the persistence of cyberspace data storage.

[stonecypher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cbxer55', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('stonecypher', '1'). Lurkers reportedly make up the majority of members in online groups and discussion lists.

[Don35]

I have very few posts. I don't have much to add. Many more experts here than me. That and many of the discussions are pointless. Politics, policy, aliens, blah blah. Preparation is all I'm interested in!

[Sixstrings]

I think the lurking / posting divide just comes down to a difference in what people enjoy as a past-time. Lurking is reading, and posting is writing -- they are similar yet distinct hobbies.

As for the ratio of posters to lurkers, I think this site is pretty healthy. I try to hold back, and I actually erase my replies quite often (I find I ask myself, ok is this *really* necessary?).

If you have too many posters, then you get a forum like Digg.com. It's not even worth trying to participate in the comment discussions on Digg since there's 4,000 of them per thread! If you comment on Digg, in three minutes your little comment is already buried under a sea of newer comments. So I just lurk on Digg, I like to see the news in order of what most people find interesting.

So anyway, lurkers take pride in your lurking ways. If anything, I think people just need to slow the heck down with social media. I mean really, do we need 6 billion people tweeting inane commentary about Murican Idol, their athlete's foot, and what they had for breakfast?

[stonecypher]

When I expressed surprise to hubby that so few people had responded to this thread when it seems everybody on a forum in cyberspace has an opinion about lurkers, he said patiently, "Well, dear, they're lurking. Not posting."

Ah...

Hey, all you lurkers out there, want to make your first post on this site here??? Go on, try it! It won't hurt!

[Aaron]

Most of the time we have 10 to 20 times our logged in members in lurkers.

Many folks feel intimidated by the forum environment... & so just lurk.

So remember when you post, it's really more for the large lurker community, than the members who respond.

Power to the lurkers.

[dunewalker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')
Power to the lurkers.

[davep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')Many folks feel intimidated by the forum environment... & so just lurk.

So remember when you post, it's really more for the large lurker community, than the members who respond.

[Aaron]

[davep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '[')img]http://www.dublin.ie/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7184&stc=1&d=1237770919[/img]

[dunewalker]

[RedStateGreen]

I lurked for many months before I even made an account here. Once I did I posted. But that's the way I operate. Most sites don't hold my interest enough to warrant making an account, and the ones that do, most of them lose my interest in the gaggle of things that need doing IRL.

The only peak oil place I have an account is here. I have accounts at several other "survival"/gardening sites but they don't hold my interest.

So a lot of those lurkers may not be registered. A lot more may not feel this site is good/interesting enough to warrant reading on a regular basis even though they have an account. My guess is that the numbers balance out.

It might be interesting to see what proportion of those zero post people have more than five unique visits, or if they've even visited in the past year.

[Maddog78]

I am an administrator on a Metal Music board.
It's the same there.
About 100 regularly posting members and probably 2000 members with zero posts.
You have to register to read all the threads so I'm sure there are many that register just to read.
It can be intimidating to post cause some of the members are very opinionated and enjoy getting into "discussions." I'm sure that is intimidating to the lurkers.
Us mods. have tried to get the members to take it easy on the newbs there but it's kind of a free for all board so there's not much you can do.

[stu]

Great cartoon Aaron.

[overit]

Hello. I am a serial lurker here. Have been visiting this site regularly since 2005 when I read about peak oil on another forum called totse.com. Only become a member when the open discussion forum was closed to non-members.

I generally dont post much on forums as with the anonymity of the internet people become more obnoxious and closed minded than the usual. I like the broad base of opinions that you generally find on forums and use them to form my own opinion. There generally is no shortage of people willing to express their opinion so I dont need to get into alpha male type confrontation which generally happens sooner or later. I trade index futures so I swear enough at the computer without any further provocation.

Back in the day the guys here were so far ahead of the curve it wasnt funny. They were onto the housing and economic collapse long before anyone even had a twinkling it was around the corner. I am an aussie so the american insight was always very interesting and valuable.

I still come here as it is full of like minded people and I still get to keep up to date with the going ons in the US although it is not so much relevant now the bubble has burst and the doom is in the mainstream everywhere.

It is always good for a laugh here too.

[kuidaskassikaeb]

There are a couple of more reasons for just lurking. Some of us are at work and shouldn't even be doing that. but a break to look at the posts is one thing. It's a lot of work to do a post.

I also only write when I think I have something different to say. In the vast majority of threads I agree with at least one point of view, and they're doing a good job of defending it. It usually seems like there's no reason to post. Therefore, I only post when I disagree with everybody, or they're all just missing the point. That really doesn't happen very often.