Lurking is Just Fine With Me

[dlodoski]

....My point in making the comment was to compliment and encourage activity. I meant no disrespect to lurkers.

That's understandable, but what was written in the 'Birthday' topic viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13715 was not exactly complimentary.

.....I hope everyone recognizes that the strength of a community like this lies in its vitality. That is, its "life". I believe the vitality of an on-line community lies almost entirely with the activity (perhaps 'activeness' would be a better word) of its members. That is enhanced by "engaged" participation - creation of stories, manips, art work, videos, audios, websites, etc., use of chat rooms, actual meetings between members, simple posting of questions, comments, general ideas, and so on, and anything else that keeps the community active. It is not enhanced by the gimmes and vacuumers who merely lurk, isolated, in the background. I urge everyone to do their part by participating.

This really does sound like anyone who never calls attention to themselves is not living up to membership expectations. This sentiment has been mentioned before, but this instance was more pointed than usual, and appeared in a very visible place.

I don't want to rock the boat, but this IS NOT the official tone of Quicksandfans. And that's because, if I were a regular member, I would want to visit, consume and enjoy - and not contact anyone for any reason. That's just my personality speaking, but there are many members here who are very unsure of even joining, never mind posting, for privacy reasons. I doubt that they would want to believe that they weren't 'doing their part' by remaining as anonymous and/or quiet as possible.

This difference of opinion is very understandable, as people look at online communities in different ways. Maybe some of us have backgrounds in civic communities or even an HOA that suffered from apathy or a lack of participation. But the simple fact remains that only a small fraction of members of typical online communities actually participate. And the fact that QSF falls into this mold is not a problem, IMO. If the board were called Quicksand Media Creators, or something similar, that would be different. But this is a place for adults who are stimulated by quicksand, and a lot of those folks will be very happy to peruse and consume what is here is a very quiet way. I just want to make sure that they know it's ok to do just that.

[Fred588]

....My point in making the comment was to compliment and encourage activity. I meant no disrespect to lurkers.

That's understandable, but what was written in the 'Birthday' topic viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13715 was not exactly complimentary.

.....I hope everyone recognizes that the strength of a community like this lies in its vitality. That is, its "life". I believe the vitality of an on-line community lies almost entirely with the activity (perhaps 'activeness' would be a better word) of its members. That is enhanced by "engaged" participation - creation of stories, manips, art work, videos, audios, websites, etc., use of chat rooms, actual meetings between members, simple posting of questions, comments, general ideas, and so on, and anything else that keeps the community active. It is not enhanced by the gimmes and vacuumers who merely lurk, isolated, in the background. I urge everyone to do their part by participating.

This really does sound like anyone who never calls attention to themselves is not living up to membership expectations. This sentiment has been mentioned before, but this instance was more pointed than usual, and appeared in a very visible place.

I don't want to rock the boat, but this IS NOT the official tone of Quicksandfans. And that's because, if I were a regular member, I would want to visit, consume and enjoy - and not contact anyone for any reason. That's just my personality speaking, but there are many members here who are very unsure of even joining, never mind posting, for privacy reasons. I doubt that they would want to believe that they weren't 'doing their part' by remaining as anonymous and/or quiet as possible.

This difference of opinion is very understandable, as people look at online communities in different ways. Maybe some of us have backgrounds in civic communities or even an HOA that suffered from apathy or a lack of participation. But the simple fact remains that only a small fraction of members of typical online communities actually participate. And the fact that QSF falls into this mold is not a problem, IMO. If the board were called Quicksand Media Creators, or something similar, that would be different. But this is a place for adults who are stimulated by quicksand, and a lot of those folks will be very happy to peruse and consume what is here is a very quiet way. I just want to make sure that they know it's ok to do just that.

Well there isn't much else I can say except by repeating what I tried to explain before. By "not enhanced" I did not mean to say that any harm was done. I meant only that, by definition, one who is not contributing is, well, not contributing. That isn't "bad" it is, as someone (Chimerix, I think) described it, neutral.

My post was meant to compliment those who actively participate. I'm sorry its being misconstrued.

[Niveous]

I've been a part of this community for quite some time (back during the deepsinking.org before all that drama happened) though I tend to lurk far more often than not just because I don't feel like I have much to say in regards to anything that's being discussed that hasn't yet been said before. Not only that, I don't particularly have the time to keep track of conversations and what not if I do post. I'm usually on the forums for roughly ten to fifteen minutes at a time to check for updates and to see if there's anything interesting being discussed. Then I exit out and go back to whatever else that I was doing.

That being said, I think part of it might have to do with social anxiety or the amount of time available throughout the day. But then, that's starting to bring psychology into the mix, so I'll avoid that path and just say that I honestly think that there's nothing wrong with being a lurker. There will always be lurkers no matter where you go. However, there will also be those who are more vocal and more contributing to the community.

[Nessie]

I did not "come down hard" on lurkers.

I dashed off an answer without trying to figure out why Dave posted it.

The first thing that popped into my mind, actually, was the horrendous attitude toward people who watched but didn't post at -- um -- our previous incarnation of a forum. Lurking in those days was much-discouraged. "You don't contribute anything," I would read, or, "If you can't do anything, you could at least say thank you or post a comment when you see something!"...blah blah blah.

Like, if every single fan actually posted something after every contribution...here, on this forum, you'd see a picture and 9,203 comments.

If you think of it that way, some lurking is a positive thing.

Nessie

[Fred588]

I did not "come down hard" on lurkers.

I dashed off an answer without trying to figure out why Dave posted it.

The first thing that popped into my mind, actually, was the horrendous attitude toward people who watched but didn't post at -- um -- our previous incarnation of a forum. Lurking in those days was much-discouraged. "You don't contribute anything," I would read, or, "If you can't do anything, you could at least say thank you or post a comment when you see something!"...blah blah blah.

Like, if every single fan actually posted something after every contribution...here, on this forum, you'd see a picture and 9,203 comments.

If you think of it that way, some lurking is a positive thing.

Nessie

I agree that pointless posting is actually not in the same category as lurking. Lurking is neutral; it does not harm anyone, waste anyone's time, or do anything else negative. Its neutral. Pointless posting, if carried to an extreme, wastes people's time, and to that extent, is negative. On the other hand, any judgment about what is pointless is rather subjective, and, thereby, probably pointless.

[Mr Mudster]

I admit that I, for the most part, am a lurker! Back in the usenet days, I was a lot more active in the various groups. But when I crossed the "50+" mark a few years ago I discovered something: I have a generally angry attitude! For that reason alone I tend to limit my posting. After all, I decided I really hated the taste of shoe leather! And with the aches and pains that accompany growing old, I just don't have the flexibility to continue to try and shove my foot into my mouth!

So I stay silent most of the time. And I honestly think that the community as a whole is better because of that!

[QuicksandMania]

But when I crossed the "50+" mark a few years ago I discovered something: I have a generally angry attitude!

I got a head start on middle-aged anger when I started graduate school at age 41.

I just turned 50 and have started weekly IMBXtreme shots containing Vitamin B-12 and amino acids (through Metabolic Research Center) which have markedly improved my moods. I did some research and learned that older people often have B-12 deficiencies leading to insidious symptoms. Paranoia? Check. Fatigue? Check. Cognitive impairment? Check. Combine these and you have a perpetual anger state easily triggered.

I feel much better now.

[Nessie]

I feel much better now.

When I am angry, I lurk.

Today I feel fine.

Nessie

[PM2K]

But when I crossed the "50+" mark a few years ago I discovered something: I have a generally angry attitude!

I got a head start on middle-aged anger when I started graduate school at age 41.

I just turned 50 and have started weekly IMBXtreme shots containing Vitamin B-12 and amino acids (through Metabolic Research Center) which have markedly improved my moods. I did some research and learned that older people often have B-12 deficiencies leading to insidious symptoms. Paranoia? Check. Fatigue? Check. Cognitive impairment? Check. Combine these and you have a perpetual anger state easily triggered.

I feel much better now.

I should get that checked out... I've had a number of those symptoms on occasion myself. Learn something new here every day.

As for lurking, I'm very cool with that. Nothing worse than trying to force someone into doing something that they don't feel comfortable doing. I always thought lurking could lead to other things given time, but not if there's a mob baying at them for not participating...

Still... I can see a case for encouraging participation too. As long as it is a gentle persuasion. I'm good with that, too.

[awdc]

I've been mostly lurking since 1997-ish in this community (since the older BBS setups). I don't find myself having much to contribute other than to offer positive feedback when I enjoy the work of the various producers.