Members who vanish

annis · Post by **annis** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 3:36 am

i also wonder about the members who never actually appear- you see them welcomed on to the forum, but never any other visible sign of them

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 5:10 am

Lurkers, no doubt. This forum is so full of good information, someone could get a lot out of being a member without ever once posting.

Kveto from Prague · Post by **Kveto from Prague** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 7:26 am

Hi Ben,
Volgadon was in the states for work/school and had limited internet access but I haven't heard from him since then.

I think sometimes its just the nature of the beast. People get other interests or too busy or so on. Its easy to lose enthusiasm after running out of interesting ideas.

What i find interesting is that the majority of the membership here has not posted a single note. Interesting because I think you can read all of the posts here without joining.

Actually youve given me an idea for a game (work is idle at the moment)

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 9:28 am

Many of the Yahoo groups I'm on have hundreds of members and perhaps a dozen who regularly post. It does indeed seem to be the nature of the beast. If the regulars stop posting, everything suddenly goes very quiet indeed.

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 12:24 pm

It's very interesting that so many read the threads but don't post/only a dozen or so regulars post (Here it's more than that, isn't it? Maybe 20-25?)

The same applies when at a conference (at least any veterinary conference). A few people will ask questions or get into a debate with the speaker, but the vast majority of the audience will remain completely silent. It makes sense when people are face to face with others, as some/many are shy/self-conscious etc., but with the anonymity of the internet, the same still seems to apply. Why is that? *scratches head* Because they can't be bothered?!

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 1:56 pm

Considering the number one fear that people have is speaking in public, I assume this can be applied to speaking in the virtual world. It then all makes perfect sense

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 2:04 pm

Yes I've noticed with both this forum and another book forum I'm on, that there often loads of lurkers; in fact I looked at the other forum's membership list today and so many on there haven't posted at all, then you get the regulars who've got hundreds of posts! Maybe they just like to lurk, or are shy - it took me ages to pluck up courage! Perhaps some of them lurk for a while and then decide the forum's not for them. As long as they don't start spamming I suppose they're not doing any harm.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 2:22 pm

One site I was on actually had a no-lurking policy--if a member didn't post within a certain period of time, she got kicked off. The site concerned a period of history I was interested in but didn't feel sufficiently knowledgeable about to comment upon, so I lurked--and duly got kicked off in the course of time. That struck me as rather stupid, since there were enough active members on the site to keep the forum discussion going, and some of the lurkers might have eventually surfaced once they became more comfortable with discussing the topic at hand.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 3:08 pm

Maybe most members don't post because, while interested in the discussion, they don't have anything useful to add at the moment? As in this one-- I've been reading it, but not posting until now.

On Facebook, I hide those people who fill up their status with posts like: "blueberry muffin for breakfast this morning" or, "I sure am pissed with my mom right now." And I try not to post unless what I have to say is worth somebody's time to read it.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Thu April 21st, 2011, 3:34 pm

[quote=""MLE""]Maybe most members don't post because, while interested in the discussion, they don't have anything useful to add at the moment? As in this one-- I've been reading it, but not posting until now.

On Facebook, I hide those people who fill up their status with posts like: "blueberry muffin for breakfast this morning" or, "I sure am pissed with my mom right now." And I try not to post unless what I have to say is worth somebody's time to read it.[/quote]

I have several groups at Goodreads that I follow discussions, but rarely have anything worth saying so I just shut up. I'm sure I'm not alone and sorry to see lurkers get booted from other discussion boards because they don't *contribute* is rather silly. Like the FB examples MLE mentioned, they really don't say much do they? Better to say nothing.