Inside the mind of a Lurker - a CNN Special Report (SUMMARY)

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

In response to my "Why lurk?" post, I got some very illuminating input
both on-list and off from The Lurker Nation.

Here are the most frequent answers (some of which overlap a bit), in no
particular order:

? Feel like the topic has already been answered and/or covered
exhaustively
? Don?t want to be flamed
? Don't feel qualified
? Different time zones negate ability to participate in real time
? Cultural/language differences (so much for having a lingua franca, eh?)
? Nothing new to contribute
? Too much of a hassle to send plain-text messages
? Not enough time to read messages in real time
? Feel guilty spending time responding when they should be working
? Too much traffic on list already
? Don't want their company to see their post
? Don?t want the world to see their post (fear of being Googled)
? Too shy
? Too daunting to post to such a large list
? Feels their input will be ignored
? Feels their input will make them look ignorant


______________________________


You've probably all seen the on-list responses. From them, here's my
favorite quote (I wish more people thought this way):

When I feel certain that I can contribute to a topic and address the ISSUE
only, not criticize individuals, and that others will treat my post in the
same way, I may consider posting. Not until then.
- Karen R. Casemier

Honorable mention goes to Dan Hall for contributing his Epic Poem in
response!

______________________________


Here are some interesting quotes from responses I received off-list:

The volume of stuff on Techwr-L is so high nowadays that I triage stuff at
the beginning of the day: 50% crap (or just of no particular interest to
me) gets deleted immediately, while the 40% maybe-crap lives until I
preview the first few messages in a thread (anything that generates over
10 messages in 12 hours is likely heat instead of light). The remaining
10% <*naming four specific posters>, plus a few actual topics of interest and possible relevance, I get
around to reading by the end of the day.

* * *

I usually reply privately, because I dislike being picked apart by a lot
of people. They always look to find fault with SOMEthing you say. It's
really tiresome.

* * *

I get good information out of the list, but don't want my name associated
with a list that also discusses such topics as 'STC Conference 2002,
useful or spawn of Satan?'  As far as my working life is concerned, I want
Satan completely unassociated. ;)

* * *

Frankly, the signal to noise ratio on the list can be pretty low some days
(i.e., too much noise, not enough signal).

* * *

I lurk because I have more important things to do than check for techwr-l
messages several times a day.

* * *

(from a poster in the UK): 
Sometimes, (and this is a very personal, cultural based thing which I
would keep to myself as I recognise others would 100% disagree with me), I
find the "Great American" attitude hard to take too.

* * *

And my favorite one, from somebody who did a great job of cloaking their
e-mail address when they sent this to me:

<slightly de-cloaking>  If you're polling lurkers and you get a response - is the poll-ee no
longer a lurker... </slightly de-cloaking>

______________________________





Thanks to everybody who participated - this was interesting. Hope to see
you all on the List!


-Keith Cronin
__________________

So many sig lines, so little pertinent content...



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