Are you a lurker?

[Torsten]

Maybe you have heard of this guy by the name of Jacob Nielsen, he has been doing a lot of research in the field of 'internet sociology'. OK, this might not be the best term to describe what's he been doing and that's why I'll come right to the point.

This Nielsen guy found out on the vast majority of all internet forums, about 90% of the members/users don't post any messages. Those people are called 'lurkers' because they log on to the forum frequently to follow the ongoing disussions without taking an active part in them. Then, there are about 9% of the forum population who post a message from time to time. They might be looking for some specific piece of information and that's why they post a question. Once they have received a satisfying answer, they either leave the forum or read a post from time to time. Which leaves 1% of the entire forum membership and those are the people who contribute most of the posts.

My question is this: Why do you think there is such a large percentage of forum members who 'lurk' behind their monitors without posting any messages? I have my own thoughts on this phenomenon and I'll share them with you if you stop lurking .
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[SkiIucK]

In my opinion, the so called "lurkers" are people who are afraid/ashamed of something and don`t want to be criticized. But I dont really think that the percentage is THAT high. And I can`t see how such a research could possibly be conducted without some serious deviations from the true.
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[medeya2012]

Hi Torsten! Very interesting topic.
OK I stopped lurking

I think that " lurkers " are who either don't have any information about ongoing topic or they just don't want to share their opinions for some reasons.One of this reasons is fear of not getting supporters of their ideas.For example, if someone has contrary opinion on one topic, and he/she afraids of conflicts, they will probably not share their opinions with other members.But if person like me shares opinions with other members and doesn/t afraid of quarrels then he/she will be reproached as me on forum.( but I don't take offence)

My advice, never afraid of your own crazy thoughts.
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[Tamara]

Hi

Research?..
I wouldn't do THAT kind of generalisation...

Taking my own example:
There are two forums on which I'm a 'read only' (regular) user. One is just requires a higher level of competency than mine (and I know my limits quite well) - but is very interesting to me.

Also, there is a (professional) forum where I do posting very rare, just occasionally (~ once a month or two, just to take part in a particular discussion, to exchange information or opinions on a particularly interesting to me subject or answer a question, if can. Or to ask. )

Also, there are two forums (*******.ru/ and english-test.net/forum ) where I am a regular and active member. According to my current wishes

Who am I, "in total"?

P.S. But if look at people personally and not through the prism of "forums' statistics", I can surely say that there are many of those who consider the Internet as a good source of information, only.
My husband is. He is a very real person.
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[sls]

Hello!

I suppose I could be qualified as a lurker because sometimes it takes weeks before I post a message. This is true for most forums that I participate in, too.

However, it's not out of fear of expressing my opinion and I'm not avoiding confrontations. It's just that, besides school and homework and stuff, I also do a lot of other things that take quite a lot of time, e.g. learning to play the piano, programming, etc.

In fact, it's already 2 o'clock in the morning here and I have spent the last three hours reading all new threads that have accumulated in the past ten days or so. If I expressed my opinion in every thread I wanted to, I would be turning in around 5 o'clock today. In addition, I don't think it's good practice to 'revive' old threads where a discussion was already brought to an end.

I don't think lurkers do anyone any harm, though. Nobody is harmed by them just reading and not posting.

Stanislav
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[Tamara]

I agree. Taking active part requires three times as much efforts (and not only in terms of time…)

Sometimes I also prefer reading old threads, quietly
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[Yankee]

Hi everyone

I "lurk" almost everywhere on the internet. In other words, I mainly just read things. I also think that's normal and to be expected. Writing does require much more time than just reading, so even on other ESL forums, I mainly read. I do most of my writing here.

I used to be very active on a German house-building forum. I had a million problems and questions when my house was built, and there were a lot of experts on that forum who answered my questions and gave me a lot of good advice and tips.

Amy
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

I did a little bit of lurking as I read the responses to your original 'lurk' message. You have to in order to find out what to say. Mind you, lurkers can come to a sticky end. Back to my old friend, Bill and his play Hamlet. Ophelia's father, Poloniius is set to spy on Hamlet and lurks behind an arras (not to be recommended in this play):

[sls]

Hi Alan,
That's a fine example. We studied Hamlet last year and I liked it. On the Internet, you're not as unseen as you might think you are. User activity can easily be logged on most websites so it's possible to monitor who does what. Generalized statistics can be produced by means of some parser and et voil? - you can see how many people post less than once in a week.

Stanislav
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Albert Einstein

[Torsten]

[Torsten]

[Tamara]

Hi Torsten, in my understanding a 'professional forum' is one where:
- it is claimed (and the professional area/ area of knowledge is (more or less) clearly defined);

- most threads are discussions on subjects from that particular area of knowledge/activity/area of business;

- there is the 'critical mass' of (professionally) qualified forum's people who permanently support discussions at the 'appropriate' level of consideration. (Not deepen in the meaning of 'appropriate'...)

All three conditions simultaneously. At least.
(So, the opposite of a 'professional forum' (non-professional OR unprofessional ) you would easily get, if missing just one )

My note about 'generalisation' only meant that I had nothing against statistical generalisation for forums, but not for people.
(The question 'Are you a lurker?' asked in the context of the forum's statistical 'research' was trying to directly refer to people which seemed to me a bit-too-much kind of trasference. ) Even "Are you a lurker HERE?"
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[Tamara]

[Torsten]

[Tamara]

Torsten, to be honest, I have no intention to spend an hour trying to write ‘formal definitions’ to answer your 'questionnaire' (How… How… Can…) – and expecting to come under a next running fire of questions .

Generally , I don’t think I’m unique, and suppose that everyone who has both formal qualification (=university educated in some area) + 7-15 years of experience in the area, can distinguish a 'true professional' - in the area of own competency – from a person who 'has been educating' (and 'consulting') online by using Google, Wikipedia and so on

If you need a good example of a professional forum, have a look here: http://forum.ixbt.com
(You can see their daily Statistics at the bottom of the main page.)

It’s one of the best professional forum I know in the ru-net zone, the place where you actually have that special feeling that always comes when you communicate with true professionals.
The place that stays fresh for many years, despite the natural turnover of forum’s active players (who form the ‘critical mass’ , who make the forum – in that intangible sense of the expression that you, of course, understand. Being not a novice on the Internet...)