Lurker
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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 participates.
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[edit] History
The term dates back to the mid-1980s, when most people did not have access to the internet, but used BBS chat rooms and message boards instead.
Because BBSs were often accessed by a single phone line (frequently in someone's home), there was an expectation that all who used a bulletin board would contribute to its content by uploading files and posting comments. Lurkers were viewed negatively, and might be barred from access by the sysop, if they did not contribute anything but kept the phone line tied up for extended periods.
Many internet communities advise newbies to lurk for some time to get a feel for the specific culture and etiquette of the community, lest they make an inappropriate or redundant comment, ask a frequently asked question, or incite a flame war. This leads to the tongue-in-cheek command to "lurk more". The verb to "de-lurk" means to start contributing actively to a community having been a lurker previously.
There are also some who lurk on a forum habitually, and rarely, if ever, contribute. It is generally difficult to guess how many such lurkers are present, due to their silence.
[edit] Malevolent lurkers
Some lurkers may attempt to heavily involve themselves in the administration of a moderated forum by repeatedly alerting moderators to comments which offend their political or moral point of view, but refrain from participating in the discussion directly. Some of these lurkers occasionally post comments praising moderators, usually in an effort to curry favor.
[edit] Benign lurkers
Most lurkers, however, are either shy, feel inadequately educated on a given topic, or are uncomfortable expressing their thoughts in written form on email lists. They enjoy reading others' posts and responses to them, but refrain from adding their own contributions. They have been known to send comments off-list, to individual posters, which are frequently positive.
[edit] Constructive lurkers
The constructive lurker is a person who regularly reads online forums but rarely posts. These individuals might have a high degree of sophistication within the topic of any given forum, but are unwilling to post detailed replies. Lurkers of this sort are not shy about posting. When these lurkers do post, they often provide well thought-out and detailed comment to the discussion at hand. A constructive lurker is often a veteran of several previous online discussion forums. Having been involved in many heated online discussions in the past, these lurkers often only contribute when the discussion takes a novel turn.
[edit] Smart-Ass lurkers
The "smart-ass lurker" is a person who watches a discussion take place, only to intervene with a derisive comment or "gotcha" comment that sends up the active participants (from a smug, detached position).
[edit] Perverted lurkers
The "perverted lurker" is a person who watches online discussions for the purposes of sexual arousal. They are often condemned by moderators and participants of topics such as women's issues and transsexualism, because they find their presence degrading. They may observe topics that are not prurient in and of themselves such as fashion, hair, and medical discussion boards. They may for instance, find something arousing in a discussion on breast cancer.
[edit] "The Lurkers Support Me in Email"
In flame wars, a person who is losing the argument and being ganged up on from all sides will sometimes make the claim that he is receiving email support from lurkers who are afraid join in the discussion. Such arguments are looked down upon since they cannot be proven without posting the emails, which is considered bad netiquette.
Such claims inspired Jo Walton to write the filk "Lurkers Support Me in Email".
- The Lurkers support me in e-mail
- They all think I'm great don't you know.
- You posters just don't understand me
- But soon you will reap what you sow.
- Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you'll see, you'll see
- Off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you'll see.
- The lurkers support me in e-mail
- "So why don't they post?" you all cry
- They're scared of your hostile intentions
- They just can't be as brave as I.
- Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you'll see, you'll see
- Off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you'll see.
- One day I'll round up all my lurkers
- We'll have a newsgroup of our own
- Without all this flak from you morons
- My lurkers will post round my throne.
- Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you'll see, you'll see
- Off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you'll see.
Source: http://barb.velvet.com/humor/lurkers.html
[edit] Pop Culture
J. Michael Straczynski, the writer of the television science fiction series Babylon 5, decided to use the term "lurkers" to refer to the homeless space station inhabitants of Brown Sector because of their similarity to Internet lurkers (see Internet marketing and fan influence on Babylon 5).
There is an email archiving tool (http://lurker.sourceforge.net) of the same name.
A singer/songwriter project from Germany named itself "200 Lurkers" (http://www.200lurkers.com)
The circle of filmmakers starting in 1996 (and then the general film festival attendees) of the annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival call themselves "the Lurkers". Also the film festival program is called the Daily Lurker (after H.P. Lovecraft's The Lurker at the Threshold). The festival is run by Lurker Films.
Andrew Migliore and John Strysik wrote a book called Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft.
[edit] Trivia
In Japanese, a lurker is referred to by the wasei-eigo term "read-only member" (リードオンリーメンバー rīdoonrīmembā), possibly as a pun on "read-only memory". Likewise, a leech is called a "download-only member."
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Blair Nonnecke and Jenny Preece (2003). "Silent participants: Getting to know lurkers better", in D. Fisher and Christopher Lueg: From Usenet to Co Webs: Interacting with social information spaces. Springer, 110–132. ISBN 1852335327.
[edit] External links
- Participation Inequality: Lurkers vs. Contributors in Internet Communities - Article with several examples of the large percentage of users who lurk and guidelines for encouraging more participation.
