Do you allow lurkers?

Beverly Level X³

June 3, 2014, 2:29 am

7

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Do you allow lurkers?

Some forums have a rule against lurkers, that is members who sign up and then only read threads but never respond. It's easy enough to identify a lurker.

I understand how some people want to read over discussions awhile until they feel comfortable enough to speak openly. That might be more true on a tight knit community where it feels as if everyone on forum is friends and the person coming in from the outside doesn't know if they fit in.

However, there could also be reasons you don't want someone lurking.

Is this something you tolerate on your own forum? Do you mind it or not? Such as how long do you allow someone to lurk and silently read (days, weeks, months) before you PM to ask them for an introduction on forum?

Comments

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Ashlyn

I don't understand the point of someone signing up to the forum just to read discussions, when they can do that as a guest. I would expect every member to contribute in some way. Otherwise, I would suspect they are simply signing up to spam private messages or some other nefarious reason.

12 years ago

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NaturalWriter

This happens all the time. So many people go through the work to join a community, then say nothing to no one at anytime. This is frustrating! I give them a 6 month window of opportunity before I check them out. There's no need of it really.

12 years ago

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tangee

I would much rather be a part of the discussion. I would never just lurk a forum as I see no point.

12 years ago

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Beverly

I would much rather be a part of the discussion. I would never just lurk a forum as I see no point.

I won't usually join a forum unless I feel that I can really contribute in some way, so lurking is not really necessary once I sign up as I'm already to begin posting.

12 years ago

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elladavidson

I won't usually join a forum unless I feel that I can really contribute in some way, so lurking is not really necessary once I sign up as I'm already to begin posting.

Yes I agree with you on this Beverly. I want to contribute and want to be a part of the site when I join.

12 years ago

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Jagger

My view on lurkers are they are bots or link builders so they are not going to contribute anything worthwhile and will just end up spamming my forum in a way that costs me or my staff time with having to clean up their links and spam. So if they want to join and post an introduction, then so be it. Otherwise, I might delete the account. Why take so long to think it over?

12 years ago

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Corzhens

To be honest about the issue, I was once a lurker myself when I was new to forums. I would register and then roam around the boards, clicking on interesting threads and reading the comments. I don’t find anything wrong with lurking although I know that a lurker may be copying the contents of the forum and maybe make use of it for his own benefit. But if someone would do that, I think a lurker would be in a lower probability. A copycat would have a better disguise. So to me, a lurker is someone who is afraid of posting a comment for he may make a mistake.

8 years ago

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