Forum lurkers click here

[CNY rider]

Interesting article in the Times Magazine today about lurkers on boards.
Snippet posted below.
I remember a thread a while ago asking the lurkers to step up to the mic, say Hi, and get to know folks around here.
Shall we give it another try?


From the New York Times, by Virginia Heffernan:
For years, I’ve spent hours a day on Web sites devoted variously to television, finance, consumer electronics, celebrity gossip, furniture design, health anomalies and real estate. To the sites’ message boards, which I follow almost as avidly as I did the first seasons of “Damages” and “Mad Men,” I’ve contributed a total of three overwritten comments. I can recall them verbatim. They sank like stones.

Mostly I’m O.K. with that. But every now and then, when the posters on these sites start muttering about “lurkers,” I shudder like a Soviet mole in the Pentagon. Because, yes, I lurk: I visit boards but don’t post; I read without writing; I take without giving. And I’m sorry.

If lurkers are condemned with less venom than other message-board scourges — spammers (who post ads), trolls (who promote controversy) and sock puppets (who burnish their own reputations under aliases) — this may be only because lurkers are ubiquitous. Everyone, even those lightning-fingered I.M. fiends who must never stop typing, has to lurk sometime, even if only while reading reviews on Chowhound or Makeup Alley.

[scrubadub]

Guess I'll post the first lurker reply, see if that kicks off anything. I think it's my second post (EDIT: 3rd)... some of us just like being quiet.

Used to be a wannabe racer in college, did some tris for awhile, and now I ride for fun with friends. Trying to get into adventure racing but I don't have any time. I do collect steel bikes though.

[shanerpvt]

Originally Posted by lyenhuang

I do collect steel bikes though.

watcha got?

[navclbiker]

Dave. From Virginia. I'm the #1 Lurker here. I Lurk because I yearn for biking knowledge which is more abundant here than anywhere else I know. I'm one of those undereducated people that have a carbon stay on his new CDA and paid too much for too flashy a paint job. (Cuz it's all about the ride...right? )

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=33492

I Don't yet do all the wrenching on my own bikes. I'll take a class this spring to fix that. I have never entered a race and I probably never will be strong enough to do so. Anyhoo, I'm a military musician by trade and I am biking more now than ever before. If anybody needs advice from a classical clarinet geek, I'll be lurking....

[regularguy412]

-- the abovecited's position. It seems that lurking is somewhat encouraged by some forums. If posters are not in the 'clicque', their posts are often met with derision or, just as bad, ignored altogether.

Much of what is related on forums is primarily anecdotal; that is, shared as a result of the poster's own experience. Often what is shared is neither completely 'right' or 'wrong'; it's just 'different'. What works for one will not necessarily work for another. However, it _MAY_. That's what makes forums and message boards important. No one person has a monopoly on what works and what doesn't.

It's pretty easy for some to utilize the benefit of electronic anonymity to summarily dismiss another's opinion. IMHO, we should all remember that there are real persons behind those monikers and they are here mostly for the same reasons the others are: to share and gain information. It's up to each person to decide whether that information is viable and applicable to his or her own individual situation.

When we discourage the sharing of knowledge, everyone suffers.

Mike in AR

PS - CNY, thanks for posting.

[eisenm]

I have been using the forum for valuable opinions, checking it regularly since 2003. It is now hard to make decisions on parts without it. I appreciate the forum, and will likely continue keeping a low profile for years to come. My favorite ride is my 2003 Concours, but my 1994 CR is now veiled as a white single speed winter bike -- love it, too.

[edouard]

Originally Posted by sock puppet

...

Stevep, on the other hand, scares me with his complete lack of manners. I wish that he would be more considerate of others' feelings, and stop displaying that unibomber style of his.

...

this time of year, doesnt he move into an ice shanty

[gomez308]

I mostly lurk. I'll post every once and awhile. There is a lot of stupid out there on the interweb and I try to keep mine to a minimum.

the whole point of all these opinions is to pick out the ones that fit your experiences and help you deepen your understanding, or question your own when you're challenged. provoking thought is a good thing, no?

no one here claims ownership of THE truth.... but i think we all encourage thinking and feeling out loud about what we like and dislike and don't mind deconstructing or beliefs.

what i walk away with is an better understanding of why i think about things the way i do... and why a bike feels god or bad to me... the bike doesn't care how or what i think.. but i do.

so.. confirmation is nice and all... but i learn more when i'm challenged to think about what i think.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by sock puppet

I just want to say that Roman Meal's posts are just genius. He's funny, enlightened, a delight to read.

You forgot handsome and a real stud on the bike

[Skrawny]

Originally Posted by sock puppet

Great post. I've been lurking here for awhile, and I just want to say that Roman Meal's posts are just genius. He's funny, enlightened, a delight to read.
Stevep, on the other hand, scares me with his complete lack of manners. I wish that he would be more considerate of others' feelings, and stop displaying that unibomber style of his.

Thanks for reading this post, and I'll try to post more in the future, but I'll never hold a light to Roman's brilliant quips.

I've been waiting for that post.
Temped to do it myself, but I figured I'd jusk keep lurking.
-s

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by edouard

this time of year, doesnt he move into an ice shanty

I think you might be thinking of our friend Your Friend!
He is a penguin after all!

[manet]

.

[e-RICHIE]

well okay then atmo.

[Bud_E]

I started out lurking for quite a while. It took me months to work up the nerve to finally post something. Now I'm at the point where I lovingly admire the wisdom contained in all of my own previous posts and smugly comment out loud at the monitor when I read anybody else's clearly inferior posts.

I can't understand why my wife says she's worried about me.