The lurker problem

[franceslievens]

In a post that I didn't come by until the comments thread was huge and I didn't feel like adding my two cents anymore, frenchani addresses a lot of the problems I only hinted at when doing my survey. LJ seems to harvest a community between familiars. You add people to the friendslist because you want to know them better, because you like them. That's only the theory. LJ is a tool that every user moulds to his or her own image. I don't do the same thing with LJ as the persons on my flist. I don't use my flist in the same way as they use it. Some immediately "add someone back" when you add them, as a policy of friendlyness; others wait and see. I'm more the wait and see kind. Why should I read someone's LJ when I don't know the person and will only be confronted with boring renditions of what happened during the day? I want to be seduced.
The friendslist, however, has never been the problem. I know the people that are on there and have added most of them myself first, through pointers of other friends or because I knew them through other paths on the internet. Unfortunately there are the procrastinators, the ones gone AWOL, who don't like posting, but nonetheless like reading. We don't know if they still read and like reading and that's when a post like my survey comes out. Because I want to know. I enjoy writing LJ, but I enjoy it more when I know that you, dear reader, enjoy doing your thing.

The part that puzzles me more though, and makes me curious is the persons that are really hidden from view: people I gave the direct link to, other blogs I posted the URL on as a ways to contact me, me commenting on some communities or appearing on friends' friendslists. There is this whole world out there that has access to my LJ and I have no clue if they ever use the access. Sometimes they suddenly come out of hiding, but most of the time they are what frenchani accurately calls ghosts, the Sartrian equivalent of them, where ghosts see what happen in this world, but can't interact in it.
Stupid thing is they can interact, but choose not too. They're more like the Greek gods, looking down on the quarrelling and lowly behaviour of us small humans. We're like daytime tv, but better. You must be extremely beautiful or sleeping with their wife before they'll come down from Mount Olympos and honour us with a visit in the guise of a swan, or a freakish icon.
It is a very egocentric thing to consider these things. I long for a pat on the back: "Hey, doing great, kiddo!" and because it doesn't always come when I think it will, I ask directly. "Hey, who the hell are you?" Begging doesn't help one bit. It's the same ones that answer again, but probably it's the same law that applies: only a small part of the people that live online participate. I believe the number is one third. So when you have a forum with 300 members, only about 100 will frequently participate and keep the forum alive. The others lurk and read. Same might apply for LJ: you got 30 people that list you as a friend? You get lucky when 10 of them frequently comment on your posts. I don't know what the mechanism exactly is, but we all seem to love to listen along, like sitting in the pub and listening to what's said at the table right next to ours. I admit I like doing that, which is probably the reason why some people on my friendslist deserve more comments than I've been giving them lately.

There is an easy way out of the lurker problem: adding a counter to your blog. LJ refuses to let you do that.

Comments

[comava.livejournal.com]

I like this one third thing. I just checked with my own flist and it's a pretty good estimate!

While it's a good analogy, I refuse to see lurkers as anything Greek godly-like. I know what you mean, I like getting comments a much as the next person but I dislike giving lurkers that much meaning. Their absence doesn't make them important or exalted, nor am I willing to feel patronized. I mean, I get where you're coming from and I've felt that way myself but it irked me, so I try not to care too much. They're ghosts to me, and if they want attention they should know how to get it.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, the Greek gods wasn't the best metaphor! It just came up in my head and sounded fun. ;-)

On LJ we must consider the lurkers like readers of a book or a magazine. An author doesn't talk to his or her readers, doesn't think that's important either. So basically, giving the lurkers too much credit stems from my own insecurity if people actually like what they read. I should, like you, stop wondering about these ghosts.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

It's the same ones that answer again, but probably it's the same law that applies: only a small part of the people that live online participate. I believe the number is one third. So when you have a forum with 300 members, only about 100 will frequently participate and keep the forum alive. The others lurk and read. Same might apply for LJ: you got 30 people that list you as a friend? You get lucky when 10 of them frequently comment on your posts. I don't know what the mechanism exactly is, but we all seem to love to listen along, like sitting in the pub and listening to what's said at the table right next to ours.

Interesting parallel. But as much as I can understand lurkage on lj since so many LJs seem so "intimate", it annoys me a lot on boards, as you know very well!

LJ is a tool like Voy but an LJ belongs to its owner, it's his/her thing above all, but a forum is a common thing (even though there's actually an owner who created it to begin with), it's a res publica and we are all responsible for keeping the fire alive so we can gather around, we are accountable for a forum's health and survival or for its agony.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Yes, boards open up much more than LJ. LJ is a personal publishing tool in which we let the world know what we think. Maybe you can compare it to the newspaper: not everyone writes a letter when they read an article, so not everyone feels obliged to note they liked reading this or that entry.

On boards lurking truly is sitting alone in the pub and listening to others' conversations without taking part in them. Having a conversation and commenting is only part of the LJ-experience. The basis is always sharing your thoughts, but you don't necessarily ask for a reply, whereas on a forum you need a reply.

I confess, I am a lurker

[iphi1.livejournal.com]

Lurking does not equal not interested
Although I religiously read everything that appears on my friends page, I rarely comment to any of the people on my flist.
Does this mean I'm not interested? NO!
If you look at my profile you'll see I have a very short flist. I only friend people after I've been reading their journals for a considerable amount of time, and if I am convinced they add value to my day. I consider these people to be smart, witty and entertaining.

Lurkers are not Greek gods, mostly they're just lazy
I just don't feel the need to always participate/interact. If a post is of particular interest to me I might comment, but only if I have something of value to add to the post. People put some amount of thought in what they post, or I would hope that they do, and thus they do deserve feedback & comments. However, this takes a certain amount of effort, and mostly I'm just too lazy. Of course, most Greek gods were really lazy too :)

In conclusion
I consider myself lucky that the people that I friended allow me to enjoy their thoughts. And yes they do deserve comments but if I can't come up with anything interesting to say, I'd rather say nothing at all.

Consider yourself commented on! :)

Re: I confess, I am a lurker

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting. And you are so right. I should stop trying to come up with funny metaphors, because they come back to bite me in the ass. Greek gods? Well, seems no-one thought it one of the best images I came up with. *g* I mainly referred to the lazyness of the lurkers though. Like you said: it takes a big amount of effort to come up with a good reply that says more than "I agree wholeheartedly." (I for one am very good at stating the obvious and going "I agree wholeheartedly")

Most people on my flist ended up there because I knew them through other sources and reading their LJ is a way to keep up with them.

The more comments I'm getting about this topic, the more I'm actually saying to myself: "Stop whining! There are actually people out there that read you." The fact that I'm asking these questions and expressing these thoughts probably says more about me than about the nature of LJ. ;-)

Nice personalised icon btw.