Are you a Lurker??

[smithers]

Lurker does not participate in normal forum discourse, but he's out there...watching, reading every message. Generally, he is quite harmless. In fact, his silence usually reflects a natural reticence rather than any sinister motives. He is content to let the other people haul the conversational freight and, if a fight breaks out he will observe quietly. Occasionally, however, some mysterious impulse drives him to de-lurk and attack. Other Warriors regard his unexpected assault as an ambush, and invariably turn on him savagely. But Lurker seldom sticks around to fight it out, rather, after a brief exchange, he slips away, never to be heard from again.

[WHOAMI]

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 a vain effort to curry favor.


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.


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 willingness to post the 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.


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).