Friday, January 12, 2007

Anatomy of a lurker

It's National De-lurking Week. Or so I've discovered from reading entries at several of my regular haunts (and I know I'm missing a couple). The entries have amused me, especially the questions that have been posed to draw readers out.

But guess what? I haven't answered any of them.

Now I'm not a lurker, per se. I do comment occasionally on every blog I read.* But I will admit that I don't comment as often as I think I should.

So here's a list of the excuses I give for not commenting regularly:

1. Technical reasons.

I have noticed that I have commented less since the new Blogger was rolled out. The problem, in a (less technical, somewhat brief) nutshell: I have two profiles on my Firefox. Basically one is tied to my real world Google account and one to my blogworld Google account. I used to do all of my blogreading and commenting via the second profile, but got lazy when I set up Bloglines on the other profile. Now, however, whenever I want to comment, Blogger pulls in my Google information from my real world account; this is problematic both because I have to switch my account to comment (and it loses any comment I've started in the switch) and because I then get bounced out of my Gmail account (which I usually keep open). So technical/lazy--your call.

2. Shyness.

I find that I am less likely to comment when a post has either zero or many, many comments. In the first case, it's because I don't want to stand out, right there at the front. With the latter, I feel overwhelmed by the many voices already out there and figure mine doesn't need to be heard. Which is related to...

3. A lack of anything important to say.

I have a hard time saying something simple like, "Good post." Which is ridiculous, because I sure appreciate it when people leave me a short message like that. Often I'll start to write something and end up deleting the whole thing.

4. A lack of timeliness.

I like to let things marinate. As a result, I often think of something to say about a post days later, but by then it feels like it's too late.

5. A lack of time.

I don't read that many blogs (especially compared to the numbers I've seen cited by other people), but even that number can stretch my time when I'm in the middle of a semester.

Now to turn this around.

I try not to focus on my StatCounter numbers. And I truly am pleased to have the core of readers that I do, as well as a smaller core within that group who regularly comment. But I am curious about those visitors who show up but, as far as I know, have never commented. Obviously I'm saying something that keeps you coming back (and that alone makes me ecstatic), so thank you just for reading.

There's one sub-group of my readers I want to mention specifically--those of you who got here via LesbianFamily.org and Mombian.com. I've been lucky to make friends with a good number of Canadian moms through my blog already, but would really love to hear from some of the lesbian moms out there too.

Just a gentle nudge.

*I think, though it's possible I've missed someone.

8 comments:

cinnamon gurl said...

Wow, I had no idea my blog was a regular haunt for you... cool! So I guess this post counts as delurking?

We get that screw up with the google account too. A coupla times I've commented as my husband before I realized. I copy my comment before i sign in, if i have to sign in.

And it's never too late to comment!!

Mouse said...

I thought I had commented at your blog before, but maybe I've pulled one of those start-to-write-but-then-delete moments there. So now I'll head over there and post a proper comment.

Anonymous said...

Happy to delurk as well and say hi. Glad you're getting some traffic through Mombian, and I hope you find a bunch of other moms to chat with. I know I even have some readers who are both Canadian and moms.

On a personal note, I narrowly escaped becoming a humanities Ph.D myself--left when ABD when I decided to see what existed outside the library. I have the greatest admiration for those of you seeing it through to the end, though.

Unknown said...

Here is another delurk for you, I'm neither a mom, nor lesbian, but I do enjoy intelligence and good writing, so I read often.

I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled across your site, but glad I did.

Keep up the good work.

Laural Dawn said...

Hi!
I've been guilty of lurking everywhere. I love your blog.
Sorry I never comment. I don't know why. But, loving it.

ms blue said...

I feel that I should only write earth shattering comments and hate that lately my mind has turned to mush.

Mouse said...

Glad to see some new faces and to know that you're not just a figment of my imagination (poor, crazy lady, thinks she has readers)!

Anonymous said...

5 of the app included options for flipping and cropping Stickers
Uk Customs. The app even lets you name your Stickers Uk Custom albums with everyone.
The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, who decided 'not to attend' his speech,
investors were trading on defense, expecting long talks.


Look into my weblog - buy Stickers