I have a confession

https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/669/141272.html

I'm a lurker. There, I said it. I lurk on message boards. I'm not proud of it. I wish I was different. But I just can't help it. It's who I am. 

But wait, let me back up a bit, as I realize this class is all about exploring the world of online communities. Let me explain what a "lurker" is...

A lurker is a person - like me - who visits online message boards (think Reddit, or some Facebook post) and reads the comments, but doesn't really participate. We lurkers sit in the shadows of the internet, and like the picture above, we read and judge. Do we have relevant things to say and contribute? Of course we do! Do we always share them? Of course we don't.

We don't really know why we lurk like we do. Are we afraid to participate? Scared we might meet some online bully who types mean things toward us? Maybe. Are we afraid of "putting ourselves out there?" Possibly.

But here's the thing. There are millions of us! Heck, you might even be a lurker. You might have read this blog post, looked at that comment box and thought of something clever to type in there. But nope. You sink back into the shadows. It's safe there. I get it.

So this week I couldn't help but thinking of my lurking ways as I read articles which speak to the importance of maintaining and promoting our online selves. ISD practitioners are technical people. We live in these online spaces, so we need to be good stewards of these practices. And yes, that means coming out of the shadows and "putting ourselves out there" more.

For the course project I have decided to join a new forum community about a topic that I really love. And I have made a promise to myself that this time I'm not simply going to lurk. I'm going to come out of the shadows and contribute! Well, that's the plan anyway...


Comments

  1. FrankieJune 1, 2023 at 3:36 PM

    I will join you in this confession, as I am much of a lurker myself. I find it difficult to engage in the digital landscape as I consider myself relatively old school and would rather read or book or have a face to face conversation. I also am branching out and joining a forum community, like you, it is a big step and I will try to come out of the shadows as well...goodluck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarionJune 1, 2023 at 11:38 PM

    It's stil early in France. Before jumping to my hectic last day of the week, I planned to read a few blog posts of my classmates as I did not have the time to do it earlier this week. I said "read blog posts", not "read and reply to blog posts". Yes, I intentionally planned to start my day as a lurker. In the end, look at me! French people are definitely unruly ;-).
    Here is my point (and my main takeaway for this week): We're all lurkers. I don't believe we have to react on everything we read or watch. Information needs some time to be processed. And maybe we are just not supposed to comment on everything. We might be lurkers for some topics or on some platforms, or in some communities, and more activities in other environments. Or we might switch to a proactive mode at some point in our lives. We never can tell. Being a lurker is not a bad thing, it's how we act in the physical world as well.
    Overall, to me, reflecting about lurking relates to reflecting about the meaning of sharing online. When our reactions are not measurable, does this mean we do not react? Does this mean we do not care?

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShaniquaJune 2, 2023 at 12:01 AM

    I join you, Marion, and Frankie in the lurker club. I haven't always been a lurker, but at some point I just stopped posting content - whether that was comments, original thought, or photos/videos. I've slowly started posting again on my personal Instagram account; but that was a conscious decision. I'm pretty sure I stopped posting as much during the pandemic, but if I can be honest, I haven't really missed it. I'm pretty sure my primary residence is with the lurkers, with an occasional visit to the active contributor group.

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