On Tue, 25 Feb 2003 12:55:45 -0800
Chuq Von Rospach <chuqui@plaidworks.com> wrote:
>>> Yep, and in fact that's how I read list-managers, so I appreciate
>>> the extra CC.
>> I observe a growing divide between the contributing audience and the
>> leeching audience...
> and RSS and other technologies will only increase the size of the
> passive audience. I've gone back and forth over whether this is good
> or bad, and finally decided to not worry about it.
Yeah, a point there that shouldn't ignored is that with rare exception a
large "leeching" audience is required to derive and support a smaller
contributing audience. You generally don't get one without the other --
possibly another application of Pareto's law and the power curve laws.
> As long as you have a viable user population, does it matter that some
> folks choose to not contribute?
Not in the slightest, unless bandwidth costs are biting, or that larger
audience beings with a distracting bas hum of noise vs signal.
> I've actually spent time tracking down and interviewing lurkers, to
> see why they lurk. It pretty much boils down to:
> 1) by the time I'd get around to saying something, someone else
> already has.
> 2) I don't feel qualified to comment on it. (which I can say is
> definitely not true for many of the lurkers I've talked to, but in
> many cases, it's a polite way of saying:)
> 3) I don't feel like fighting for face time on the list.
As Barry later mentions, there's also the simple fact that many are
atrociously uncomfortable doing anything which represents them,
especially if it requires either typing or language skills. They loathe
typing, feel themselves slow and clumsy with the activity (thus creating
a large barrier to entry), and are worried that they'll pratfall with a
typo, grammatical error, or similar.
Not a question of reticence, but of almost wanting to hide combined with
an active dislike of the physical activity required to participate.
As a side issue, one of the reasons I'm looking to tie mail lists, RSS,
and a Slashdot analogue together into one is to provide as close as I
can get to a seamless on-ramp and training ground for new list posters.
I've found that many are more comfortable with web forums, feel
themselves less exposed, and less commited in whatever activity they
take there -- so using that as something of a bridge into more formal
higher signal venues seems to make some sense.
cf control.com.
> We've been experimenting with "lurker days" with some success. They're
> periods of time where the regular posters shut up and listen, and
> allow some breathing room for the rest of the list without the lurkers
> having to fear having to crawl into the mosh pit. The lurkers like it,
> for the most part the NON-lurkers like it and it gets more people
> involved in contributing. it allows lurkers to comment on ongoing
> threads without the pushback of those with forceful personalities
> (i.e.: me and people like me) and to say things that those of us who
> enjoy flapping our gums hadn't thought to talk about. it's caused a
> couple of lurkers to come out and graduate, too, once they saw they
> weren't going to get pulped, too.
How do you structure and present this? Any enforcement other than
willingness?
> And it's funny what you can learn when you shut up and listen, if you
> actually shut up and listen, not just shut up...
Quite.
--
J C Lawrence
---------(*) Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw@kanga.nu He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/ Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.
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