As long as I’ve been here, I’ve seen references to people “lurking”. What they learned while they “lurked”, things they remember; “That was back in my ‘lurking’ days”, and the oldbies have always advised to newbies to “lurk”.
I never did.
Did you lurk?
I lurked for about 6 months before I registered. Good thing I did too. This place is a heck of a lot more civilized than the rest of the MB’s out there. If I would have registered without lurking I think I would have probably been banned right away for being a jerk.
I joined last year - - I don’t think I’ve posted all that many times, but I lurk ALOT!! I like to read - - but erase three quarters of the posts I type. :rolleyes:
I lurked for a couple of months, but then joined and posted right after Wally passed away. I had really enjoyed his posts, and had to offer my condolences to those who knew him really well.
Not did, I DO still.
Reasons? 1- My grammar and spelling suck and I hate getting pilled on bye the grammar nazis.
2- I’m not nearly as left of center as many people here and don’t feel like being railed on about my opinions.
3- I don’t have the time to actually post most of the times I’m here.
Nope – posted either the first or second time I stopped by.
What can I say? My IRL shyness doesn’t extend online.
The Face
The occasional grammar/spelling error is entirely acceptable, unless someone in the pit is running out of things to rag on you about. The real problems come when your posts have no sentence structure, no punctuation, no capial letters (or too many, as it were), and is completely unreadable in every way.
Your opinions will likely not be railed against if they are well-researched, coherant, and presented in a respectful way without being intentionally inflammatory. You can disagree and still be welcome here. You cannot, however, be an ass and still be welcome here. Differing opinions make the world go 'round and whatnot.
I can’t really help you with the time thing, but I do hope you’ll post as often as you can.
I just want to point out that the misspelling of “coherent” in the above post was completely intentional.
Or something.
No lurker I. I came onto the boards blasting Cecil himself with both barrels.
I lurk more than I post and I post more than I start a thread.
Did and do.
I lurked for about two years before registering, then lurked another year and half or so before posting!
As evidenced from my paltry post count, I don’t normally post unless I have something interesting to say (does this count?). I have more fun reading than writing, I suppose.
It will be interesting to monitor the read vs posted count on this thread.
Thanks much Silver 
And Snorlax, after looking at posts per day figures you make me feel like a blabbermouth. 
I lurked for a long time before registering. I then posted one reply, which contained some bad info. I was so mortified I slunk back into lurking mode and am very happy there, thank you very much I do continue to read the boards every day, though, and am always amazed at the sheer amount and variety of information found here.
I lurked for about a year, with no intention of posting. Then, I decided to register to post to some topic (I forget which, and I don’t really feel like looking it up right now). I still usually just like to lurk.
Back in the mists of time when the internet was newish, I was browsing one of those little guides. One line was “Lurking is […]. This is not a derogatory term.” which I found so funny for some reason.
Lurking here? I browsed for a while, and then saw something I HAD to post about…
I started lurking last September, registered in October, and finally started posting just recently. I think its usually a good idea to lurk and get a handle on the culture of the board before posting, at least for me. It’s rather unfair in a way, because now I feel I sort of “know” many of the posters here, but y’all don’t know me!
I starting reading TSD about five years ago, and then noticed the SDMB about a year after that. I lurked for awhile, and then registered with every intention of being a regular contributor. Problem was, my job at the time required actual work, on a pretty constant basis. So by the time I had time to actually do some posting, I had forgotten my password :o . I seem to recall trying to get it set back up, but I never really got around to seriously pursuing it.
My current job (same company) gives me a decent amount of free time, so last year I decided “screw it – new username, starting over time”. And here I be.
I lurked for a week or so reading different threads to get an idea of what is acceptable here and what kind of topics go where.
Then I started posting and I’m not stopping now! 3.73 posts per day. Not too shabby.
I lurked for eons. I’m amazed every time i hear of people who didnt lurk. This board is absolutely frightening when you first come on to it and see the quality, sheer brainpower and ability that so many of its members seem to possess in abundence. It was scary making my first post as you almost felt you were leaving yourself open to attack my the knowlege wielding forces of the SDMB. That said im definately glad i stopped lurking and learned that even little old me had something to contribute to this amazing place.
I am a SAHM, who has plenty of time to post, but I still lurk way more than I post.
I also lurked a while before I registered and posted.
Thanks withaK.