I’ve been lurking on the SDMB for 5 years(!) apparently, and it’s come to my attention that I’ve never once posted in any thread, on any board…
On this, a few days after my 5th anniversary (so to speak), I’ve decided to break my silence. So I ask - how long did it take you to make the transition from behind the curtain to participating member?
My experience was quite the opposite of yours. I became a member in order to be able to post to a specific thread. So the time from lurker to poster was about 30 minutes.
Good lord, hekk!
Good… uh… (goes silent with astonishment)
Hey, I’ll only have to keep this up for 5 years and a week and I’ll equal hekk’s record of - uh… darn.
How did you ever do it??
I vote we ask the Mods to change your name to “Trappist Hekk”. Who’s with me?
Uh… welcome to the… posting Boards…
Good lord!!!
Uh… sorry. You had me so astonished I forgot to answer.
If by “lurker” you mean “member who doesn’t write in”, my answer is -28 days. If by “lurker” you mean “nonsubscribed person who reads but has no permission to write in”, two to three years.
Since I am going to be really surprised if there are any other subscribed members who read without writing ANYthing, may I ask you to clarify the definition of “lurker”? As normally understood, or (gasp) like you???
(This will also double your post count!)
I don’t think I even had a lurking period. I’m very impulsive, you see.
Then again, I joined up back in the wild, careless days when we didn’t have to pay for the privilege.
I wonder what my first post was. The search doesn’t take me back that far.
As one of the people that brought our little gabriela into the Big, Bad World of the Dope, I can attest to her story.
As for me, I resisted. I didn’t even know about the boards until I stumbled across them. I was reading all of Cecil’s columns, then finally saw the “Message Boards” link. I got curious and gave it a click.
It’s been a downward spiral ever since.
I lurked a little bit. I posted during my guest phase. I didn’t even sign up until I felt I had to respond to something in particular (don’t remember what exactly it was) and then…yeah…they got me.
Welcome to the boards, by the way. Squids, marbles, doors, goats, and cats (SDMGC) to ya.
I’m with Cunctator.
I discovered the SDMB, found a thread I wanted to post to, joined, and posted; all in about 30 minutes.
I cannot fathom reading the SDMB for more than a day or two, tops, without wanting to say something to somebody about something.
Ditto. From Lurk to Jerk was less than a minute. 
I was reading the archives of the Dope and I wanted to comment on one of the articles. I set up my guest account and joined. I guess technically, I did not lurk at all. I decided to join a short time later.
Jim
I posted a couple of times back in Sept of '99, then nothing until May 06. 6 2/3 years between posts - lurking the whole time (I didn’t pay for any of that time, tho)
I read off and on for a year or so and then I saw a TMI post about periods. I joined to reply to it, but then a hamster ate my post and I was too shy to write another one. As it is now, I’m still more of a lurker than a poster. I have written a great many replies, but posted very few.
Keep in mind that I haven’t ever subscribed in the sense of actually paying anything, when I joined, IIRC, it was free to be a member.
There were plenty of times, especially lately, that I wanted to post, so I decided to grab my credit card and make my donation. 
I’ve got about 5 years as well. Never wanted to bother once it went all subsrcription on us.
My pattern of posting is sporadic. In the first year and a half of my membership, I made only two posts. Then I went from being lurkacious to loquacious for a while. I backed off into obscurity for a few months after being hammered rather hard by some non-admirers. I crept back onto the board, determined to say nothing that would set off the whackaloons, and so far, so good.
Hey you!
Yeah, you! Hey Gimp!
Get back in your box! Did someone let you out of it on purpose?
(I kid, I kid. We love ya.)
I went from about a week or two of just reading before I started posting, and I definitely go through phases of posting more or less frequently.
A lot of it depends on when I’m in town and have net access vs. when I’m not, but it also changes through phases in my general business.
I think I went for 6 months in between lurking and registering, but my first post was probably a few months after that. As you can see, I post sporadically but I think I’ve been posting slightly more often this past year.
This seems as good an opportunity as any to make my first apperance. It is nowhere near as dramatic as hekk’s but I’ve been lurking on these boards for years now. It was sometime in 02 when I first got the idea to Google “Straight Dope”.
A few nights ago I read a thread that made me want to post, I grabbed my card, signed up, wrote a lengthy response. I got an error message.
This seems a bit less audacious as a first post than the one I had originally meat to post anyhow. Cheers!
When I first found this board about three years ago, I posted from the start, but after about a week of that I wisely decided I wasn’t ready and reverted to lurking. Two years later, I finally began posting again.
I’ve been reading since AOL. I don’t remember how I found it on AOL, but it was (and is) a treasure-trove of goodness. I resisted joining because even reading faithfully can be time consuming. Finally I said ‘what the hell’ and joined - there haven’t been any 6+ page long TMI poop or pus threads (I’m a sucker for the dreadful - Qadgop and gabriela workplace tales are a favorite, too) - so I’ve been able to be expeditious lately in my reading.