# How long were you a lurker? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038 "2003-03-21T05:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Meros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meros)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/1 "2003-03-21T05:37:07Z")
Just wondering how long some of you may have lurked here before actually signing up for the board. I think I might win the prize for longest lurk period given that it went from the last year of the AOL days till when I just very recently signed up…I wonder if someone can beat me? ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/2 "2003-03-21T05:42:11Z")
I was on the site itself for about 6 months. Then I discovered the board and lurked for about a year and a half. But lurking since the AOL days? Phew! ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/3 "2003-03-21T05:44:40Z")
About a year and a half. Finally signed up to reply to something, but never did. First post came a year later. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/4 "2003-03-21T05:57:40Z")
I discovered the site a few years ago, but the message boards were so slow I soon forgot about it. ( might have been a temporary thing, but they timed out the few times I tried them). I came back last summer and lurked about 4 months until I signed up. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/5 "2003-03-21T06:27:36Z")
13.2 femtoseconds ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/6 "2003-03-21T06:37:52Z")
Of course, just 'cause you’ve signed up doesn’t make you a non-lurker. Take me, for example. I’m at 35 posts (this is #36), yet I’ve been registered for longer than any of you. (That’s 0.06 posts per day, thank you very much!) ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/7 "2003-03-21T06:38:37Z")
About 20 minutes. I stumbled upon a thread about vegetarianism and HAD to respond! Didn’t get really active until a few months later, though. ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/8 "2003-03-21T06:43:23Z")
Ahem, and in reply to the OP, wow, I must’ve been an official lurker for a year or so before signing up. The thread that I read first? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906) Ah, those were the days 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/9 "2003-03-21T06:50:49Z")
Maybe a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/10 "2003-03-21T06:54:25Z")
About one-tenth of a nanosecond. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/11 "2003-03-21T06:56:52Z")
I never lurked. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/12 "2003-03-21T07:01:31Z")
Name That Tune! ---
**Author:** ![greyseal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@greyseal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greyseal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/13 "2003-03-21T07:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LtningBug \* > \*\*Of course, just 'cause you’ve signed up doesn’t make you a non-lurker. Take me, for example. I’m at 35 posts (this is #36), yet I’ve been registered for longer than any of you. (That’s 0.06 posts per day, thank you very much!) \*\* Embarassing. I’m at around .038 posts per day. I’ve been toying with a “lurker appreciation” thread based on posts per day. Maybe we should have one. ---
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/14 "2003-03-21T07:27:49Z")
About 3 years from first finding the site, I think. At first I just had a quick look at the boards after reading the daily column (I was reading from a busy workplace) but for the last 2 years I’ve been reading the boards on a nearly daily basis. It took me a month or two to start posting after I signed up, because I wanted to wait until I actually had something to add to a discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/15 "2003-03-21T07:49:44Z")
I lurked for about a month, then I signed up and started posting. I’m almost at my 500th post anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/16 "2003-03-21T08:04:46Z")
A few months… ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/17 "2003-03-21T08:35:13Z")
Probably like 2 years. Well, I forget the specific date I started reading it, but I believe “Wally tries cybersex” was in Threadspotting. Too bad I didn’t register back when he graced the boards with his presence. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/18 "2003-03-21T08:56:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by greyseal \* > \*\*I’ve been toying with a “lurker appreciation” thread based on posts per day. Maybe we should have one. \*\* There recently (1-2 weeks ago) was a thread on posters with really low post counts, until it was exploded as a devious ploy to get the low-posters to increase their number of posts. 😉 Unfortunately I cannot find it, since by its very nature most of the posters were unfamiliar names. I think it was in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/19 "2003-03-21T09:03:11Z")
About a year. I was just saving up. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038/20 "2003-03-21T10:56:15Z")
Another non-lurker. I posted my first question (about Denis the Menace) before I had read a single thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-were-you-a-lurker/163038.md?page=2)