For 99ers I too thought I had a low post count,but I think Raza has everyone beat!
And for those lukers whose points have already been made:
ahem Ditto!
Hi Dopers! I have lurked the SDMB daily for 3-4 years now. My reason for not posting is that I simply don’t think anything I say actually matters. I first got online in 1997, and spent some time in chat rooms/forums expressing my Very Important Opinions, and quickly realized the futility of it. I am really just talking to myself in the end. I do not feel any personal imperative to change anyone’s mind about anything. I guess I surrendered my arms in the Fight Against Ignorance due to the overwhelming odds. That is the same reason I do not post on any other boards across the interweb. Instead, I choose to sit back, eat popcorn, and point & laugh. I go through real life with much the same attitude. Heck just the other day my very own father told me that he knows “humanity has zero responsibilty for global warming” :dubious: , and that “the schools went downhill when they stopped teaching religion” :smack: , and I still brushed those off with an eye-roll and a laugh. I continue to read to educate myself, and I acknowledge that I am not in much position to educate anyone else. So I spare you all from my generally bad attitude about humanity. (The username Misanthrope was taken) 
With that said, if The Dope should ever become Free again, maybe I’ll spread my sunshine here again one day!
Cheers 
For me, it’s mostly because discussions move too fast for me around here. I usually only check in once every few days or so (although on those days I usually check multiple times, because nothing else is going on), and I often find myself following up in threads that everyone else seems to have abandoned days before.
I also find that I get a little too riled in debates, which doesn’t really do anything for me, so I try to avoid them. Getting condescendingly lectured at by a poster who I usually agree with, based completely upon his own lack of reading comprehension in my initial post, was just not my idea of amusement.
Heh.
Nzinga,
Why, how sweet of you to ask! As a matter of fact I do have a rather razor sharp wit. I have been known to have tables of friends and relatives laughing. And a passion in my heart about some things too. There was a thread some time ago (I think it was about ADD but don’t remember any more) that I should have contributed to but didn’t know about the 30 day guest membership. I am really enjoying this thread.
Re the sense of humor - (Boyo Jim, feel free to chime in here) Wisconsin is days from breaking the snowfall record. And it’s only December, rarely the worst winter month. You MUST have a sense of humor to live here when it takes 15 minutes to walk across the street because you have to pick your way around knee deep snowdrifts. Gah!
It’s about time I won something. And note, too, that I’m a non-Charter Member 99er!
Like a lot of us, by the time I see a thread that I would like to post in, everything worth saying has already been said, usually in a far more erudite manner than I can muster. Nothing much left except “me too” posts.
I’ve been reading the Dope since the '80’s and lurking on the boards since about 2000.
Yeah, me either and I post pretty often too. Tell you what, next time one of those threads comes up you name me and I’ll name you and we can both die as completed human beings. 
I mainly became a member because I wanted to use the search function. Don’t hit me!
I seldom post because I think too damn much. A one-paragraph response takes me 20 minutes to write, edit for grammar and organization, then edit for potential offensiveness or idiocy. Most of my posts take even longer than that to make it through my elaborate screening process. And after I finally post, I go back and read the thing multiple times while I worry that I sound like a dumbass. I can’t imagine ever being a prolific poster; it would be far too much effort.
Also, I think my posts tend to portray me as more narrow-minded and self-centered than I am. Well, I am those things, but that’s why I’m here! I want to learn! I’m more of an advice-receiver than advice-giver; I don’t have much to offer in terms of knowledge or wisdom. I’m not that funny, either. Occasionally I have a potentially controversial opinion, but I can’t back up my views well enough to argue them logically. And why bother posting if I’m just going to show off my ignorance?
I’ve been making an effort to post more lately, but I still delete 90% of what I write rather than posting it. Oh, well.
The reasons are the same as everyone else’s, I think. I guess I could post more, but I’d rather wait until I have something to say than run around abusing smilies or graping threads.
Wow! How did that happen?
Nope, I win the class of '99 low post count derby.
I don’t post often for the reasons the rest of you have cited:
- I don’t find threads until the moment has passed and my comment isn’t necessary anymore
- I’m intimidated by the grammar/spelling police
- I’m quiet and reserved in real life too, and much more of a listener than a speaker in general
- I’m just not in the habit of posting here, and it would take something to break that inertia. A month or two ago there was that thread about how the SDMB is sort of boring lately for lack of new blood, and since that I’ve been posting ever so slightly more often.
It’s funny, I’m quite active in a forum dedicated to my favorite hobby, and have about 1100 posts there in about a year and a half. I’ve been reading the SDMB longer than I’ve been reading basically anything on the internet. I started reading this when I was in high school and even more shy than I am now, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Best post/location combination ever.
Did you say anything?
And Shoshana, I know you by your posts. I think you are a very smart Doper, just because people don’t “ditto” your posts all the time doesn’t mean that they don’t notice you.
And lurkers, stop procrastinating and start posting darnit!
[Raza bows to Emilee as the new champion of restraint]
In part because of this thread, I’ve started two new threads today, something I’ve never done in my years of membership.
I’m forever chiming into threads to say effectively “me too”, don’t see why others shouldn’t. Personally I’ve grown intensely bored of GD and GQ so the whole towering intellect phobia thing isn’t a problem for me - come to the warm shores of Cafe Society where the conversation is always convivial and serve with pina coladas
As for the spelling/grammar police - I have no idea what you’re all talking about, I’ve yet to see even one instance of this here. I say that because I used to belong to another forum where virtually every other post was someone correcting another’s spelling/grammar, so it’s not like I’m oblivious to it. Anyway, someone that desperate to correct other people’s typos needs to get over their red pen complex.
Oh, and I find it very funny that this place is ever described as intimidating or hostile - I belong to another forum which is possibly one of the most brutal forums on earth so this place seems like a Church social in comparison.
Ya all scare the livin’ crap outta me.
Seriously, I really don’t know. I read a thread that interests me then think of postin’ and on preview see someones already posted a similar comment to mine.
But I do love my dope
Yikes, an average of one post per year. You’ve got me beat, bro.
I know I hardly qualify as a lurker, based on my post count, but my activity has dropped drastically since I got married in April. I simply no longer have the time to waste here that I used to - which is a wonderful, wonderful thing for me. I still generally try to cruise through here once a day or so, but it’s tough to find the time to read, let alone post.
WASTE here!!! Jeez, it’s most of my OTHER time that’s the waste…