# Lurkers creep me out... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211 "2013-01-24T11:50:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 24, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/21 "2013-01-24T15:35:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > are not 😉 Under 20K in 10 yrs! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/22 "2013-01-24T15:40:03Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Under 20K in 10 yrs! 😛 oh ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/23 "2013-01-24T15:40:08Z")
I’m going to continue lurking for several more years before I start posting. Best not to rush into these things. ---
**Author:** ![Nausicaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@Nausicaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nausicaa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/24 "2013-01-24T17:54:55Z")
I’m a long time lurker - by the time I think of a response the thread is either over or move onto other topics. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/25 "2013-01-24T18:00:40Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > …observing without participating. Kind of like Peeping Toms. Does it give anybody else the heebie jeebies? How do you tell? Subtracting Replies from Views? There are some threads with 1000+ views and less than 10x that in replies. It is creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/26 "2013-01-24T18:02:06Z")
It’s fun to think about _who_ some of these lurkers might be. Odds are, a big-name-somebody-famous or two has found the Dope by Googling their own name, and decided they liked it enough to lurk. I like to imagine that such a somebody has enjoyed a post or thread of mine 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/27 "2013-01-24T18:06:12Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > It’s fun to think about _who_ some of these lurkers might be. Odds are, a big-name-somebody-famous or two has found the Dope by Googling their own name, and decided they liked it enough to lurk. > > I like to imagine that such a somebody has enjoyed a post or thread of mine 🆒 This has occurred to me in many forms: 1. Celebrities checking for what “fans” really think about them 2. TV show producers wanting genuine feedback 3. government agency types who just have to check everywhere for civil unrest and plotting 4. CEO’s and other executives finding dirt on their underlings 5. parents snooping on their kids 6. aliens ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/28 "2013-01-24T18:31:37Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > How do you tell? Subtracting Replies from Views? There are some threads with 1000+ views and less than 10x that in replies. It is creepy. She just knows that the Lurker is out there. Watching. Thinking about her posts. Imagining his fingers running over the keys, caressing the letters into form. As the thread gets more heated, and tensions rise to new, unbearable levels, the Lurker, with more fortitude than even he thought possible, stays his hand. He knows that it cannot be. He can never put himself out there, for her to see. She’ll know the second their eyes meet, across the years. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/29 "2013-01-24T18:40:25Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > How do you tell? Subtracting Replies from Views? There are some threads with 1000+ views and less than 10x that in replies. It is creepy. I am mildly amused to note that, at the time of this posting, this thread has 474 views to only 28 (well, 29 now) posts. I presume that **Becky** is suitably creeped out. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/30 "2013-01-24T18:41:49Z")
No, I appreciate when new posters take the time to learn a little about the board before jumping in. ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/31 "2013-01-24T18:42:36Z")
Lurker and thread killer, so mostly lurker. ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/32 "2013-01-24T19:02:42Z")
Lurker and poster. I’ll even start a thread on occasion. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/33 "2013-01-24T19:08:47Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > One thing the professor mentioned was that this was actually a _good_ thing for most boards. It gives new participants a way to observe and understand the culture of a board before jumping in, thereby prevent major culture clash every time a new member comes along. This. We’ve had some posters that _should_ have lurked at least a little while longer before posting. [Some lurkers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurker_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) are creepy, but not the kind we get around here. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/34 "2013-01-24T19:19:03Z")
Sorry about that. Maybe you should draw the blinds. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/35 "2013-01-24T19:21:51Z")
They’re watching us. _With their eyes._ ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/36 "2013-01-24T20:04:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > We’ve had some posters that _should_ have lurked at least a little while longer before posting. Exactly - recent history bears this out. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/37 "2013-01-24T20:46:51Z")
I am mostly a lurker; only 400 posts in 3.5 years. This board it the only human contact I have for weeks at a time. I really enjoy your lively intelligent minds. I rarely have any pithy response. I think of many threads I want to start; but I imagine you reading and thinking they are stupid. Please do not be creeped out by me.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/38 "2013-01-24T21:24:31Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Under 20K in 10 yrs! 😛 Is that the standard? I’m a lurking MACHINE. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/39 "2013-01-24T23:20:57Z")
I have learned a whole lot from lurking around Great Debates for a very long time but I don’t think I have ever had anything to add, I say my thanks to participants silently without interrupting the flow. My contributions aren’t needed on topics I haven’t even thought about before seeing them laid out here. ETA: My 692nd post in over a decade, no wonder I am thought to be extinct ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211/40 "2013-01-24T23:22:37Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I lurk between posts. I hope that’s not a problem :rolleyes: Same here. I lurk in my sane moods. Post in my not so sane moods. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lurkers-creep-me-out/648211.md?page=3)