Guests have us outnumbered 3 to 1. Sad.

[Ray Finkle]

It's established that many of us appear as guests while on our mobile devices until we realize it and log in. Serious question here...what's the big problem with people visiting the forum without registering and just reading without contributing though? I know it's not the best comparison but I've listened to sports talk on terrestrial radio my entire adult life and never called to contribute. I guess I'm a lurker.

[lukkynumber13]

It's established that many of us appear as guests while on our mobile devices until we realize it and log in. Serious question here...what's the big problem with people visiting the forum without registering and just reading without contributing though? I know it's not the best comparison but I've listened to sports talk on terrestrial radio my entire adult life and never called to contribute. I guess I'm a lurker.

This is how I feel too. I admit, I'm ignorant as to what the problem with being a serial lurker is?

[saw061600]

I believe serial lurking is a problem based upon the definition of the terms listed: talk radio and forum, and the philosophy of social contract.
talk ra·di·o
a type of radio broadcast in which the presenter talks about topical issues and encourages listeners to call in to air their opinions.
fo·rum
a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
so·cial con·tract
an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits

To elaborate: Talk radio and forums are philosophically very different. In talk radio, someone is paid to offer opinion and commentary and others are encouraged to call in with supporting or opposing position for the sake of adding to the entertainment or further exploration of the topic. There is no implicit agreement to contribute because the host is paid and participation is encouraged.

A forum, as a meeting place where ideas are exchanged, carries the implied contract that all members will contribute to the exchange. Not that anyone should be expected to contribute to every topic. A reader may not have interest in a topic, may not feel strongly one way or another about the topic, or may just not feel competent to offer an opinion on a certain topic. Possibly you have an account and just don't feel like participating that day and choose not to log in, lurking instead. All okay. But if you are always lurking, or worse don't even have an account, you are violating the implied social contract. At the end of the day though, the best case against serial lurking is the fact that the value of the forum, as a resource, is directly tied to the number of participants and the rate of exchange of ideas that occur within the forum.

[lukkynumber13]

I believe serial lurking is a problem based upon the definition of the terms listed: talk radio and forum, and the philosophy of social contract.
talk ra·di·o
a type of radio broadcast in which the presenter talks about topical issues and encourages listeners to call in to air their opinions.
fo·rum
a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
so·cial con·tract
an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits

To elaborate: Talk radio and forums are philosophically very different. In talk radio, someone is paid to offer opinion and commentary and others are encouraged to call in with supporting or opposing position for the sake of adding to the entertainment or further exploration of the topic. There is no implicit agreement to contribute because the host is paid and participation is encouraged.

A forum, as a meeting place where ideas are exchanged, carries the implied contract that all members will contribute to the exchange. Not that anyone should be expected to contribute to every topic. A reader may not have interest in a topic, may not feel strongly one way or another about the topic, or may just not feel competent to offer an opinion on a certain topic. Possibly you have an account and just don't feel like participating that day and choose not to log in, lurking instead. All okay. But if you are always lurking, or worse don't even have an account, you are violating the implied social contract. At the end of the day though, the best case against serial lurking is the fact that the value of the forum, as a resource, is directly tied to the number of participants and the rate of exchange of ideas that occur within the forum.

Sometimes I lurk outside of Burger King, and smell them cooking fresh chicken fries...

[onetwothree]

The guests aren't any worse than the over 5000 registered users who have zero posts. Nothing wrong with lurking.

Would be nice to have more voices sharing opinions but not everyone is comfortable speaking their minds or feel like they have anything worthwhile to add.

[mullmania]

My issue is that I pay for a site that I have to re log in to every time I want to make a post. That's not a business model that will last.

[pierson242]

My issue is that I pay for a site that I have to re log in to every time I want to make a post. That's not a business model that will last.

You don't have to pay to use the forum?

[Goddard]

My issue is that I pay for a site that I have to re log in to every time I want to make a post. That's not a business model that will last.

Looks like you've been a member since 2012, so I guess it's lasting pretty well. I agree it's a nuisance, but it takes 5 seconds to log-on? I doubt that keeps anyone from coming on here to utilize the forums.

[lukkynumber13]

My issue is that I pay for a site that I have to re log in to every time I want to make a post. That's not a business model that will last.

We don't pay for the forum. We pay for the DLF site. Totally different sites & platforms

[GridironGuerilla]

It's established that many of us appear as guests while on our mobile devices until we realize it and log in. Serious question here...what's the big problem with people visiting the forum without registering and just reading without contributing though? I know it's not the best comparison but I've listened to sports talk on terrestrial radio my entire adult life and never called to contribute. I guess I'm a lurker.

This is how I feel too. I admit, I'm ignorant as to what the problem with being a serial lurker is?

These are my sentiments as well.

[Phil21]

I am usually one of these guest. As you can see I don't post much, but I read quite a bit of the threads

[M-Dub]

I believe serial lurking is a problem based upon the definition of the terms listed: talk radio and forum, and the philosophy of social contract.
talk ra·di·o
a type of radio broadcast in which the presenter talks about topical issues and encourages listeners to call in to air their opinions.
fo·rum
a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
so·cial con·tract
an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits

To elaborate: Talk radio and forums are philosophically very different. In talk radio, someone is paid to offer opinion and commentary and others are encouraged to call in with supporting or opposing position for the sake of adding to the entertainment or further exploration of the topic. There is no implicit agreement to contribute because the host is paid and participation is encouraged.

A forum, as a meeting place where ideas are exchanged, carries the implied contract that all members will contribute to the exchange. Not that anyone should be expected to contribute to every topic. A reader may not have interest in a topic, may not feel strongly one way or another about the topic, or may just not feel competent to offer an opinion on a certain topic. Possibly you have an account and just don't feel like participating that day and choose not to log in, lurking instead. All okay. But if you are always lurking, or worse don't even have an account, you are violating the implied social contract. At the end of the day though, the best case against serial lurking is the fact that the value of the forum, as a resource, is directly tied to the number of participants and the rate of exchange of ideas that occur within the forum.

Interesting and thoughtful take, but I think you're being a little heavy-handed with the whole social contract concept. These are public forums, so I don't see anything inherently wrong with just coming here and reading. Some people just don't really have the inclination to engage on a deeper level than that. But just lurking also caps the benefits you reap from the forum. You can read threads, but you can't contribute to them or post your own. I think the violation of the social contract comes into play when you actually do register and then only ask for advice and never give any.

I'd compare it to the social contract of tipping servers and delivery drivers. You don't have a legal obligation to do so, but not doing so is a violation of that particular social contract and is just a straight-up dick move. That's the guy who always asks for advice and never reciprocates.

But if you order take out, you're choosing not to get the added benefit of table service or home delivery, so you're not really taking advantage of the people who provide those services for tips. That's the guy who just lurks and never posts. He's not giving advice, but he's not asking for any either.

It'd be pretty easy to make these forums private and eliminate the "problem" of lurkers, but that'd probably do more harm than good if the goal is to build the community here. I also suspect that a lot of the guests probably aren't "serial lurkers" but just people who found their way here looking for an answer to a specific dynasty question. I think it's a credit to these forums, and the website as a whole, that if you type just about any dynasty-related query into Google, at least a couple of the top results are probably gonna lead you here.

[Coogan Football]

I am usually one of these guest. As you can see I don't post much, but I read quite a bit of the threads

Then why not just contribute a little bit....Just like plenty of people did on your old 1.01 trade thread

[Phil21]

I am usually one of these guest. As you can see I don't post much, but I read quite a bit of the threads

Then why not just contribute a little bit....Just like plenty of people did on your old 1.01 trade thread

Sorry I made such a polarizing thread

[Favrezilla]

I only log-in to comment, and i try to do so in at least a couple threads every couple days, i DO however read many threads daily, i just dont feel strongly (or educated enough in some cases) enough to comment (i.e. if you EVER say something about IDP i aint commenting...just not my thing my values are way off)

so i really dont get this thread, who cares is my response...and i believe 90% of the "guests" are people like me either coming to see if there is a good thread that is relevant to their dynasty setups or players and comment on them.