douggiestyle
New member
interesting reasearch.
i have not finished your column. if this is answered and ive missed it i apologize.
one hole that ive found in your analysis concerning lurkers is the failure to address that a participation in 15% of read threads may be all that is required to answer questions correctly. keep in mind alot of the reef/aquarium related forums/threads are question and answer based.
today ive read through apx. 20 different threads but have choosen to reply to only two. the other 18 where answered or dealt with correctly. they may have been a topic that i care little enough about to comment. though, had i noticed any bad info being given i would have most definnately put in my two cents.
im not sure what this could add to your research. but i would think that this could be used as an example of the efficiency forums offer.
my dislike of lurkers occurs when i visit a forum that has 100 members. i post a question as a new member and all 100 members take the time to read my question. many days or weeks pass and no comment is made. and its the only new post in said amount of time. now it could be they think im an idiot. and they would be correct lol. i think you understand my point.
when i start a new thread with a question and someone gives me an answer. and no one else reads the thread i get nervous about trusting that answer. the flip side is when i get an answer and 100 plus other people read the thread i feel more confidant with the answer. if it was incorrect i would hope/think that one of those 100 plus people would have responded to the contrary.
i have not finished your column. if this is answered and ive missed it i apologize.
one hole that ive found in your analysis concerning lurkers is the failure to address that a participation in 15% of read threads may be all that is required to answer questions correctly. keep in mind alot of the reef/aquarium related forums/threads are question and answer based.
today ive read through apx. 20 different threads but have choosen to reply to only two. the other 18 where answered or dealt with correctly. they may have been a topic that i care little enough about to comment. though, had i noticed any bad info being given i would have most definnately put in my two cents.
im not sure what this could add to your research. but i would think that this could be used as an example of the efficiency forums offer.
my dislike of lurkers occurs when i visit a forum that has 100 members. i post a question as a new member and all 100 members take the time to read my question. many days or weeks pass and no comment is made. and its the only new post in said amount of time. now it could be they think im an idiot. and they would be correct lol. i think you understand my point.
when i start a new thread with a question and someone gives me an answer. and no one else reads the thread i get nervous about trusting that answer. the flip side is when i get an answer and 100 plus other people read the thread i feel more confidant with the answer. if it was incorrect i would hope/think that one of those 100 plus people would have responded to the contrary.
You do bring up a good point about many posts being a Q and A type and typically are answered within the first few replies. But many lurkers still read the replies after posting as stopped. 
