Especially on social boards like this. If you're going to spend months, even years just following the exploits and social interactions of other people, why not just join in instead of just observe? I personally couldn't do it, i mean lurkers are surely at least tempted to join in on the action, so why don't they do it?
I think at least for me it was the fact that I didn't really spend too much time doing so. I'd just check Board 8 once or twice a day, follow a particular few topics and be done with it. Since I didn't really have any desire to get in on any of the games or anything it was easy.
I also used the Contests threads to get an edge on the non-B8 competition and come out with halfway-respectable scores for the heck of it. Impressed all my IRL friends! >_>
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"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png
Anyway...I dunno, I don't get it either, but I find myself mostly lurking whenever I go to other boards, even on gamefaqs. I rarely have anything to say, although I'm not afraid to speak up when I do >_>
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~Tommeri Uranius Bombaldi the Fourth, esq. (aka not Krakenprophet)
I never lurked here, but I tend to lurk boards where I don't feel that I could ever, or would ever want to fit in. Sometimes it's interesting to see what people have to say, but I know my own views and opinions are so different from the masses that I don't even want to start the conflict, I'd rather just read and stay hidden.
I check out what I like and move on. Been doing it here for 10 years. I'll contribute when it's something I'm super in to, but just reading through some good topics once or twice a day is nice. Relieves the pressure and douche-baggery of the mediocre Brawl professional scene.
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The King of GameFAQs Brawl posting from his phone. http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/board8/images/8/8b/ViviffChampS1.jpg
When I was lurking, it was mostly because I had nothing to say really. I still don't say too much now but I'm pretty quiet in real life as well anyways.
-- BrunomasterX SHINE: The man killed an entire kingdom by pissing into their water supply. If that isn't development I don't know what is
I used to lurk here, for a long time actually. Well not really lurk, more like I'd post once in a while during contest time and then forget about this place.
It does take some effort and a comfortable, sociable attitude to open up to any community, even an online one. I mostly lurked back in 2002 and 03 because I wasn't confident in my level of writing or my knowledge of internet etiquette and lexicon. I also had relatively little to contribute but had a good time just reading what everyone else was writing. It still made me feel like a part of the community, albeit a small one. I bet some people are just like that.
-- Yoblazer: http://8board.webs.com/ariel.jpg Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!
I used to have gamefaqs up on a side tab to look at while whatever page i was going to was loading. Now that the dial up age is over and done with it's mostly just a force of habit to come and browse here every so often to see if anything interesting was posted. Most days really nothing too exciting goes on here but once in a while something like the discovery of transformice comes around that makes this place worth coming to.
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B8 resident lurker for 5 errrrr 6 years Currently Playing: Mass Effect, Assassins Creed 2 (just got a 360)
XIII_rocks posted... GenesisSaga posted... I don't see the appeal either.
Indeed.
I'll tell you a little story after this contest round ends...
oooh.
Oh, it's not that interesting probably. Just a little tale of why I made my account and all.
It was... a little over a year ago. I had dusted off my PS2 to play the sequel to one of my favorite games, but I got stuck. >_< Browsing the FAQ section of GameFAQS, I found my solution quickly, but lo- out of the corner of my eye, I spy a yellow-highlighted beacon of distress. An unanswered dilemma of some poor unfortunate soul. I go to answer them, but silly GFAQs requires I have an account. So I make one, answer it, and move on feeling helpful. I like helping sometimes.
Ahem! So then I wonder if there are any unanswered q's on the board of the game the sequel was based on. There weren't. But what there was was a little community of quirky little people all chatting it out like buds that've known each other forever. It was almost... cute... I thought right away, I wanna be in on this, but I'm kind of shy IRL and thought maybe they might not like me, so I lurked. For like two weeks. Before I finally said f*** it, and jumped right in. It was awesome and I felt like an old friend after about two days of getting to know those guys. I still drop in from time to time...
But I digress. Then there came a contest. And a link to another board. That board was chaos incarnate. The pages seemed to move so fast and every other topic was "How did X of all things lose to Y!?" even though the answer should have been obvious (and in fact, every other topic was met with appropriate snark). Well I didn't spy long. Actually I just jumped right in. There was a pokémon contest going on through the duration of this "contest season" as it was called, and I kept at it because I wanted to see it through to its completion. I guess if the board was always like that, I'd have left long ago, but it wasn't. I soon discovered that at it's heart, it was just like my little game board's diverse community only much, much bigger. It even has all the quirky personalities that I totally dig. I like it here. ^_^
The point of that wall of text was, I literally could not stand lurking for more than two weeks without joining the party. Can't get how others stand it.
It's not easy to just become a regular unless you have something to bring to the table. Or else your efforts to participate in the social side of things here is pointless.
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Brawl is like ZSS' breasts. Well rounded for casual players. http://i52.tinypic.com/2llhfrc.jpg
I enjoy lurking and semi participating because I have interest in some of the topics that are discussed here. I've been fascinated by the contests since CB 2005, and the stats topic generally has some good stuff every once in a while.
-- Black! Turtle! Kooloo-LimPAH! The Guru Champion!
This is not a horrible place to see if there is anything interesting going on in the world of video games or other stuff. Granted, there are dozens of really bad topics here, too (especially the user contests and the boost-my-self-esteem topics), but if there is some hot news, people tend to talk about it. Also, if people rarely care what you have to say and you're here for the morsels of random information (and not for the companionship), then why bothering posting?
I guess you could go elsewhere to find video game news, but that requires too much effort.
-- "Filthy lawbreaker, unhand that vending machine!" - Casey Jones
I lurk because for the most part I don't really have anything to say. I don't really care so much about the social aspects of B8, but there are a good deal of topics telling me things I'm interested in, but probably wouldn't have heard of.
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"There's no bliss in shifting blocks around until they line up? Guess you've never played TETRIS. From Russia with FUN, mother ****er" - AbsoluteZero
I think it stems from a "if I don't have anything to add, then why bother posting" attitude. At least that's the way it was for me. There are times when I post quite infrequently but still like to see if there is any news or stuff going on that I am unaware of, and if I have nothing to add, I don't post, then there are times, like now, when I post pretty frequently and don't really care if I have anything to add or not.
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Me as a bunny slug by Nio http://img.imgcake.com/nio/21raydynpngan.png
I usually lurk here to find things I wouldn't be introduced to by my typical circle of friends, such as tv, games, music, etc. If I see something that catches my eye I may I make a post or two, but other than that I don't really pay attention to any of the actual social aspects of the board.
Lurkers are not only common on any board, but a vast majority. My best guess is that they actually comprise ~90% of any given board's population (not just on gamefaqs). It's a lot easier to read than contribute! How many of you use wikipedia vs editing it? (Not quite the same thing, I know, but the reasoning is actually similar).
For this board in particular, I imagine that there's quite a few that do post but go mostly unnoticed since they only come here for the non-social topics anyway.
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Watch me play games! http://www.livestream.com/dabu
Observing takes much less effort and time than posting. Also I'm just more interested in the latest game hype/info on this board since a good amount of the remaining topics I can barely read 20 posts before needing to hit topic list.
-- Blue Cucco / Waiting Cactus http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/4915/cojiro2nk2.jpg http://i53.tinypic.com/14wf59z.gif
I used to lurk during contest season, only because I always thought there was going to be some sort of armed uprising if I, a newbie to b8, dare converse with it's seasoned veterans.
But after the last contest I just said "F*** it", and here I am.
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Will not remove this line of my signature until the Seahawks, Jazz or Rockies win a title (Started 5-16-09) Yes, I know I'm never getting rid of this signature