# \[Random Thursday\] Do you "lurk" around online? šŸ„· **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous\ **Created:** [August 29, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322 "2023-08-29T11:01:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/1 "2023-08-29T11:01:48Z")
![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/original/3X/4/c/4c5dddabad532f078253d8616518e0ae90746603.jpeg) Sooo, recently I stumbled upon an interesting topic over at Discourse Meta talking about **ā€œlurkersā€** ā€¦ > **[Community Guide: Activating Lurkers](https://meta.discourse.org/t/community-guide-activating-lurkers/271091)** > > Lurkers. Lurkers never change A common question we get asked is something like ā€œhow do I make more lurkers participate?ā€. This post aims to help you answer that question šŸ™‚ Itā€™s meant to be a living document, so if you have any additions, please... Basically, ā€œlurkersā€ are those who frequent an online forum or group on a regular basis, yet they hardly create any content (if at all) such as making a post or posting a reply. So, one may misunderstand lurkers as inactive members. However, there is a clear distinction between **ā€œlurkersā€** and **ā€œinactive membersā€** and that is ā€œinactive membersā€ rarely log into the forum, while ā€œlurkersā€ usually do. This is actually reflected by the amount of ā€œRead timeā€ lurkers usually rack up over time. * * * And with the definition out of the way, I want to ask you all: - Where, or which type, of online forum do you think will have a large number of lurkers, compare to others? - Do you consider yourself a ā€œlurkerā€ within an online settings e.g. an online group, other forums, etc. If yes, then where do you usually lurk? - Why do you lurk instead of participating in the traditional sense i.e. create posts, replying to others, etc. - Do you think a community forum (such as ours) having a large number of lurkers is a good thing or a bad thing? Let us know your thoughts below šŸ‘‡ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/original/3X/d/5/d55596ab02785a255798e87ede769734747b30c4.svg) [@system](https://forum.katalon.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/2 "2023-08-29T17:46:13Z")
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**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 10:39am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/3 "2023-08-31T10:39:54Z")
I saw you reacting @dineshh, any thoughts from you on this topic? šŸ‘€ ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 11:02am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/4 "2023-08-31T11:02:40Z")
Wellll, judging from the lack of participating in this thread, it sorts of confirm with Jakob Nielsenā€™s claim about 90% of members on online communities are lurkers. ![the 90-9-1 rule for participation in an online community](https://media.nngroup.com/media/editor/alertbox/community-participation-pyramid.gif) > **[Participation Inequality: The 90-9-1 Rule for Social Features](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/)** > > In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action. Regarding the remaining 10%, we have a group of forum members whom we call ā€œTop Contributorsā€ who have been on our forum for a longgg time (and they still are) who actively go out of their way to interact and support others. ā†’ You guys rocks, by the way šŸ¤˜ (If anyone of you happens to stumble upon this thread, then feel free to let our team know what you think about Jakobā€™s article? Was everyone moderately active back then, or was there only a core group of members who was the most vocal?) ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/5 "2023-08-31T11:29:21Z")
Andā€¦ to keep the conversation going, I will also giving some of my thoughts to my own questions below šŸ‘‡ > [@albert.vu](#): > > Where, or which type, of online forum do you think will have a large number of lurkers, compare to others? I would say support forums/space such as Katalon Community where most people flock to whenever they have a question or issue when using the Katalon Platform, and leave afterward when their questions/issues have been resolved; only to return when new issues arise. > [@albert.vu](#): > > Do you consider yourself a ā€œlurkerā€ within an online settings e.g. an online group, other forums, etc. If yes, then where do you usually lurk? Yes (even though my job title literally has the words ā€œcommunity specialistā€ in it šŸ«£). I am most a passive media consumer and I lurk often on Facebook groups, or subreddits. That said, I do make posts/replies every once in a while. > [@albert.vu](#): > > Why do you lurk instead of participating in the traditional sense i.e. create posts, replying to others, etc. Most of the time, I prefer to observe what is going on in an online space (from a far) rather than participating directly. After a long day of work (and studying German on Mon - Wed - Fri nights), the last thing I want to do is to use the remaining of my active brain cells to ā€œcreate a postsā€ on social media or other online platform. > [@albert.vu](#): > > Do you think a community forum (such as ours) having a large number of lurkers is a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on (I guess), how big the community is, and what are the goals and objective of that community. So, obviously, if I were to start my own ā€¦ hobby community about gaming where people are encouraged to share about their favorite games, etc. It would obviously be quite alarming to not see a whole lot of activity if my member base is only \<1,000. However, if my forum has around 10,000 members where around 1% of members are extremely active, and the rest chime in from time to time, then I would not be as worried. Since I know that my 1% of active members will be driving my forumā€™s discussion, and that the lurkers may spread the word about my forum somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Bown](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/dan_bown/32/20464_2.png) [@Dan\_Bown](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Dan_Bown)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 11:59am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/6 "2023-08-31T11:59:39Z")
Iā€™m in agreement with your last post - I am mainly a lurker and I drop by but rarely post unless I have an issue. There are many other claims on our time as testers, like tools (multiple), languages, domain knowledge, certifications etc plus hopefully some leisure time! ---
**Author:** ![dineshh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/dineshh/32/24488_2.png) [@dineshh](https://forum.katalon.com/u/dineshh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/7 "2023-09-01T05:41:32Z")
> [@albert.vu](#): > > I prefer to observe what is going I prefer to observe what is going on community, post my thoughts/queries only if itā€™s required and benefits mutually ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/8 "2023-09-06T16:53:04Z")
> [@Dan\_Bown](#): > > plus hopefully some leisure time! Well, we have been encouraging more people to chime into various off-topic discussions in the #Miscellaneous area (after all, it is not about testing 24/7 here, sometimes folks just need to relax and unwind a bit). So, feel free to join in or maybe even start a thread of your own šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/9 "2023-09-06T16:56:54Z")
When you first joined our forum, was there anything that sort of deterred you from posting, or vice versa? Maybe the way Discourse works is different to other social media sites? ---
**Author:** ![dineshh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/dineshh/32/24488_2.png) [@dineshh](https://forum.katalon.com/u/dineshh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 5:10am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/10 "2023-09-07T05:10:59Z")
yes. iā€™m not familiar with Discourse and it takes time to understand. i have used other tools like advocate hub in the past. ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/11 "2023-09-09T16:37:26Z")
> [@dineshh](#): > > it takes time to understand It really does. When I first started working at Katalon, I had to spend nearly a month just to understand most of Discourseā€™ terminologies and how it works. And even then, there are still some back-end PHP-related stuff that flew right over my head since I donā€™t have much programming/coding knowledge. That said, I found Discourseā€™s UI to be more modern/intuitive than some of the older forums out there, case in point: [Head-Fi.org Forums | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org](https://www.head-fi.org/forums/) * * * Are there any features from Advocate Hub that you wish Discourse would implement? ---
**Author:** ![dineshh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/dineshh/32/24488_2.png) [@dineshh](https://forum.katalon.com/u/dineshh)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 4:39am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/12 "2023-09-10T04:39:09Z")
mobile app is available for AH . iā€™m not aware if discourse has android/ios app? ---
**Author:** ![albert.vu](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/albert.vu/32/20595_2.png) [@albert.vu](https://forum.katalon.com/u/albert.vu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/13 "2023-09-30T16:55:05Z")
Sorry for the delayed response. They have actually, but it is simply a webapp. You would be better off just simply bookmarking the site in your browser. ---
**Author:** ![dineshh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/dineshh/32/24488_2.png) [@dineshh](https://forum.katalon.com/u/dineshh)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 4:40am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/random-thursday-do-you-lurk-around-online/94322/14 "2023-10-01T04:40:21Z")
Can you please share the link. will try to checkout the mobile apps