In defense of lurkers

[glovvgirl]

Hello there!
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There have been a few comments on this new board on the subject of 
lurkers: trying to limit their numbers, possibly removing them from 
the list, and/or forcing members to opt-in again if they haven't 
posted for a while.

Christian had a very fine response to this issue, but I want to 
underscore it some more, and hopefully put another nail in this 
particular coffin.

To the extent that this list has problems, they do not come from 
lurkers.  On the contrary--most the complaints I have read are about 
people who post and what they do or do not do.  Lurkers, on the other 
hand, cause no extra work for the list administration, and they never 
violate posting guidelines.

Imagine if everyone on HPfGU posted even just once a month--that 
would increase the traffic on this list 5-fold, seriously stressing 
the Yahoo-imposed limit of 15 moderators and all around making the 
list unmanageable.

Furthermore, presumably lurkers are lurking because they don't have 
anything to say.  Do you really want to force them to post so that 
they can say, well, nothing of value?

Make posters jump through hoops if you must, but leave us lurkers 
alone. :)

-jenea