I AM A LURKER... I get out fishing about 2-3 times a year between owning a business, home remodeling, wife and two young boys. I WISH I could give more, but i just can't. I truly enjoy much of what I read, and i guess it gives me a rather vicarious life of fishing. I sure hope to start getting the kids out soon, but they are just too young now...
I would hate to think I would be excluded from being a part of a list because a few people want it more exclusive. i personally would rather you all invite me and others like me to join you, fish with you, get as good as some of you, and then we could post as well... my 2 cents worth... dan --- Kent Lufkin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I just found that the WAFF list now boasts over 250 email > subscribers. I also learned that only about 50 subscribers post to > the list on a regular basis. That means that roughly 80% of WAFF > subscribers are so-called 'lurkers' - people who receive the list's > email posts but who do not respond with posts of their own. > > In fairness, I'm sure many lurkers are novice fishers, fishers who > don't feel that they have anything worth contributing, or are > otherwise just plain shy. A number of lurkers are probably > now-and-then fishers or are just too darned busy to post even an > occasional email. > > However, I also know for a fact that a number of lurkers are fly shop > employees or owners. They subscribe to the list, gathering valuable > fishing information which they then feed to their customers as a > 'value-added' perk. > > For whatever reason though, lurkers take but don't give anything back > in return. > > > I personally enjoy reading the posts to the list - even the > off-subject ones, the newbie questions that we've all heard before > (and asked ourselves once upon a time), the subjects I'm not > interested in, and even the occasional spats between subscribers. I > read 'em all, delete most, and respond to a few. > > Bottom line is that I've learned quite a bit more about flyfishing > than I would have without subscribing to the list. > > But I'm beginning to wonder about all the wonderful information and > advice we've been posting. It bothers me to think we've been > innocently sharing it with others who contribute nothing back to the > group in return. Not to mention the trove of past posts available in > the searchable archives. > > > Thanks to technology and the subscribers who've generously shared > their skills, we now have the capability of 'unsubscribing' lurkers > from the list. > > We can also password-protect the archives on our web site, making > them available only to active subscribers. > > The questions though, is should we? > > > The list is only as good as the information that subscribers post to > it. If lurkers don't contribute to the group, their absence won't be > felt. > > On the other hand, restricting the list smacks to me as just another > form of elitism, the same kind of smug, 'I'm-better-than-you-are' > attitude that others think characterize we flyfishers in general. > > What do you think? > > > Kent Lufkin > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com
