Thursday, June 11, 2009
Que Paso Lurker?
Why do people lurk? I understand the occasional Lurker just surfing/stumbling upon things but I don't quite get why someone would read a random blog like this several times a day every day regularly and never comment. When people are kind of tied in loosely to this gringa/Chile/ExPat community I can understand checking it out regularly and perhaps not commenting. When someone is clearly outside of that and I think has no connection whatsoever to this community checking this blog out regularly it gives me a weird vibe. My blog is NOT that cool and there are MUCH more interesting ones out there. This has made me start to think about why people lurk. Maybe it's just that I'm really outgoing and seem to have something to say about almost anything but there are no blogs that I read regularly that I don't at least comment every once in a while. Anyone else have any insight? Do any bloggers out there have regular Lurkers? Maybe someone reading this who has never commented can tell me why they don't comment?
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Haha, well, you have seen me, I call out my lurkers like the Russian girl and every once in a while it actually works and they'll respond and tell me whey they working...but that's not very often. I think some people are just shy...
ReplyDeleteNot my case, as you know :)
Every so often I'll see that someone has spent an hour or more on my blog. Those are the people that I wonder about - I've never noticed if I have one or more regular lurkers. I can understand just popping in every once in a while and being to shy to make a comment, or just not getting that we bloggers can see you and really like comments and won't think you're a weird stranger. In fact, I used to fit into both of those groups. But when you spend a significant chunk of your day reading about my life, it would be nice to know what you thought!
ReplyDeleteMy first ever comment!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually moving to Chile in January, so have been reading blogs to get a feel for life as an expat, etc. Quite often going back through archives to get the whole story. To be honest, I'm just a bit shy - I've never been to Chile so quite often don't feel qualified to comment. Or would feel that comments were a little gratuitious.
But anyway, thanks for writing! I think reading blogs is really helping us prepare for the move. And I guess if you'd like more comments, I could voice my (uninformed!) opinion a little more!
Kyle- Yes, I remember when you delurked the Russian. That was funny- especially with the picture you posted of what you thought they were like before you found out who it was. My picture is not so nice...the person who I'm talking about is from Ohio not too far from where I live and has even checked out this post a few times today. The chances of them having a link to Chile are kind of low (I'm assuming). Perhaps it's just because of my nature to expect/prepare for the worst :) Maybe they do have a link or just think it's interesting or really bored and aren't stalking me :) S is probably the biggest Lurker. He hasn't commented once!
ReplyDeleteEmily- I agree. When someone is checking out your blog all the time it is nice to know that they acknowledge their existence.
Natalie- Yeah!!! :) Welcome. This is definitely a great way to get insight into Chile. Don't worry- I'm not really qualified either to comment on Chile because I've only been there a few times. There isn't really a qualification per se to comment. I think most of the people here (from what I've found) are very outgoing (it's the Chileno significant others who are not so outgoing-hehe). I don't worry/wonder at all about the Lurkers from other places that either I figure they got here from another gringa's blog or are from far away places like Africa. (That was actually pretty cool to think someone from Africa was checking it out). It is really cool in general to know that people from all over are actually reading the randomness I write. Let me know if there are any topics/info on Chile you would like to know about and I can either ask S or poll the gringas via a post. Thanks for commenting!!
I have the same problem. Actually, I am right now on Statcounter trying to figure out who these "regulars" are who never, ever say anything. I have lots of friends who read my blog and never comment, then later they will be like "OH that was great when you posted on blah blah topic. It cracked me up!" Uh... thanks for commenting?
ReplyDeleteNatalie, Don't be afraid to ask questions. I think most of us really appreciate it. Plus, sometimes if you just read the blogs, you can get a sort of skewed perception of how things are due to the things we write about a lot.
ReplyDeleteOMG do you have a stalker? I ask because I seem to attract stalkers.
ReplyDeleteok, ok, I confess... I guess I'm a lurker :)
ReplyDeleteI'm living in Chile right now and somehow came across the Cachando Chile blog at one point. From there I linked to other blogs and started reading them when I'm bored and/or procrastinating on homework (by the way, I recently found out that "procrastinar" doesn't exist in Spanish, and people will look at you weirdly if you use it!)
Anyways, I like reading the blogs cause they have interesting reflections on the culture and life here. Clearly some things I know from my own experiences here, but other times they make me think more about different aspects of the culture that I hadn't come across yet or hadn't realized.
WOW! First of all, I can't give a clue because I always leave comments. Random reader to a random blog or not. But more importantly.....where do you guys find out how long someone has been on your page (hours? minutes? times been there?) I'm new to the logistics of blogging....errr...the technical aspects of maintenance and stuff.
ReplyDelete