[Archive]

Posted By: Joann

Jake,

It's not that there are not knowledgeable lurkers out there, it's that there is no way to know who, how many, what kind of knowledge, etc, they have. When it comes to participants, these are all known and concrete things.

The "knowledgeable lurkers" have grown to kind of a myth in that, despite being mentioned regularly, there is nothing known and only rumors and purported sightings - kind of like Bigfoot I guess. (hee - I'm kind of having fun with this post in the morning.)

How can we reasonably compare the input and value of the known experts who have been here for years with the vague notion that there are some people with some undefined exptertise who may or may not read, who may or may not decide to contribute, and only after something - not sure what - happens on the board to make newbies welcome - well not sure if that's the case either?

So it's not that anyone thinks they aren't there. Not at all. It's that it's hard to quantify their potential contribution because we don't know anything about them as individuals or a group.

And ha! on you guys with the girls comments. lol. And David - what a great statue. I still don't know what LH was talking about, and am trying to figure out if his comment about driving people off was directed in part at me. I had contributed to the thread a few times. Lee's right - it would be good to know who exactly he meant, or whether it meant anyone in particular.

Joann