You Know, If You Feel Like It...

The definition of lurker, according to your go-to source for reputable info on the web, Wikipedia: "In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely participates.'



I have meant to do this for weeks, and since I missed the week designated for it in blogger world (de lurker week is in early January), I shoved it to the back of my mind. It re-surfaced today.



As you read above, a lurker is someone that regularly checks in to someone's site but rarely, or never, participates (e.g. leaving comments).



Until I started tracking my site's hits via a counter in December, I really thought only five people read it. I was surprised to find that there are a few more than five. There's always the occasional person in Africa that randomly finds the site and never returns, etc, but there are actually a few of you out there that check in several times a week- for this I am grateful, surprised, and well, curious. I mean, this site is read by TENS of people every day- can you believe it?? Since the beginning of January, as my stats say as of yesterday, my blog has had 327 visitors (no, that does not count my own...) This is an extremely small number compared to a lot of other blogs, but, if you go from thinking you've got 5 readers to TENS of readers every day... it's surprising. It's especially surprising in light of my horrible use of commas, hyphens and run-ons. In Rapid City alone, our blog has seen over 1000 hits in the last six weeks. Thanks for checking in! I'd love to know who you are! I'm glad you're linking to some of our friends via our blog!



I, myself, am a recovering lurker. I love to lurk. The sites I check daily are few, but I'm faithful- as faithful as any person that Tivos their cherished crime dramas or American Idol- I'm there, every day, to check in. Usually, I check in while I'm feeding Hudson, so typing is a challenge and clicking is easy, so mostly I read about people's lives, their kids, their good times, their bad ones- it's great. I almost never take the time to let them know, though. I've tried to be better about that as of late.



So- by no means do you have to, but, you know, if you feel like it- In honor of De-Lurking week, which was weeks ago, go ahead and leave a comment. I know some of you read our blog via imported notes on Facebook, some of you comment by sending me an email- but I'm hoping to get to know a few of you out there that check in on some sort of regular basis- but for those of you I do know, I wouldn't mind hearing from you, too! And, if YOU have a site, I'd love to get to know you. If you don't, start one! I promise to check it, and even leave a comment every once in a while :).