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Monday, January 28, 2008

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 :).

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for popping in and saying hello!

Love the picture of your son in the pink blanket. HILARIOUS.

Becky said...

Hey Megan,

I can't remember if I told you about my blog site about life at Luther Seminary. If I have, oh well, here it is again.

www.beckylifeatseminary.blogspot.com

I too think your son looks cute, as do your three girls.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm going to add you to my bloglines, although I must admit since our recent move my blog reading has been few and far between. I only make myself post something every few days to keep MY few readers from stopping, because I am not logging on!

Anyway, thanks for visiting my blog and I'm gonna start reading yours. BTW- I see you are from SD. My sister-in-law and her husband just moved to ND. He just graduated from seminary and is pastoring a very small church up there in New Salem, ND. Made me think of them! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Megan (and Jim, and family). Thanks for the link, I'll return the favor when I figure out how that works on LJ.

Anonymous said...

I'm a pretty faithful reader. I think you're a great writer. Of course, I also use run on sentences and excessive hyphens =). Oh, and I just realized I could comment w/o having an account so maybe I'll say more now.

Ashley said...

Well, I'm still reading. Perhaps I should comment more often, though. I lurk a bit too much myself.

Have a great week!

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

I've become an expert lurker as of late. It's nearly impossible to not be when you can only check blogs while nursing a baby. I'm not so good with the one-handed thing yet! Wanted to let you know I'm reading and enjoying!

I hope you don't mind that I added a link to you the other day! Let me know if you do mind and I'll take it right off.

-Andrea

-Andrea

Anonymous said...

Megan- I love your blog. I check it every day to see what is happening in the Koch world, sorry I haven't been commenting lately! I am so glad to see that your family is doing well. I think of you guys often.

Love you all!
Tammy

PS I am alive, I have just neglected my blog - I guess you can say I am on writer's strike like the people in Hollywood...haha!

Unknown said...

It's fun to see who's reading!

I tagged you for a "wish" meme btw.

Anonymous said...

I'm always curious to see what you decide to post about our lives next.