My Homage To ATS Lurkers

Without doubt, one of the best feelings I get when posting a new thread or reply is when I see a reply from some long dormant and ancient ATS account... You know, one of those "member since 2004" profiles with maybe 30 or 40 posts total.

When those folks reply I always feel a deep swelling of pride and joy. Few things here please me more.

And not just because these member speak so infrequently. But because they almost always have extremely insightful and pertinent information to add to the conversation.

So, I just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge the unsung of ATS. The wise lurkers who we rarely see, but who are a vital part of the ATS community. Know that you are appreciated and respected!

Thank you folks so very much!



~Heff

Yeah, it's like finding C-4 from 1968. You know it's out there somewhere, and you always feel like the big winner when you stumble across it.

Imagine all the threads they have lurked through.

But don't be too loud, THEY ARE WATCHING.

The replies I also enjoy are those that a member says that they stopped lurking and joined just to answer my thread. Even if they dont agree its still cool to know that I wrote something profound enough to get someone to actually be a part of the ATS community

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by Hefficide

Lurking is one of the nets most useful qualities, it allows one to research info without actually interacting, somthing alot of us prefer, as humans suck alot all the time. ATS is one of the only message boards on the net that i ever respond to. As there are alot of other lurkers, that creep to the surface to say what they desire, before once again, slinking back off into the ether.

ATS=

reply to post by inverslyproportional


I agree. I lurk on many other message boards, but for my own reasons. I've been "Hefficide" for about a decade now - universally on the 'net. Before that, on IRC, I was just "Heff" ( and Kovert when I was being mischievous ). Since I am staff here, I choose to lurk elsewhere to avoid the obvious drama it would cause to use my claimed and constant name elsewhere.

And NRE: You are totally right! When a member creates an account just to reply to something you wrote, it is always a very validating moment!

~Heff

I lurk, therefore I am...?




Most of the time I read through a subject, it takes a while to post a reply.
Usually the topic has to strike a nerve or I feel I must spout off about the topic.
I like reading more than actually typing.

I also enjoy when old members come out of the woodwork to post.
Almost as if the particular subject was interesting enough to invoke a response.

Like ATS alumni or something...

I can appreciate the long time lurkers...but I miss some of the old members who are no longer active on ATS!

Some have chosen to move on...others banned...whatever they are gone and I miss their input!

I lurked ATS for a long time.

Sometimes you have to leave the shadows.

It gets boring never participating.

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
The replies I also enjoy are those that a member says that they stopped lurking and joined just to answer my thread. Even if they dont agree its still cool to know that I wrote something profound enough to get someone to actually be a part of the ATS community

Peace, NRE.

Couldnt agree more, Check out THIS reply posted in one of my own threads..

Recently read a very interesting article:

Death of the cyberflaneur



The lurker is a descendant from the 19th century French flaneur, or "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer". To be swept through the experience of being around people, observing, with a sense of detachment, anonymity.

The flâneur would leisurely stroll through its streets and especially its arcades — those stylish, lively and bustling rows of shops covered by glass roofs — to cultivate what Honoré de Balzac called “the gastronomy of the eye.”

While not deliberately concealing his identity, the flâneur preferred to stroll incognito. “The art that the flâneur masters is that of seeing without being caught looking,” the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman once remarked. The flâneur was not asocial — he needed the crowds to thrive — but he did not blend in, preferring to savor his solitude. And he had all the time in the world: there were reports of flâneurs taking turtles for a walk. The flâneur wandered in the shopping arcades, but he did not give in to the temptations of consumerism; the arcade was primarily a pathway to a rich sensory experience — and only then a temple of consumption.

His goal was to observe, to bathe in the crowd, taking in its noises, its chaos, its heterogeneity, its cosmopolitanism. Occasionally, he would narrate what he saw — surveying both his private self and the world at large — in the form of short essays for daily newspapers.

The article shows how the algorithms of facetwit and google is leading to the decline in cyberflanèry, by limiting our need to surf freely, without choosing the content that will next flash on our screen. We create our own small bubbles in the infinite, increasingly corporate-controlled, enabled by our willingness to give intimate information on our lives away freely. This is expanded on in this ted talk:



reply to post by havok


Indeed... If I am because you are, and you lurk.. therefor I am!

I think ATS has a grand tradition of cyberflaneurs, I've been around myself for 'bout 2 years... Thanks for the thread Heff

/PG13

Bumping so that a few more lurkers can get their kudos!

And thanks to all that posted. Also to PadawanGandalf for that excellent and informative post!

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


And here's another bump to remind you that you should pay attention to the PM I sent you a week or two ago.

Regards.

reply to post by Hefficide


Glad to see you are back from hiatus heffa!

i have not had access to the internet for quite sometime but I finally came down off my mountain to do some visiting and decided to take advantage of the connection for a few hours before these lazy city folk wake up....

probably wont see you for another year or so but just wanted to say Hello !!!

and let you know, just because the chat phantom is preoccupied with firewood and other such trivial matters ...

he has not given up his dream of total chat domination...








~meathead


side note:
congrats on your" moderatorship " !!!

reply to post by Mike Stivic


Meathead my old friend it is FANTASTIC TO SEE YOU! You are sorely missed on the boards and by this individual my good friend!

Get back here as soon as you can!

Take care brother!

~Heff

I'm a major lurker. I lurked before I signed up and have probably read thousands and thousands and thousands of posts by now. I come here daily.

I have to say, I don't think I bring much to the discussions though.
I just love to read all the interesting threads here.