Saturday, November 15, 2025


 Often we would use the word Slurker for Olive. It's a made up word, like all words come to think, but I didn't know the internet community word Lurker. I thought of it in the old school sense. I often felt like a lurker in school, like I was both invisible, like people looked through me, or not even that, like I was not there, they looked like I was not there, but raw and painfully so. A lurker is one who observes but does not participate. But there is the observer effect. I read lurkers make up a large percentage of online users. When I was in Jackson Junior High there was no internet community. We would sit in a field next to the school getting stoned in the weeds while inside they danced for prom or something we observed from without observing. I read that slurking means super lurking. Creeping. With Olive it's like fun stalking. Lurking allows users to learn the conventions of an online community before they participate, improving their socialization when they eventually "de-lurk". However, a lack of social contact while lurking sometimes causes loneliness or apathy among lurkers. One can't help being a part of a community even if apart.


No comments:

Post a Comment