Blurkers?

I have recently become aware of a relatively new species of humanoid that frequents the internet.

If you are a regular user of internet forums, you are aware of the existence of “lurkers”. These are people who frequent particular forums of their choosing to read the postings of others, but who do not register with that forum or post any submissions of their own. Lurkers enjoy reading the discussions that take place on such forums, but often feel that they have nothing significant to contribute to the discussion themselves. Their existence has long been recognized, and the fact is that frequent posters on one forum may indeed become lurkers on another forum out of curiosity. No biggie.

But now a new breed of internet inhabitant has emerged that I think deserves unique recognition. These are former bloggers who, for one reason or another, have ceased to maintain their own blogs, yet who still roam the vast internet “Blogosphere” reading other people’s blogs and often posting comments to those very blogs. Their contributions may often be welcomed by the bloggers; at other times not. But just as the comic Steve Martin once observed that the French seem to have a different word for everything in the English language, I have noticed that denizens of the internet also seem to have a “techno-word” for every aspect and every inhabitant of their world.

Thus I am wondering if anyone has yet invented a word for former bloggers who no longer blog, but who post their comments to other people’s blogs. I am not sufficiently savvy to know such things. Unless or until such a word is invented (Which inevitably will happen, you can be sure of that!), I propose we call such people “Blurkers” as in “Blog-Lurkers”.

We will continue to encourage their comments, as we active bloggers simply live for comments, but at the same time we will ask the Blurkers to reconsider their choice to leave active blogging, and to return to their former efforts to make the Blogosphere more interesting for the rest of us who used to enjoy blurking their blogs.