I was trying to think my own experience of coming out of lurking closet, but my experience does not apply to most of the people.
Here are list of reasons I can think of why people lurk instead of getting involved:
1. I don’t have anything to contribute. Everything can be said for the movie have already been said.Believe me, you DO have something to contribute. Just like we all have an opinion on things around us. If other people have already expressed it, it does not mean you can’t say it again. It represents your take on it and other who have the similar mind would appreciate that someone shares their POV. Plus we talk about a lot of other stuff too, not just the movie.
2. The people here is a tight group, I don’t know whether I will be accepted.We are inviting you to join the group, aren’t we? We have new friends joining us everyday. I myself have been lurking for close to 4 months before I joined this group.
3. I am not an expert on movie or everything related to Brokeback Mountain.Nobody here is an expert (Ok, we do have a few. You know who you are
). We are all Brokies just like you, people here are from all walks of life and through out the world.
4. I am content with just reading posts from some very intelligent, interesting people.Yeah, wait until you can have a real conversation with them.
5. I am not comfortable sharing my personal information or my own feeling/thoughts.No pressure to share any information about yourself. This is a very friendly considering group. We all feel comfortable here that’s why people share information about their life here. No credit card no., phone no., address info is shared
(at least not through regular postings.) If you are not comfortable sharing your own feeling/thoughts, I can’t think of any better way to do that. In a way, we are all hiding behind our online user name. Some people meet each other in real life, most of us are just cyber friends. For all I know, Phillip could be my boss. Ok, that won’t work because Phillip does not look like him at all
but anyway, you get my drift
.
6. I have already spent so much time lurking, don’t want to spend more time join the conversation.Yeah, I know that feeling. Guess you need to have some discipline. I am guilty on this and working on it to make sure I don’t have other things dropped because of my little hobby here.
7. Language barrierYou do read English, right?
You don’t have to be an eloquent English writer to post here. There are many foreigners here where English is their second language. And we don’t have grammar or spelling police around. At lease not that I am aware of, otherwise they will be on my a** all the time
So are you convinced? I am trying really hard here. I have been there, done that and I feel if I could ‘save’ a few people from that agony that will be some accomplishment.
Come on, introduce yourself and dive in any conversation you are interested in.