martinibuster - 10:25 pm on Jun 13, 2006 (gmt 0)

Once you've drawn someone out of lurk mode, you're probably half-way there to cultivating an active community member. Lurkers seem like an untapped asset that is easily forgotten or underutilized.

An interesting phenomenom
My top forum member accepted a new job that limited his ability to post on my forum. Our top forum member, who expertly answered so many questions was now gone, which was a huge loss for the community, as so many members looked up to him because of his deep knowledge.

Now here's the funny part: The average count of daily posts began to rise shortly after he left. So what happened? Other very competent members stepped out of the shadows to fill the space formerly occupied by my star member.

Too many askers
Although the forum was growing month over month, many of the members were coming to ask questions and lurking thereafter. So while my unique visitor metrics were growing, the number of enthusiastic active members was not. Too many askers.

Should a Forum Avoid Giving Out Answers?
Apparently, his style of posting comprehensive answers had been inhibiting others from posting their own answers. Is there something wrong with answers? I think so.

Some members had expressed timidity about posting answers, so my way of circumventing this timidity was to instruct my moderators to stop answering questions, and begin engaging in dialogue.

Encouraging Lurkers to Post
My instructions to the moderators was to draw the lurkers out of lurk-mode by consciously making posts that encouraged members to offer opinions and answers. No more answers. Only discussions.

This community is overwhelmingly made up of lurkers. This is common to many forums, but I think there is an opportunity to cultivate more active members by taking a look at posting styles and de-emphasizing answers, and emphasizing discussion.

About lurkers and drawing lurkers into the open
So why do people lurk? Fear of being ridiculed is probably one of the major reasons. The other may be a lack of confidence in their knowledge, and perhaps the most important, nobody's ever engaged them for their opinion.

Making eye contact online
On that last point, some of my favorite personalities both on and off the boards share a quality that when they speak, they seem to embrace the whole room with eye contact, a nod, a little encouragement for your feedback. I think it is precisely this quality that is missing from many board discussions, the encouragement for feedback. A simple question such as, "What do you think?" Or, "I think that's right, but I'm sure others have good opinions of other ways of doing it. I'm interested in hearing yours."

Drag those lurkers out into a discussion... :)

The rest of it consists of creating an atmosphere where shy or unconfident people will feel comfortable. This is where your mods come in:

1: Make it clear that opinions are not only welcomed, but encouraged.
2: Ensure that any member who expresses a wrong opinion is treated gently. No ridiculing. No flaming.

What led me down this road to engaging more members was the loss of my most active community member, which in itself caused a growth in member participation.

So what do you think?

• Should forums be wary of providing too many answers?

• Do authoritative members inhibit member participation?

• What steps are you taking to encourage more member participation?