You're right that you didn't say that should not exist, but you did say
> they might as well not even exist
I guess that's technically different. But you're being extremely hostile to the make up of a community. Can only active participants be allowed to claim they are part of a community? That seems very insensitive. Im a lurker, but I feel that I am a part of many online communities. But maybe... "You don't contribute, you don't matter."
In reality lurkers (or leechers as you say) play a big role. First of all they represent the community count -- they show a realistic interest in a topic/view. They also participate in other ways like up and down (validation) voting of topics/interests, report off topic/offensive content, etc. And they play a very significant role by supporting revenue for web forums -- their eyeballs and clicks do count too.
Just because lurkers aren't visible, doesn't make them any less important to the community.
> If a tree fell in the forest and nobody heard it, did it make a sound?
Yah, because 90% of the people in the forest heard it; they just didn't make a post about it.
> they might as well not even exist
I guess that's technically different. But you're being extremely hostile to the make up of a community. Can only active participants be allowed to claim they are part of a community? That seems very insensitive. Im a lurker, but I feel that I am a part of many online communities. But maybe... "You don't contribute, you don't matter."
In reality lurkers (or leechers as you say) play a big role. First of all they represent the community count -- they show a realistic interest in a topic/view. They also participate in other ways like up and down (validation) voting of topics/interests, report off topic/offensive content, etc. And they play a very significant role by supporting revenue for web forums -- their eyeballs and clicks do count too.
Just because lurkers aren't visible, doesn't make them any less important to the community.
> If a tree fell in the forest and nobody heard it, did it make a sound?
Yah, because 90% of the people in the forest heard it; they just didn't make a post about it.