Lurkers...

We talked about lurkers in my blogging class as those people who read blogs, but don't comment on them. I realized that I am a lurker, as there are blogs I enjoy reading, but don't necessarily feel compelled to make comments on. I figured that was okay to read and not comment, until we got into a discussion of community and how the comments create community, as people living in a community create part of the whole.

It reminded me of living in Southern Village, near the campus of UNC. We just moved from there to Durham recently, to be closer to Durham Academy where our children are going to school. There are many wonderful things about Southern Village--being able to walk everywhere, our wonderful next-door neighbors, the great bookstore and coffee shop...But, there are also "lurkers"--people who don't mind living in close quarters (the homes are all quite close to each other), but who are not interested in getting to know you or say hello. We always thought it would be odd that someone would choose to live in such a close community, but not participate in the community. Now I understand why "lurkers" are called just that. They really don't add to community--they just take up space.