Re: Bottom feeders

["Michael H. Warfield" <mhw at wittsend.com>]

On Tue, Dec 19, 2000 at 09:00:59PM -0800, John Beck wrote:
> Keith> I honestly don't know how many of the 'lurkers' in any particular room
> Keith> are actively participating in some WG versus how many are lurking in
> Keith> all of them. but I do know that a large number of lurkers is harmful
> Keith> to a WG's ability to conduct a useful meeting.

> How so?  If they're just lurking, the only harm I could see is taking up
> space in the room.  I started out more or less lurking, mainly just to make
> sure people didn't try to do something stupid in my areas of interest.  But
> gradually over time I found I was able to participate at a more meaningful
> level.  So lurking can be a Good Thing, from a certain point of view.

	I also have to agree with this.  I lurk in several security related
forums and I attended one IETF conference (Orlando).  I haven't been to
another, strictly because of professional demands on my time (and I
sincerely regret not getting to another, yet).  When I was in Orlando,
I attended (lurked) at several WGs.  Most, I had nothing to say.  Some
gave me more information to back up what I had been hearing on the
mailing lists.  In once case, I did raise a point about some privacy
concerns with IPv6 and leaking information.  I was prepared to get
roundly flamed for an uninformed opinion (I had been doing my homework)
and was surprise to see someone who I respect and admire (I think it was
Steve Belovin) stand up and agree with me.

	The "lurkers" of the past and present are your "workers" of the
future.  Don't discourage them.  Don't intimidate them.  Ok... Ok...  Don't
intimidate them any more than you intimidate each other.  Don't single
them out for any special vile treatment.

	The meetings ARE getting large, I agree.  Anyone who comes with
something specific they wish to present certainly deserves respect
(and a badge for bravery) and a position from which to make their
presentation.  I didn't see any situation, then, where lurkers were
disrupting the proceedings or interfering with the ability of presentors
to get their presentations done.  In several cases, myself and a couple
of other "lurkers" promptly got roped (uh volunteered) into contributing
to some projects.  That's where worker bees come from.  :-)

> -- John

	Mike
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