On Celebrating Lurking

[soc_puppet]

Since starting Lurker Day (localized to my LJ/DW f'list and circle as it may be), I've been paying a lot more attention to when people put up "lurker amnesty" posts. Over all, I'm delighted to see them go up. "Hooray!" I've thought, "Acknowledgment by people that some fans (or followers) may have difficulty delurking on their own! Acknowledgment of lurkers in general! Even if it's not on a regular biannual schedule!" And, well, to paraphrase Dickens, I'd love it if people felt comfortable to keep the spirit of Lurker Day all year 'round.

Of course, it also prompted my familiar enemy Insecurity to pay a visit. "What if people don't really want Lurker Day, now that there's (admittedly somewhat randomized) excuses to delurk? What if it's all pointless now? What if no one cares at all?"

I stewed in that for a while, feeling less and less certain of myself. Then, one day, I went back and re-read my original Lurker Day proposition. And I got to this part:

So I thought, well, why not spend a day celebrating lurkers? I can spend the day coming out of hiding and saying what I've always wanted. It could be just like Library Forgiveness Day (which we don't have here, more's the pity ;_; ) And then I thought, well, that's nice, but it doesn't do anything for those who would rather stay lurkers. I respect that. I respect that a lot. So I thought to myself, I know! On that day, I could post a gift of some sort just for the lurkers here (few though I'm certain you are) ^_^ And that way I could celebrate all of my favorite aspects of lurking--delurking and continuing to lurk! And I would call it: Lurker Day! [...]

Then I spent entirely too much time worrying that it might be a really stupid idea and that no one would ever accept it on LJ. So I decided, to heck with all of that! I'm celebrating Lurker Day on my LJ regardless of whether the rest of the world does or not! And anyone else who wants to celebrate is more than welcome to do so!

My self-confidence is back, now. Or, at least, my not giving a whit whether anyone outside the usual suspects celebrates it (though again, if you feel like joining in, that's A-OK by me ^_^).

Moreover, it reminded me of one of the core reasons I will continue to celebrate Lurker Day: to keep the idea that you don't have to delurk to be loved.

The meaning of Lurker Day has expanded somewhat for me and other celebrants, as we make it what we want. Now, we can use it as an excuse to drop a comment by someone we haven't spoken with in a while, in addition to delurking - or not delurking. And we can use it as our -own- excuse to delurk, when Lurker Amnesty posts aren't up or haven't been up for a while.

So hello to you, my partners in Lurkerdom! May you have a truly wonderful Lurker Day today, no matter how you choose to celebrate it ♥

Comments

[waywren]

HIHIHIHIHHIHIHIHIHIHIHLOVES.

*poof*

[soc_puppet]

Hellooooooo~ ♥

[unsquared.livejournal.com]

I think this is a really awesome idea! I think I'll try this out on my LJ, too. I guess I'll add that I've read some of your posts and find them interesting! \o/

[soc_puppet]

Hello, then! And I'm glad you like it ^__^ (Yay, it's a person! \o\)