The silent majority
Posted by Ron Coleman on April 16, 2007
I am constantly impressed at the phenomenon of lurking on email lists and the roughly equivalent one of reading blogs without commenting. I realize that in fact most people do these things and do not contribute to discussions. It was the same in school; most people do not wish to speak up in class. Yet here you can do so anonymously. There is no grading. Still you remain, mostly, silent. And what I crave is your society. Connection.
You demur. I wish I had an ounce of that humility (others also wish I did). But the one thing I couldn’t stand in the old newsprint days was that They, by virtue of having a printing press, could say, and I had to just read.
Today was a good day for a humble blog — no, I’m no Ali Eteraz! — with about 700 unique readers. I got about 40 comments, also a lot, but it was from about 15 people. That ratio amazes me. You can say what you think! You can disagree with the writer! You can agree with the writer!
“Nope. No thanks, just looking. Go on.”
I guess it takes all kinds… mostly the other kind, in fact.
Martin L. Shoemaker said
That just makes us commenters all the more special.
And humble.
Ron Coleman said
Shhh!
jaymaster said
Heh. You Jews just want to talk, talk, talk about everything! 🙂
John Burgess said
They also serve who sit and read… and think about it.
Lucy said
Maybe they’re bad typers. Or maybe they’re holding a wigglely baby while they read (in which case you should feel honored beyond belief). Or maybe they’re at work and the sound of typing would alert their cube-neighbors of their … slacking. Or maybe they’re reading you while on the phone with their mothers, who would SO never let them hear the end of it if typing were detected. Or maybe they can’t spell after years of “texting” on their cute little phones …
eteraz said
You must not write to talk to others, but to talk to yourself.
Neocon said
I’m one of the silent majority. Basically, I must ask, what’s the point of commenting? You have those who agree with a post, those who disagree. You have the informed, you have the misinformed and ignorant. You have the wise ones, and you have the glib ones who’s opinions and assessments are as useless as tits on a boar-hog.
Then there are the real dumbasses in the silent majority who comment to a post wondering about the silent majority…(Yours Truly).
Now, don’t get me wrong; I love reading the comments from these guys (Shoemaker is a busy guy)and have alot of respect for bloggers who have the time to post stories and their opinions.
But honestly, what can I contribute? I would simply be a distant echo of another’s opinion.
Besides, I’m too damn busy writing other sh** that I get paid for; balancing my personal life with a demon toddler, a pregnant wife (due next week), two dogs, two cats; and trying to make sense of the political climate led by demagogues, bastards, and entertainers-to-dictators (Dems).
Have a great day….Lucy, did I make any typing errors? 🙂
Matthew said
Commenting is a lot of hard work!
Mike said
OK, you’re just trolling for comments, aren’t you?
Guess I took the bait…
Happy Patriot’s Day!
Foobarista said
I don’t read blogs often enough to get in juicy, early comments – typically, by the time I’d want to comment, everything has been said and replied to. Why bother being the 50th comment, agreeing with 25 other commenters?
Occasionally, I’ll have a useful comment about something I know about, but this is relatively rare on things like Dean’s World where the topics tend to be either general interest or stuff outside my areas of expertise (Muslim issues, etc). Or the topic is so predictable that I don’t need to bother commenting (anthropogenic global warming, for example) where I don’t need to bother: the reactions are so predictable as to be not worth reading the comments, much less commenting.
Dean's World said
Thoughts On The Silent Majority
Ron Coleman muses on an interesting question: Why are most internet readers silent?
This is a subject I’ve been contemplating for decades, from …
FIAR said
I type slow.
Irina said
I think, in many cases, the answer is quite simple: time limitations. Some readers follow a significant number of blogs. Writing a thought-out response takes time. The opportunity cost of writing comments is not having time to read another entry. So people prefer to read and think about something, without responding. (I admit, I’m thinking of myself, mostly).
Ron Coleman said
All fair points! It’s a little interesting, though — most of you who are writing, and largely defending the silent appreciation of blogs, are bloggers yourselves.
Irina said
Probably because bloggers have a place of their own to elaborate on some of the good points they see elsewhere (all with due credit, of course!)
Jaded Topaz said
Not to ruin a perfectly good thread on the psychological underpinnings of read and run reading,
that perfectly cloudy sky with NYC standing tall as the iridescent silver lining picture, is a mesmerizing moment of metallic & sky etherealism!!