Are you a LURKER?

This site gets alot of visitors. I've watched the traffic in a variety of our forums - and some threads get a lot of views, but minimal response. So, my question to you is: What does it take to get you to make a post? What is holding you back? I really want to know. Please take just a moment to respond to this poll. Then, when you get a few minutes, stop by the forum that deals with something that you keep & make a post...it can be a response to a current thread, or you can start your own (even something as simple as mentioning an animal you keep and how long you have had it).

actually i do post , just not alot as of yet . i just joined this board a week or 2 ago and i am still familiarizing myself with it . i do plan on posting more in the future though . i think that one of the reasons some people might not post here is because they think of it as a buisness forum . mainly for those that deal in larger numbers of reptiles . atleast that is the impression i had at first . i've been visiting this site for close to 6 months and just in the last couple weeks have i actually started posting . up until then i thought of this site primarilly as a classified for reptiles site and a place for breeders , wholesalers , and retailers to get together . it wasnt until recently that i even knew that the forums were for anyone . now that i have actually looked over the forums i see i was wrong , but to people that come here new it can seem otherwise . just my 2 cents , i may be completely wrong , but its how i see it .

Mark, I appreciate the comments. One of the concerns I mentioned to other forum moderators was that we might foster the impression of a group of "good ol' boys" that, for any number of reasons, may not seem open to new comers. For me, the business end is secondary. I have a bunch of animals that I like (not nearly as many as I used to keep), and I breed some of them. Honestly, I didn't even advertise anything last year. What I sold, I sold at shows, from people happening across my website, or by people from here contacting me. Eventually, I figure I will have to advertise elsewhere...but until it seems necessary, I won't bother.
I frequent Fauna because I like the environment & I enjoy helping people. IMO, while there are a good number of very experienced people, most do not come off as condescending or rude to "newbies". I also like to relate with other reptile enthusiasts...it's just nice not to be the freak with the snakes, lol. Anyway, welcome to Fauna.

Brilliant idea Harald.
Good options too. If this poll is active enough it should provide some very valuable information.
Kudos!

i wasnt trying to say anyone seemed rude or condesending , just that it appeared to me initially to be primarily a buisness forum . i think that the main reason i assumed this is because when you come to the forums the first few sections are mostly buisness forums . you have to scroll down quite a ways before you start hitting what i would call general public forums . just an opinion , but if you were to move the boi and other forums mainly geared towards buisness and the running of the forums down , and move the ones that are more hobbiest related up to where they are more visible , i think it might help . once again just my 2 cents worth .

My point was that on some of the other forums I have visited, people aren't necessarily kind to people with less experience. One in particular has a mod that is incredibly full of himself (full of something else, too, IMO). We clashed a bit in the beginning, but the hatchet seems to be buried.
I do appreciate your input, and that you expanded on your explanation a bit.

Wow - you lurkers are serious about what you do, lol. 62 views, and only 4 votes. That's pretty disappointing.

I'm spend my time lurking and getting info with the forlorn hope that one day my Mrs will let me get a royal or a corn snake. I'm not holding my breath.

See that wasn't so hard. Welcome to Fauna, Grant. Is your Mrs afraid of snakes? Has she ever held or watched one?

I'm very active on the cornsnakes.com discussion board, but not so active here. I didn't vote because none of the choices seemed to describe the reasons I don't post here much. I'm primarily interested in corns, so cs.com is the place to be. I'm also interested in other colubrids (e.g. kings, milks, rats), but those forums just aren't that busy here, and I don't find much of the info I'm looking for in them anyway. I also like to lurk the other snake forums here, but I really don't have much expertise to contribute. As a proficient researcher, I find posting questions and waiting around for replies in slow forums to be fairly inefficient.

I guess you could say that I am part of the problem.