Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Blurkers

A “blurker” is a “blog lurker”. The term often is used to specify someone who regularly reads your blog but never comments. Blurking is considered poor blogosphere etiquette, but has become quite common.

What makes blurking so weird is that you know there are folks doing it, but you don’t know what they’re like. This causes a blogger’s imagination to run wild. You start thinking who these creepy people are.

So…I’ve filled in the blanks, created my own little blurker profiles. I imagine that blurkers of He Said, She Said include (but are not limited to) the following people:

Ole Kilnikov: Ole is a Swedish Russian. He is a speed skater and harvests wheat with a sickle. He likes his speed skating outfit too much.

Rita Fern: Rita composes ballads to express how she feels when she reads our blog. One day she hopes to get these songs published. She likes to wear hemp.

Hank Williams: Actually a pseudonym. His real name is Edgar Shank but he admires people who can yodel, which is how he found He Said, She Said.

Kalina Suarez: Kalina’s distinguishing feature is that her navel appears on the small of her back. She invented chocolate covered Oreos.

Tod Smit: Because Tod got short-changed on the spelling of his name, he’s been over-compensating all his life. He likes to read He Said, She Said by beaming it on his wall via video projector.

These are the blurkers of our blog. For goodness’ sake, people: COMMENT!


Alright all you blurkers, we know you’re out there. And yes, we even know WHAT you are.

“1. blurker: A blog lurker. Someone who reads a lot of blogs but never posts any comments. I stopped posting to my LJ because all my readers were blurkers.” (from www.urbandictionary.com)

The funny thing about blurkers is that the blogger can (if they use any sort of stat tracker type thingy) find out quite a lot about who is reading their blog. We use Statcounter to keep track of things around here, and there is a view that shows a map of the world with little “pins” in the spots where people are reading. It’s wicked cool, and seeing people from all over the world checking in with our little blog makes my heart go pitter patter.

I admit, I blurk quite a bit too. ;-) I usually feel like I don’t really have anything to add, so will often just stay quiet even though I read regularly. Weird isn’t it? Because I would say to all of you blurking here, “Come out of the closet, and introduce yourself! We promise we won’t bite.” Yet I keep on blurkin’.

What do you say, peeps? If I go and post comments on five different blogs I read, will you reveal yourself in the comments? If I post 10? Will ya, will ya, huh?

Ahem. Anyway, if you have been reading, it would tickle us if you would leave us a comment!

16 comments:

megan said...

i read. i lurk. i don't leave comments because i try to limit myself to 15 minutes to read 8 blogs. i am a slow typist so i just don't have time! but you guys are funny and you're on my google reader. so there. :)

Troy and Heather Cady said...

Way to go Megan! See ladies and gents, Megan did it, you can too ;) Dang woman, you are disciplined! And I'm honored we're one of the 8! (Is that kind of like being one of the Oceanic Six?) Anyway, OK, you came, declared, you may go back to blurking now.

Troy and Heather Cady said...

That was me, Heather, by the way :)

Four Little Penguins said...

I'm Kalina. It's not true about the navel thing, but I will gladly take credit for inventing such an awesome thing as oreos!
I lurk ALL the time. I even shed a tear or two the day you were sick and I put up a protest sign on my computer the day you simply didn't post for any reason at all. :(
But I never have anything to say... usually, between the two of you, you say it all... and I'm usually too busy laughing...

JasonBecca said...

OK - you caught us :-) Thanks for the laugh! Nothing clever to say... but looking forward to meeting you soon :-).

Anonymous said...

Do I really count as a blurker if I comment to Heather in person? You guys make us laugh, please keep writing. PS. This is my very first blog comment, thanks guys, I know I can do it now.

Unknown said...

I blurk. I blurk prolifically. Often without guilt. Not today, however. Thanks. ;) Your blog is awesome--I often save it till last on my list to read, so I know I'll end smiling. I found you through Mary DeMuth's blog, where I also rarely comment, even though I think she, too, is fantastic. (At least I'm consistent.) If I had to choose one of your blurker profiles, I'd go with Rita Fern. I do have a tendency to write ballads--and I'm moving to Boulder, CO soon, where I'm guessing I could buy plenty of hemp apparel. Okay, so I've been silent for months, and now I ramble on. This is what happens when you call out the blurkers, I'm afraid. Feel free to blurk at my blog if you want--turnabout's fair play. www.kirstenwilson.net

Unknown said...

I blurk. I visited Madrid for a few weeks last summer and met you through Oasis Madrid and have been reading your blog, Heather, ever since. And when you started He Said, She Said I started reading that too. Your blog is highly entertaining and I quite enjoy it! Keep up the great work!

tony sheng said...

hey guys
i read via rss and sometimes from the cai blog aggregator.

i don't think we officially met but i was one of the leaders on the kids ministry team last year at Connect.

i'm bringing another team this year to Connect - it's a fabulous team of students and leaders and we are really looking forward to serving you, your teams and your kids!

Anonymous said...

I am to blurking. I like the eating of the oreos chocolates. I have silver plated sickle that matches sparkle icetard uniform. I skate like bullet in glitter rainbow. Please call me "Bamstokas."

Anonymous said...

hey guys...I follow your blog via a feed...so i get lazy while consuming all of the stuff I read..but i feel the pain in regards to wondering, "Just who are these people looking at blog?" but you know you got a blurker in me...

Shari Lau said...

Ha ha. Ok, I admit I'm a blurker. ;-) I love reading your blog, but don't often comment. Sorry! :-) With humble regrets all the way from Canada...
Shari

Anonymous said...

I've totally been a blurker. Not all the time, but these last few weeks for sure. Sometimes I don't really know if what I would say would add to people's posts so I just read and enjoy. It bugs me when people don't comment, so I should really leave even a short comment. But alas, there are just too many great blogs and so little time in my life right now.

Anonymous said...

I'm a blurker! It's Betsy here -- from back in Barcelona days. I'm reading from sunny Texas these days; drop a line when you're home on furlough next!

ncvw said...

I blurk therefore I am. Quiet.

Anonymous said...

I guess since I got called out, I have to come out from the wood work. My name is Rita Fern. I like to wear hemp and sing ballads about RVs.

OK not really. Hi, my name's Laura. I work in the US office. I've emailed you to say that I read your blog, but since that point I admit that I am guilty of blurking.

Many of your entries make me laugh out loud at my desk here at the office. I will hopefully meet you in Hungary!