I went to user list, clicked on number of posts acending, and went up pages until I got to ones. It was on page 62 out of 196!!! That adds up to 3,081 members who have absolutely no posts!!! I'm sure there are many pages after that of ones.
I think sometimes people register so they can just lurk and learn. I know there are at least a few who have registered and PM'ed me privately with questions on chickens, before getting out and posting on the boards! You all know who you are! Come and post! We don't bite!
I get a lot of email from people who are uncomfortable posting on the boards. They probably never will. They glean info needed and privately ask their questions.
I've been a lurker for a while and a member for a few weeks. I've administered boards, designed them you name it. So a fear of posting doesn't come into play with me. I'm just reading so much of the info here and honestly don't have anything constructive to say at this point. People use forums for many different reasons. Some for a social relationships others for simple entertainment then those like me using the forum as a learning tool. I've got a big mouth so I'm sure over time my interactions here will evolve. So far I've built a 14'x24' run with a 8'x14' building attached. My own incubator based on information I've gained through research on the forums. I currently have Serama and Cochin eggs cooking. I've also built a fairly neat 3'x5' two story chicken tractor. Obviously I've thoroughly enjoyed the great ideas presented here even if I have been fairly quiet. Edit: Oh I almost forgot I also built a 3'x5' brooder box on casters.
Ex-lurker here! I got my first flock of mixed Standards (from the classified ads of the local paper) 20 years ago. Had to leave them behind when I left my ex-husband and moved back into town. Never even thought I'd get back into them until I met Skip, 13 years ago (he used to raise Pheasant and Chukars before we ever met). When I decided that I wanted to get back into chickens, I finally had a computer and wanted to spend the time learning all that I could about them, without asking a million questions. I lurked here for 6 months before I finally joined and I haven't regretted one bit of any of it. Our flock will be a year old on May 14th and we've gone from 1 coop to 3 (with #4 in the planning stages). When we ordered our day-old chicks last year, I swore I would never own an incubator and we ordered Banty Cochins and Silkies so they could do the hatching for us. It "looked good on paper", as the saying goes. Our Cochins and Silky girls began laying last October and within 2 weeks of laying, we had several of the girls go broody...just in time for the cold weather to move in. Lesson learned: they'll go broody whenever the mood hits, not just in the spring, as I had thought would happen. That's what I got for thinking! Talked Skip into getting me an incubator for an early Christmas present and the rest, as they say, is history! I'm hooked! Dawn
MANY people here have lurked for 6 months or more before making that first post. Some PM a few times before going public too. If you note the user names and then check it out in 6 or eight months, many will have a few posts under their belts by that time. This is nothing unusual to see and expected by most who have run big boards for any time.
many have been members for years with hundreds if not thousands of posts before the forum here was started (I have over six thousand posts which are not registered here for instance) and simply have not had occasion to post here yet