Television wins

College lecturers hate students that don't turn up for class. 

Students hate turning up for a boring class.

If the lecturer was more engaging, more interesting and made the class into a close knit-group - students would turn up more often. I know there were classes I never skipped.

Lecturers compete against television. If watching television is more interesting than attending the lecture, television wins.

Lurkers are a lot like college students. It's easy to hate them. They come, they view and they leave. If they having something more interesting to do with their time than participating, they wont participate. If watching television is more interesting than participating in your community, television wins.

It isn't lurkers fault that they lurk, it's ours. If your community was more engaging, more welcoming, more fun and easier to participate in - you would have less lurkers.

Comments

[Mark Waterfield]

Your last para is so very true...........

It is tough to accept the criticism and accept that the community that I have created is boring and dull which is why no one participates.

But once this is understood and accepted then it is much easier to change and get it right

[Ryan Stephens]

I love this Richard b/c while I ALWAYS attended class I would definitely sleep through a few. Some of my classmates would get agitated and tell me it's disrespectful. To some extent they're right, but so is not showing up. At least I was there, at least I gave them a chance to be interesting everyday when I got there.

R

[Stuart Foster]

Best advice I have heard about lack of engagement. It's so damn true. I skipped a TON of classes in college because I could learn more and do more interesting stuff elsewhere.

I have to take that same approach with my blog :). Thanks Richard!