More Members!

As others have said, many members (including me), view the site without logging in and are therefore counted in the "Just lurking" total.

I'm all for encouraging increased membership but the forum doesn't need a slew of new members who will make 3 or 4 posts and then never be heard from again.

I think the forum already presents an open, cordial, and inviting environment. As such, persons motivated to engage in the discussion will join as members and those who don't will continue to view the site according to their needs.

With no cost to join, there are no barriers to entry.

As to use of the term "lurk," I don't find it offensive and it appears appropriate as defined by Merriam-Webster:

I guess I'm a little confused. My computers are setup where I'm automatically logged in when I go to this website. In this situation, am I considered "lurking" if I don't post anything? I'm wondering why our regular users don't just log in as a matter of fact.

Wikipedia also has a large section on Lurking that may be of interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurker

Not sure if already mentioned, but as far as the people who sign up then dissapear, they may be the people who inherited stamps, and know squat about them. They may have given up looking for info, or just lost interest. Maybe they got a job and just have less time to post.

Also, some people have "hobby phases". I was on automotive forums for a while, then rediscovered stamps, so now I am here. One scale model car forum sees me on and off through the year. Train related forums, depends on how annoyed I am with the members...

Soooooooooo, some folks may just not need SCF much (GASP!)

One thing I will add, though, is that I took a peek to see what other stamp forums are out there, and none really fit the bill. It seems here people are, well, more human. There are more discussions, not just a stamp by stamp Q&A.

yeah, KHJ, where are all our old down under folks? Hardly ever see posts anymore.

on selling and 50 posts..

I have made 100+ dollar purchases on both the SCF and CCF sites, haven't been burned yet. The membership requirements are just right.

Busy battling ants?

True... Australia has some nasty, nasty critters...

Ants, spiders, snakes...

Well, I don't know about that - certainly it wouldn't work for me, and it may well have turned me in the opposite direction. I'm one who ignores any ebay listings that say "WOW!!", "RARE!!", "MUST SEE", "LOOK", "L00K", "L@@K", "LQQK", all that sort of nonsense gets passed over automatically. You rapidly learn that the content of such listings is generally never worth the bother, so it serves as a useful filter for weeding out some of the chaff. Perhaps I'm the only mule in the pen but as soon as there's too much pressure to go in one direction, I immediately assume it's best to go in the other direction.

Ryan

Just curious how many member are there?

Enrollment :
Enrollment that has posted in the last year :
Supporters :

SCF could be a $1 billion dollar company and not even know it, watch out FB here comes SCF.

Parttime,

You aren't considered lurking if you don't post, just if you're not logged in. I routinely do not allow my browser to remember login information, for a variety of reasons, one of which is if I don't occasionally enter it I will forget it. Therefore the SCF site will apparently remember the login information in the cookie until it expires (and that seems to be a week maybe), at which point I have to log in again.

So, I don't regularly log in for two reasons:
1) Primarily I just don't notice I'm logged out and
2) I'm usually just taking a quick peak at the topics while at work and if I even notice I'm logged out , I don't want to bother to log in

i believe I saw SCF listed in the S@P 500 !

Does that mean we can get hold of some intalgio printed stock certificates????

Chiming in, late to the party as usual;
But echoing what other supporters are saying... I look sometimes, without being logged in.

Used to be that I was on line for forever, now, would seem, I get logged out, and don't necessarily need to log in to view.

So... maybe a code revision which identifies members,logs on automatically unless it's been <Xperiod of time> vs, the distasteful, stranger, danger lurker.... ????

Lurking has sometimes been a wonderful learning experience..and builds confidence to log on with a "voice".

I think "being a guest" is perfectly normal. But I'd still like to know how to enhance their experience, to convert guests into Members, especially since it's free, and all these guests surely have important things to say.

And their "voice" never materializes until they join. Also, unlike other hobby forums, we do not have a notification system for new posts, which IMHO is GOOD, so your emailbox will not get full(er) every day.