Going Into Lurk Mode

Despite the rave reviews of some bloggers regarding boosting their traffic via group or forum participation, I am not a huge fan of them.  One reason is forums and groups tend to get emotional which can negatively affect your blog.  A case in point on a blog advertising network forum that I am active on one member decided to go against the conventional placement of the widget.  Then he asked the opinion of other members on the forum and when other members gave their honest opinion, he got pissy.  My response was to make sure his ad would not run on my blogs and not to visit his blog again so because of his actions in the forum he lost at least one daily reader although in reality he lost a lot more.

The problem with groups and forums is emotion tends to get in the way.  It can really reflect negatively on your blog.  What I have discovered over a number of years is you can follow a group without ever making a comment.  It doesn't  help in promoting your blg but it doesn't do any damage either.  This is called lurking.  Basically you read but don't comment.  So you get the information you want without creating the possibility for any negative impact on you blog.  Lurking doesn't have a negative impact on your blog 

Garden Gnome
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