In many
communities lurkers are still seen as free-riders.
They are perceived as a drain on the public goods since they “take without giving back.”
Lurker
Costs
Lurkers can negatively
influence other community members. If community members can see that someone is
lurking rather than participating, they may feel that they are being spied
upon. Lurkers might also take pieces of content featured in communities without
seeking consent, violating the rules of the community. As a result, while individuals in online
communities may feel that they are experiencing private interactions, a lurker
may see it as a public space for observation due to their reduced feelings of
belonging.
Free-riding
Lurking is just
one form of free-riding that can happen within an internet community, and is
similar to asking questions without responding or gathering information without
distributing it. Lurking is seen as undesirable to communities because of the
risk free-riding can have on the
community if every member does it. A public good is something that is
impossible to exclude someone from and has a joint supply within the community.
An internet community is seen as a public good because it is a pool of data to
which people may, if they choose, separately contribute information. The
survival of the community is then dependent on the contributions of the
members. Since it is impossible to
exclude members from sharing in the benefit of the public good, people are more
motivated to free-ride on the work of the other members and not contribute
themselves.