[seeker1950]

I see in checking "Who's Online" on the forum here that there are always quite a number of "invisible" members present. Makes me a little uncomfortable.
What are others' thoughts about it here, and can anyone enlighten me.
Seeker

[wi_fighter]

We had a discussion about this a while back. Maybe this will help you for now. Some of the new people that have signed up since then might have other reasons.

It's called Do You Find It Significant...

I tried pasting the URL and it made the message window twice as wide.

[wanttoheal]

feels safer to be invisible

[seeker1950]

Well, do invisible members post on here or are they just "lurking" around reading our personal stuff?
Seeker

[h0kie]

Invisible Members are members who select not to be seen on the "Who's Online" screen.

For example, I have chosen to do this for the next week as I am out of town and can't be here too much. When I post, I still post as myself.

The anonymous users at the bottom are people who do not have user names (or haven't logged in) and are just reading...for whatever reason. Hope that helps.

[wanttoheal]

we dont lurk. we do read. sometimes we reply. are we wrong. should we go.

[wi_fighter]

http://forums.psychcentral.com/showf...=&fpart=3&vc=1

[Hope4me2]

I choose to be invisible because I am really shy and I feel more comfortable that way..............but this is about me noone else....it is my problem and I am in therapy right now working on it.
please do not take my being invisible personally....
I love PC and everyone here

[Miss_A]

I am safer invisible that way no one can point at me and spot where I am and what I'm doing. Sorry, I might come out of being invisble sometime, who knows?

[seeker1950]

Thanks, Wi, for the link to the earlier forum thread on this subject. I can see that people like Miss A can still post with their identity showing up and that's fine, but I still feel that some marked as "invisible" could just be "lurkers."...not any of your responding here.
Seeker

Not directed at any one certain person, but I have to put my 2 cents in. Doesn't that border on paranoia, as to who is invisible, and who is not. There again, you have no idea what peoples reasons are.
I don't look at it as lurking, as much as a private thing!
Peoples reasons vary, and I bet that perhaps there should be a different word to use then "invisible".
oooooh, something mysterious, or erie about that word perhaps. Whatever their reasons, they perhaps don't care to be part of the crowd. I dunno. Interesting topic. Would like to hear more!

Sincerely,

SongBird

[Shaymus]

I am almost always invisible as i just prefer to not have people know exactly where and what im doing online. It feels like someone is checking up on me. Since there is the option of being invisible, i choose to take advantage of it. I dont post all that often but i dont think of myself as a lurker either.

[seeker1950]

LOL, Songbird, I realized I was sounding paranoid by my repeated mention of "lurkers." I have good reason for feeling this way, though, because all my posts on a previous forum were read by the Psychology Ph.D. I was dating. I only found this out after it ended with him, although he had done the reading very early in our association. So, yeah, maybe that's why I sound paranoid.
Seeker

[wanttoheal]

that is why we lurk and not post. so may be we are more paranoid than you.

[seeker1950]

LOL, wanttoheal, I'm not usually paranoid at all, but that experience really shook me and just seeing that there are many "invisible" members here made me uncomfortable. Since he is a Psychologist, he could easily be reading posts here, as could anyone, I guess.
Seeker

[wanttoheal]

Hey Seeker, for your peace of mind: This is not he.

[Kismet]

Ok--this is something I REALLY don't get. Why does it make any difference to you? I don't care if others are invisible or not. I care very much whether *I* am, however...*G*

[kimmydawn]

members choose to be invisible for many reasons that pertain to both here at the forums or RL.

it's a "safety" feature for our members. if this feature allows members to come here and feel they can safely post then it's more than served a good purpose, in my opinion.

being anonymous can have many advantages. it's a choice that a member makes.

members become anonymous for many reasons. it's all about doing what the individual needs to do to feel safe and get the support they need.

thanks!

kd

[Perzephone]

After my experiences on AOL's message boards, I am leery about just jumping into an online forum of any kind, be it about Paganism, herbalism, gardening, Tarot... or something more personal, like depression. I read a lot of back posts here before joining or even posting one little thing, simply because I wanted to get a feel for the 'atmosphere'. I wanted to see why people got flamed (which, due to its professional moderation, there is little or no flaming), how 'newbies' or people unfamiliar w/common terms were treated by more veteran members... I also wanted to discover if it was more of a mutual support group or if it was mostly individual questions being replied to by professionals. It's kind of like being a new kid in school, or a new family on an old block...

Seems to me that there are:

Online folks - These are members who are signed on and set their profile to show when they are online. They may post or not.

Invisable folks - Members who have set their profile to not display when they are signed on. Like me. They also may post or not.

Anonymous folks - People who are either not registered, or are not logged on at the moment. They can't post unless they register and log on.

Normally people think of "lurkers" as people who read and never post. If I don't post for a week, am I now a lurker? If I post once a year, am I lurker? I dunno. I'm not crazy about the word. It sounds so ominous. I think it's more typical that people who lurk are shy about posting, or THINK that they have nothing important to add to the conversation. I'll bet they are wrong!

em

[seeker1950]

Okay, okay...Maybe "lurker" wasn't a good word of choice. First, I didn't understand that I too have the option of making myself "invisible," as do all of you here. I thought it meant there are people in the shadows, just watching, reading our posts, "studying" us, and not participants. Gosh, that DOES sound paranoid, doesn't it!!~~But, hey, I'm giggling about it as I type it. Hey, maybe I'll be invisible too, just for fun!
Loving thoughts,
Seeker

[SeptemberMorn]

My feelings about people being invisible is silly and sometimes very frustrating. If you're logged in and posting, what good does it to do be invisible? People will figure out that you're on and where you're posting. So what? I don't get it.

When I find it frustrating is if I feel I want or need to talk to a particular person. I'll check to see if they're online. If I don't see their name, I'll check the member status, but you can't really tell anything from that... so then I send a PM asking if they're online. If they are, they'll answer... and I've had to go through all that trouble.

When I go invisible it's because I don't want to be bothered. I don't post, either. Sometimes I do worry about the "annonymous" people.

[seeker1950]

Hmm...yes..."anonymous"....now I have MORE reasons to be "paranoid," LOL
Seeker

[SeptemberMorn]

Aw, don't be! One thing to watch out for, though. Some time back I sent one of my posts to someone else by clicking on the little email icon at the bottom of each post. Little did I know that at the time, when the post got mailed, it had an invitation to join the site. Well, this person joined just to call me a liar and then spent weeks "checking up" on me to see what I posted. For all I know, they're still doing it.

It really triggered me at the time.

[seeker1950]

I understand, and you know I have been "triggered" too by my experience on the previous forum...Oh, well...the benefits of this forum have far outweighed my concerns over someone I know reading my posts.
Loving thoughts,
Seeker