In article <3eeedaf7.336572796@news.CIS.DFN.DE>, SjTNot@yahoo.com 
expulges...
> Ok, there's been a few comments made about Youksef lurkers, and the
> possibility that they really do exist.
> 
> Well i think we should see how many lurkers are out there that are
> possibly a bit nervous about posting a message to the group, and i
> suggest having a "Lurkers Day", a day when we all have the day off and
> let the lurkers have the group to themselves to take it out for a
> ride.
> 
> Good idea? or plain bonkers?
> 
> Any lurkers out there who are interested in this, please just reply to
> this messsage, you only have to say 'hi' or something.. Remember ur
> the weird ones for watching all this shit, not us! So we should be
> scared of you!!
> 
> I'm willing to bet that theres over 30 regular lurkers, personally..
> 

I know at least 6 people in my work who read it. Oh yeah, get back to 
workin' and stop that lurkin' you bone-idle sloths.

Anyway, for me, delurking was the single hardest thing I've had to do in my 
entire life (apart from completing R-type on the Speccy 128k with 1 life and 
all my weapons intact). There's such a barrier to delurking and it's really 
not fucking appreciated. There I would be, reading BTN's apocalyptic 
nihilism, Joe's jovial Big Ron boss persona, Mikey's hilariously blurry 
stand-up routine, etc, etc, thinking to myself, "Oh wouldn't it be funny if 
I wrote back and said....blah blah blah!"

Then, the fear would grip me. The little sprite on my shoulder would hiss  
"What if they don't find it funny eh? What if they don't even fucking read 
it? What if they get so angry they turn you into a human butt plug like they 
did with that Stu Vincent bloke?" I would be crippled with anxiety, cowering 
before my PC like some kind of anxious, cowering lurker, beads of sweat 
dripping on to my soiled EFC beige Y-fronts. That would be it for weeks, I 
couldn't bear to read it for days on end. The lurker's barrier like some 
looming Prestonian concrete monolith blocking my path to usenet football. 

Then I thought, "Fuck it, it's only a game" and posted. People started 
liking my jib, my jib grew stronger and more confident and pretty soon I was 
wielding my jib like Dirk Diggler demonstrating his dirigible-dimensioned 
dong. Now my jib has just been voted "2003 Best Newcomer's jib" - a 
heartwarming story if ever there was one. I think this could become a TV 
movie starring Mary Tyler-Moore called "Who will look after my jib?" I 
really do.

-- 
Tony