Lurk (internet forums)

Lurking is an activity performed on Internet Forums that involves wandering the website, reading posts and never actually posting anything. Most internet forums do not charge for access to post, so in many cases lurkers , as they are called, are completely anonymous. However, in special cases, such as on the Something Awful Forums, lurking is necessary with an account because not all forums are visible to the general public.

Most forums encourage lurking because it gives the user a better feel for how the forum operates and what kind of people its userbase is made up of. In most cases, a combination of reading the forum s FAQ or rules and lurking will guarantee that the user in question will never be banned.

=Gaia Online=

On Gaia Online, lurking goes way more in-depth because of Gaia s unique forum system and it s extracurricular activities. Lurking on Gaia is a popular way to make money because it involves little to no effort. However, after a few hours of lurking, the gold that is received begins to diminish until it becomes only the equivalent of pennies. At that point, the user will probably not receive gold from lurking for a few hours, if they leave immediately after the cessation of gold income.

Lurking has its downsides. Many users abuse this feature by hitting refresh (F5) or use bots to refresh faster, which gains vast amounts of gold because there is little refresh time on the pages and: Less load = More refreshes = More gold. This method is not as foolproof as it seems. Gaia can place trackers on users who refresh often/rapidly if they are suspected botters. Also, if you are caught, the gold could be taken away, and in extreme cases, your account can be banned.