Recently I have seen the word "lurker" used numerous times on this list to describe those members of the list who read the list but don’t contribute to it, or at least not very often. That word has such a negative connotation. To me, it implies there are people who read the list for sinister purposes. If there are, my opinion they constitute a tiny minority of the list members and it is not fair to describe the other members who have reasons of their own for reading but not contiubuting as "lurkerers". Surely there must be a more appropriate word to use than "lurkerer" in describing all who read by don't write to the list.

Joe, CG for Ruth, 68/10