so many online, but so few actually on WP boards

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I've operated some discussion boards over the years and found that you really need to draw the 'lurkers' into the conversations by whatever means are at your disposal, including being very rude and controversial if you have to be.

I don't always bother to log in, often just scan each forum to see if there is anything interesting worth a reply.

However, often it is the same old topics:

> PPR: Atheists berating believers irrationality and believers trying to inspire belief in atheists.

> PPR: Gay people seeking civil rights and anti-gay religionists persecuting them.

> ADULT: Inane ramblings about the size of various bits of anatomy. Minimum age 17 but most threads look like they were written by pubescent 12 year old kids.

> THE HAVEN: Oh woe is me I'm such an unfortunate and unloved person.

> NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS: Stuff I've already read elsewhere.

> RANDOM DISCUSSION: Yawn.

> OFF THE WALL: My home but the games do get a bit tedious.

> GENERAL AUTISM DISCUSSION: Interesting to see lots of others with the same issues as me. Good support forum.

> COMPUTERS... Vista sucks. Linux and Mac are great.

It all does get a bit tiresome though. Same, same, same.

Perhaps I need a holiday from WP.

Yes, it is one of the options you can select in your account settings. I get the impression that most members set it to "hide onlne status".

Sometimes I just lurk when I'm not feeling so good.

well, that won't go over here, Garyvw. Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding is the definition of an internet troll. This is not allowed by the owner of this site.

When people don't log out of WP, but they shut down their computer, the counter still sees them as 'on line.'

Merle