I wish that there was some other term for those of us who read but do not post. "Lurking" sounds so sinister, as though we are skulking around in the bushes while the rest of you have a party.

You're not lurking. You're standing about. It's a whole different vibe. Can't call you "standabouters," though. How about "lurchers"? Lurch, from the Addams Family, was a man of few words, yet very loyal and able to keep the family secrets to himself. (The true implication is that you are all our silent audience of lurching, drunken monkeys, but if you want to contest that, you're just going to have to sober up and delurch.)

oh! I love "standabouters." It's a bit unwieldy, I'll admit, but when has wordiness ever deterred us from a good in-joke?

How 'bout "extras?" Filling out the scene, but without any dialogue, yet. Instead of "delurking," we would say they "have lines!"

Yes, and then, when they "have lines", they hafta give us $1500 to be a "real" Buffista.

There's a lurvely post in Press that doesn't quite belong there.

May I suggest, "When come back, post here."

Totally going with "Natter 2 x (3+4): It could be mathier."

Not going for Aimée's fee for real Buffista (though I might pay...)

Returning abruptly to the Firefly thread naming: Like Vera. Want Vera.

Firefly 3: We call it Vera.

Firefly 3: Vera.

Also like "standabouters". I was wondering about different words for 'lurker' myself, but the best I'd got was 'listener', which sounds very team-building-training, somehow.

If it's in honor of Nilly, the mathier one ought to be saved for Natter 17.

Deena beat me to what I wanted to say. Natter 17 should be something along the lines of "Natter (4^2)+1--This one's for you, Nilly"

Also like "standabouters". I was wondering about different words for 'lurker' myself, but the best I'd got was 'listener', which sounds very team-building-training, somehow.

How about: observers, watchers, auditers, lookers, constant readers, party people, the silent majority, non-posters, or the wordless ones?