They know you’re out there.
In the annals of the Manson blog, the post that received the most participation was the motive survey a few years ago. Thousands voted. This proved that if only a handful of people regularly comment, there are thousands of lurkers.
I'm not a regular blogger, by the way. Not Matt, nor Deb, nor My Favorite Saint.
I’m a lurker. I’m a reflection of you.
Like many of you silent masterminds, I started lurking when this blog had Day-Glo fonts and that blog master with the evil screen name. Didn’t matter. I was hooked and felt secretly naughty learning new details about the case I thought I knew so well. I am now a Manson blog addict and have watched it grow full of investigative journalism, peppered with cutting humor and snark. I’ve lurked in bed, on the train, on numerous planes, at weddings, in church, in office meetings, and during blind date bathroom breaks. For a while, my mother lurked with me. It’s been fun, interesting, and I feel I’ve gotten to know all the bloggers, though I’ve never met a single one. (This must terrify them.)
Why did I finally comment? Two years ago, I blew my lurker status by asking to join one of the Manson tours. Although I couldn’t make the tour, I exposed my real name to at least one blogger. So, I decided to start adding comments here and there, and it wasn’t that bad. Now, whenever I comment, I have no fear (and no remorse). It’s just that I’ve always been more comfortable being in the audience. I know how you lurkers feel. Thing is: the people who do the research and write the posts want you to participate. The effort they put into keeping this going is tremendous. It’s almost like someone told them: If you’re gonna do something, do it well.
So in the spirit of Halloween, let’s thank them by creeping out of the closet and each writing a comment.
Here’s what I’ve been wanting to know from everyone: If you could sit down and chat with any living person from the immediate or extended case, who would it be and why?
To kickstart the lurkers: Matt the Met, how about you create one nice thing to say about the Yankees for each lurker who comments? You only need to share if the Yanks win the World Series, which was looking pretty good until yesterday.
Out of the closet and hoping to hear from 100 lurkers,
Monica
