Lurking On Forums, Good or Bad?

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Another busy day for me and I just thought that before I go to bed I would share my views on lurking on forums and on whether it is good or not.

The Good

Well first and foremost forums tend to be ‘informative’ since it’s like a sharing place where experienced people and complete newbies alike share their own piece of things. Early last year I really spent a reasonable chunk of time hanging out with people on forums. Not only because I get to learn new things but also I get to know other people and eventually make friends with them. Forums are also a good research tool although not all the info there are up-to date.

The Bad

Most experienced marketers would tell you that spending too much time on forums is wasting your time. It can be true to a point, let me explain. While we can really find good infos on forums, most people never really get to implement them. Because people are more likely in forums to find the ‘perfect solution’, the problem stems up when they don’t find that ‘perfect’ one. They end up staying in forums then for the whole day (or almost). The truth is you really got to implement and test stuffs that you’ve read and learned and this what internet marketing is all about.

Another reason why staying in forums is bad is because it can be a good entertainment. Webmaster forums like dp have general chats and entertainment section wherein you can discuss other variety of stuffs. Make no mistake of it, communicating and enjoying yourself is not bad, what makes it bad is that when it takes a lot of your productivity.

How about you, do you spend a lot of time in forums? do you think your wasting your time in it or you’re gaining something?

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    Melvin has written 312 articles for MelvinBlog Dot Com

    Melvin is an internet marketer and blogger. In 2008 he started this blog, MelvinBlog.com, to share all his learnings (and ramblings) from the internet marketing world and entrepreneurship in general. He occasionally hides under the gravatar of Kenny of South Park and blogs on his personal blog about his rants on life. To see his real self read more about him

    18 Responses to "Lurking On Forums, Good or Bad?"

    • Agent 001 04:01 PM 02/6/2009

      Being on forum gives you free information but it surely is waste if you do not use them. I got to know about many new things there but when I look back I see I didn’t utilize the knowledge I got. I see the amount of time I wasted.

      By the way I have tried just one Forum only – DP.

      Its nice you pointed out this. Most of us do not see it until its late.

      Agent 001’s last blog post..Love Music then You Shoud Hear these Free Online Radio Stations

      Caden Grant Reply:
      June 5th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

      I agree with this. If you learn stuff but don’t implement it, it’s of no use to you.

      And I also only use Digital Point now days and I’ve learned quite a bit from it – but I haven’t implemented any of it yet into anything.

      Caden Grant’s last blog post..New Blog Design

    • Web Career Girl 05:00 PM 02/6/2009

      Some forums are really great. Sometimes I use forums to keep track of my progress which motivates me to get more done. But I definitely agree that they can also be a great way to waste time!

      Web Career Girl’s last blog post..My Niche Blogs

    • agentmango 06:28 PM 02/6/2009

      before I join forums, I lurk…Just to make sure that I would not waste my time registering…

      agentmango’s last blog post..Microsoft criticized by Cuba for blocking Messenger

      Agent 001 Reply:
      June 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 am

      Using lurking properly. Nice. I never thought of it.

      Agent 001’s last blog post..Love Music then You Shoud Hear these Free Online Radio Stations

      Melvin Reply:
      June 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am

      LOL, me as well… That gave me a new and unique idea. :)

    • LithiumMind 07:37 AM 03/6/2009

      I try to be on the forum as little as possible unless I have a very specific question or issue that i need some help.

    • bigboxshops 08:18 AM 03/6/2009

      forum is a new lifestyle .we should suit ourselves to the society .we should spent some time on the forum everyday.

    • francis 03:36 PM 04/6/2009

      The only forum that I find useful is digital points. Can you recommend some other forums where i can get advertisers and potential readers??

      francis’s last blog post..A WordPress Experience I’ll Never Forget

      Melvin Reply:
      June 5th, 2009 at 5:45 am

      there are actually a lot. just doing a simple google search would yield you a useful list.

    • Jake / Webjourney 09:08 PM 04/6/2009

      I agree with all your points. Forums are good in some ways and bad in others. I personally think they are a waste of time for the most part, but sometimes they are helpful.

      Jake / Webjourney’s last blog post..Google Friend Connect?

    • Anish K.S 11:03 AM 05/6/2009

      Forums giving good information’s.

      Anish K.S’s last blog post..Colors Mast Movie Chandni Chowk to China 7th June 2009 Sunday 6.00 pm Only on COLORS

    • Monty | Make Money Online 10:43 PM 05/6/2009

      Experienced marketers have the money to spend on advertising (for traffic) and buy ebooks (to learn). What about the people who don’t? Forums is the best way to get traffic as well as learn.

      Monty | Make Money Online’s last blog post..How can forums help you?

    • The Bad Blogger 08:34 AM 07/6/2009

      I don’t really spend much time on forum now, since this twitter stuff is going around big on the internet, but as you say there are always bad and good of using either forum or twitter, but again the bottom line all comes back to us human….

    • elmot 01:35 AM 10/6/2009

      i think lurking over forums is not totally bad, but having this notion in mind that one will have a great amount of traffic from camping on forums is not totally as rewarding as one may think.

      but i guess, one could gain some loyal readers and friends, but it will take lots of your precious time.

      elmot’s last blog post..Dont’ Vote on May 2010!!! No To Con-A** Holes!

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