My Thanks To …
My thanks go to Marie Noske (twitter: @MarieTN) for prompting this post.
It all started with her response to my tweet “Sorry (well, I’m not sorry at all, just plain *peeved*), but I block lurkers!”, to which she responded “@philhart good on you. I’m curious to know how you can tell if someone is lurking on your twitter page.”. This prodded my grey cell into activity.
Dangerous Assumptions
As an educator, and as I guess most people do, we tend to assume that those with whom we interact are basically well-intentioned. As a life strategy, this seems to work fairly well for most people. But therein lies the danger: there are malevolent individuals who seek to abuse this presumption of honesty and trust to their own ends. Examples of identity theft and of gold-diggers abound, so I propose not to repeat them here.
How I Assess Others
I am perhaps fortunate in that I have numerous tweeples who I trust. The basis of that trust is reciprocation. They gave me at least as much as, and usually more than, I give them.
And of the Silent Tweeple?
So what are we to make of the tweeples who follows hundreds of people but post no tweets? I suggest to you that they are watching you entirely for their own ends. When are you away from your house? What are your daily habits? This sort of information is very valuable to people of mal-intent.
In Conclusion
If I see somebody following me who makes no tweets or only nonsensical tweets, it screams to me “lurker of mal-intent”. I need to protect my family and myself: I do not fancy being a victim of burglary, arson, rape or murder. My opinion of such tweeples is not fit for publication: my only recourse is to block them and advise others to do the same.
Thank you, Phil, for responding to my question. Recently, I have had to put some stoppers on my blog because I had someone lurking about and maliciously gossiping about me. My confidence has been rocked and I have no inclination to blog at the moment. I’m hoping that eventually I’ll feel better about it and start it up again. It annoys me immensely that I’ve had to take this action as I’m a sharing person and have gained so much from the sharing of others. Thank you for explaining how you stop lurking followers. I’ve now cleaned up my followers list. Thanks again.