READING: Jo Walton (1998): "The Lurkers Support Me in Email"
Perhaps the best poem written about the early internet. The main implicit point still holds true today...
Perhaps the best poem written about the early internet. The main implicit point still holds true today...
The Lurkers Support Me in Email
by Jo Walton
To the tune of “My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean”.
The lurkers support me in email
They all think I’m great don’t you know.
You posters just don’t understand me
But soon you will reap what you sow.
Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you’ll see, you’ll see
off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you’ll see.
Oh it’s true, and you know they support me.
There’s thousands of lurkers out there!
They all understand my intentions
you posters are not being fair!
Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you’ll see, you’ll see
off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you’ll see
The lurkers support me in email
“So why don’t they post?” you all cry
They’re scared of your hostile intentions
they’re not as courageous as I.
Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you’ll see, you’ll see
off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you’ll see
One day I’ll round up all my lurkers
we’ll have a newsgroup of our own
without all this flak from you morons
my lurkers will post round my throne.
Lurkers, lurkers, lurkers support me, you’ll see, you’ll see
off in e-mail the lurkers support me, you’ll see.Walton, Jo. 1998. “The Lurkers Support Me in Email”. May 16. <http://www.jowaltonbooks.com/poetry/whimsy/the-lurkers-support-me-in-email/>.
Exactly! Why don't the people who click "like" on my comments on other people's substacks [whine!] just subscribe to mine? And why don't more of my pitifully few subscribers [whine!] comment? :)
From the audience side of Grasping, I add this last line too the poem:
..... Posting and lurking and lurking and posting is good life on Grasping to me.