I became a member of this site in May 2008, mostly because of the game database.
Very easy to keep track of my collection (although it's not up to date at the moment)
But I was lurking here long before I was a member.
I come here almost every day for about half an hour, to check some news and opinions.
18 post so far, so I guess that makes me a lurker.

Reasons I lurk instead of write.

1) Writing in English is not that easy for me, reading is much easier.
2) There are lots of different opinions on this forum, and there is always someone who has already expressed my opinion, so way would I bother.
3) I don't want to be caught up in a discussion, because that would take too much of my time.
When I do post, I try to write it so that it doesn't trigger a response. (So please do not respond to this post )
Basically, if people do respond to me, I would see it a day later (if they’re lucky.)
That is no way of having a discussion of course, better to not post at all then.

My lurking has appearantly caused a new discussion. ;)

Anyhow, I like to visit vg-charts mostly to keep an eye to the sales data. I know that it's just extrapolation, but it gives me some context to when some PR guy is saying "We are the best!" when they are clearly not (like that MS guy at E3 proclaiming that xbox was the highest selling console world-wide last year). Other than that, I just read whatever catches my eye on the hot topic overview at the right bit on the main page. Often it's reactions to current events, rumors or just general fun stuff ;)

Sometimes heated debates can be comedic, and non heated debates can be informal. Generally I prefer the latter.

I'm not a lurker at all (14 posts a day) but sometimes I'll just watch others post instead of doing so myself.

not even yahballz bring you joy?

It makes so much sense now!

This will be credited to you. This is why I started this thread, I find it interesting.

I can only imagine how many people lurk on my facebook.

Actaully we have had some break throughs. There has been a few that have very few posts but have posted here. That is amazing in it's self. How to get people to engage. Thanks for the idea!!!

Sometimes I lurk in the Microsoft forums just to see what's goin on

I'm in lurker mode today so I'll answer, my fav is comedic!

I usually think that informal comments are boring, except when necessary to the discussion/topic. I prefer the street smart type (which includes both heated debates and comedic posts).

As for my lurking story, it all started around spring 2011. I started visiting this site for the weekly sales and the articles, but then I slowly started to drift over to the forums and by this point don't care much for sales at all. Well, maybe apart from Vita and 3DS. I tried to join the site back in autumn 2011, but something went wrong in the registration process, so until I finally got my lazy ass to create another e-mail address in January 2012, I lurked some more.

Ok I won't respond to this post, I hear you load and clear...

...Doh