Member Participation
 

Interesting fact...... Over half of the registered members at GH have never posted. Whats up with that? :omg:

Re: Member Participation
 

Most I bet are lurkers trying to find out why their hybrid hasn't lived up to the "advertised" MPG's.

End result: They find out here their driving habits are the fault - not the car. It's all good. ;)

It's Typical of Any Forum
 

Don't worry that the lurkers and inactive members outnumber the active membes - that's very typical. Just check out the member list at various forums and you will also find most of the members inactive - 90% is not that uncommon.

The question has been asked in the past - why not remove inactive members? That might make sense after a year of inactivity, but deleting them could be discouraging them to return. :(

Re: Member Participation
 

Dan,

Chuck's right. It is extremely common for forums to have a fairly high percentage of members with no posts -- especially large boards. You're also failing to realize how many people register so they can keep track and subscribe to topics even though they don't necessarily post. And, at GreenHybrid, registration is required to use the Real Hybrid Mileage Database. Some visitors use the database but don't use the dicussion forums.

Re: Member Participation
 

I didn't realize that. I guess that means that GH has better participation than other sites. It is quite lively aroung here.

Re: Member Participation
 

Another factor is that there are those who might wish to monitor posts without posting themselves.

When I was at the "Dearborn Experience," I was told that the engineers on the FEH team monitored enthusiast sites. (GH wasn't specifically mentioned, but I think it is a no-brainer to conclued that it is one.)

It occurs to me that there might well be others as well who want to learn how people think but who aren't in a position to share their own thoughts.

Go team!

Re: Member Participation
 

This seems like an appropriate place for me to chime in with my first post. I began “lurking” on GH last fall while researching the purchase of my first hybrid. I’ve been following the technology with great interest for years, but was spurred to action by the theft of my ’94 Civic last September. Given that I was suddenly forced to get a new car, the time seemed right for a hybrid.

I took delivery of my 2006 HCH (Magnetic Pearl with Navi) in late December, and have been a regular and devoted reader of these forums ever since. While I’m sure all of us lurkers have our reasons not to post, mine was due mainly to the fact that I didn’t know what the heck I was talking about. I read a post early on from xcel that was gently chiding some of the less experience posters to take care before offering too much advice, and quite frankly, I thought that observation was on the mark. Therefore, I read, learned and practiced, always posting my mileage and comments in the mileage database. Two months later, I can proudly say that I got my "hypermiler" gold star this week, an accomplishment I directly attribute to all I’ve learned on GH. In particular, I have to credit xcel, kenny, Delta Flyer, Hot_Georgia_2004 and NASAgineer for tons of really excellent advice.

Bottom line: this site is an invaluable resource for those of us who care about hybrids, fuel conservation and/or the environment. Even if we aren’t posting and contributing, please know that there are a lot of us out there who are taking what is posted on this site to heart, and are grateful for the information.