Before I was Night Cat, I was a lurker on this website. In fact, I lurked for years, reading interesting diaries, but never bothering to set up an account. I am not sure exactly when I started lurking, but it was somewhere between the 2004 and 2008 elections. A few people I knew had been reading this website and I decided to check it out. And I liked what I saw. I would check the website and read items of interest to me, without ever creating an account, and was perfect content doing so. You see, I am not the best computer person in the world and the idea of learning another new type of software was not something I wanted to do.
But then the 2012 elections were approaching. And I finally decided to create an account. There was a comment I saw in a diary that I wanted to respond to. But I couldn't. I did not have an account. The content of the comment is not important (I cannot now even remember what it was) but what was important was that I signed up for an account that night. And I became night cat.
A day or two later I posted my first comment. And then a little more than a month later, I posted my first diary encouraging others to volunteer for President Obama's re-election. My diary did receive some positive response, as there were 9 comments and 6 recommends so I would like to thank those who recommended me for giving me the courage to continue to post.
So if there is anyone who is reading this diary who is a lurker, I would encourage you to set up an account and participate. It is not hard. (If I can learn this software anyone can). And you can remain anonymous (just pick a user name that is nothing like your real name). And I bet you will be glad that you did. I know I am.