High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing, social networking site, listening to people in VOIP calls such as Skype and Ventrilo or other interactive system, but rarely or never participates actively. Research indicates that "lurkers make up over 90% of online groups" (Nonnecke Preece 2000). Lack of trust represents one of the reasons explaining lurking behavior (Ridings, Gefen Arinze 2006).