User:Collect/stages
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This is from experience over more than two decades in seeing online communities.
New user: first stage: Lurker. In communities, this stage encompasses 90% of all users. Indeed, most never pass this stage.
The new user is timid, rarely posts on any pages at all, but is picking up a lot of knowledge about the community and its active users.
New user: second stage: Toes in water. The user is now active -- he may make only one or two posts and then retreat back into the safety of lurking (especially if the community tells him to "shut up".) Often he will leave entirely if he gets a poor welcome from even a single person. This is the most critical period in determining whether the user will hang around at all. Even if he does not leave, he is likely to stay a lurker for several more months.
Community newbie: The user is now posting, and finding out more about the others in the community. Some will bait him, just like any college fraternity will do. If hazing is allowed, expect more than half of the newbies to disappear quickly.
Experienced member: This is an interesting phase -- as it rarely lasts more than about a year, and then becomes a "once in a while" sort of activity. The user has friends (determined by the use of material which is banter or personal stuff rather than being fully focussed on the community topic).
Hierarchy-seeker: Only a few experienced members seek this position (section leader, sysop, administrator or the like). The game is to be noticed for not much at all. Then once one has authority, one is boss of the room. If this sounds negative, it is because the best section leaders I ever had were more interested in the community topics than in any thought of having authority.
Old-timer (Mentor): A rare state of a non-authority figure actually seeking to help those in the first categories. This is the "I do not choose to run" person, who stands on the shoulders of giants.
Please add your own descriptions of how you view groups of users below -- this is not intended to be a static piece of marble!