Lurker

Chat makes a stream feel like a room, which makes it easy to mistake the people talking for the people watching. Lurkers are all the rest. They are present throughout, reading everything, saying nothing, and some are working, some are on a phone in the kitchen, and some dislike typing in front of strangers. Many channels run a lurk command so someone can say they are there without being pulled into conversation. It is a small courtesy and it works. Pressing lurkers to speak tends to lose them, because the whole appeal of lurking is that nothing at all is being asked of you.