I am a very occasional lurker and am employed as a research psychologist by the PD Society in the UK. Just to make it clear though, I don't do any "research" by reading what's posted here, it's more for my interest and general education about PD. I used to post on "the other site", more in ALS but a little bit in PD.

As you may know, I work with another website for people with PD and spend most of my time on there.

When I've asked colleagues if they lurk on forums, it tends not to be doctors or researchers, but often nurses and non-profit staff that do check out the forums from time to time. The perceived risk for medics is that a.) posting will be the beginning of a potentially time-consuming ongoing commitment and b.) they may be liable if they are interpreted to be giving medical advice.

The perceived risk for non-profit staff is that anything they post may be perceived as the offical "party line" for their charity when in fact it is just personal opinion.

Best wishes

Paul Wicks