Pay them $1/post. Seriously, I think "lurkers" are people who may just be trying to "learn" themselves and don't feel comfortable contributing, for fear of embarrasing themselves. The fix for this is to instill more confidence in them, perhaps by a posting which exemplifies the old saying "The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked".

features dani.. features. when a user logs in options are available. if you wanna post
you gotta login. some sites dont allow advanced search as an option unless your logged in. keeps metrics up. google may link to your site and you may be able to read the forum as a guest but no search. instead you get a harassing popup or a registration redirect.

my problem is finding the time to even hit the forums...

I'll tell ya right now - if I went to a technical resource site and it wouldn't let me even search to see if they had what I was looking for until I took the time to register, I would be out of there so fast your head would be spinning

I don't think it's all in the features, really. There are very many popular forums and messageboards that are popular because of their simplicity, or lack of features. Just look at newsgroups! Even with the advent of the most advanced forum systems imaginable, they are still wildly popular - and attracting new users to boot!

I was a lurker for all of about 30 minutes. I kinda thought that I should contribute to the
amalgamated knowledge base since I had snagged a money saving soloution for free.
Besides.. clearing a queue is in my blood.
It almost seems like your non-lurking members are the ones that are going to answer "tickets" or start new threads.. I dont know how many are in to blog or chat.. or for other behaviors. Even when visiting other folks blogs I wont log in unless I have somthing to say.

i hate when lurkers join my forums and dont say nothing, i dont get it

Best way I've found is to give guests a reason to join. Any reason, whether it be site features or what not.

The technical answer is because people register perhaps to send private messages, subscribe to threads, view the memberlist, or those other things that you need to do to register.

The real answer is ... let's face it, people register to post. No clue why people would register if they have no plans on posting. Unless they haven't confirmed their emails? That's a problem as well ...

I know some picky people on my forum before it got wiped that are very direct and they know when to post. once every month then. normally. Other than that it can be because of their average post count a day I have heard.

I'm confused what you just said. Your members post once a month??