What do you love about the Shard

[Ink]

Today is the one-year anniversary of me joining the shard (and my 1000th post) and I thought it’d be fitting to make a topic for people to put their favorite parts of this site, and how they joined.

So how did you find, join, and what do you like/dislike, about the 17th Shard?

For me, I was reaserching more about Dalinar for a book report, and the Coppermind had a link here. I just thought it’d be fun to see what this was all about, and honestly, it’s something I wouldn’t change for the world. So many awesome people from so many different places, united by a love of Sanderson’s books. You guys are all so great. I don’t think I’d be as happy or confident as I am now, or as good of a writer. I discovered the wonderful world of roleplaying, silly forum games, and discussion on other similar interests, and through that, made a ton of friends.

So yeah, what’s your story?

[Mailnaise]

I found the Shard on the Brandon's website while reading Stormlight, which the first of his books that I read. (See my signature and you know I've been busy... ) I joined once I read more of his books, and started participating once I had read the rest of the Cosmere, basically. 

I love it here because I can find people to talk to about my obsession. I know other people who like the Cosmere, but not like I do, so thanks guys. This place is great. 

[+Doomstick]

All the amazing people (yes, you ink) 

happy 1000th post/shardiversary!

[AonEne]

Happy thousandth post and Shardiversary, Ink!

I don't even remember how I found it. All I know is that I love the people on here. I love the roleplaying, even when it's stressful. I love...everything, pretty much. The only thing I hate is not being able to meet most of you IRL, and hug you when you hurt and tell you it's all gonna be okay and then go consume lots of sugar while we talk and talk and talk.

Edited January 10, 2019 by AonEne

[Kidpen]

I found the shard when I wanted to read more stuff. I was checking to make sure I had written everything Brandon had written, and I discovered AoN. I was tempted to make an account anyways, but I wasn't going to because of some forum related stuff that had happened years earlier. But then I told myself I'd just make an account to get myself AoN, so I did. Later I was like "Well I have this one theory, and I really want to see if people agree with me. (Turns out my theory was confirmed in Warbreaker annotations.) At that point I was fully invested, so I made the Liebrarians, and here I am now. 

I know literally everyone here has said it, but it really is the people who make the shard good. Obviously I loved Sanderson even before I came here, or I wouldn't have found this place. But when it comes down to it, I can only be as passionate about the books as I am because I enjoy talking and rping about them here. So all of you, thank you for making this a wonderful place to be. 

Also, you think I can sink up my shardiversary in just over a month with my 3000th post?

[StrikerEZ]

I discovered the Shard after researching online about The Reckoners, which, besides Rithmatist, was the only Brandon series I’d read. This was some point around the end of 2016 (dang, it’s been over two years since I joined), and one of the things that came up a lot as I was researching was this website. I clicked on a few links, and eventually decided to make an account so I could post a fanmade Epic. I then realized there was this so-called “Cosmere” thing, and I was really confused. So, I made an introduction post and asked in what order I should read the books. Of course, I spent a couple months after that avoiding starting Mistborn because I had several other books I wanted to read and I was intimidated by its size (it was the biggest book I’ve ever read). Once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop reading the series. It took me until the end of May of 2017 to finally start reading SA, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

My favorite part of the Shard is definitely the community and how nice it is. The fact that we can have discussions about things without getting heated or mad at each other is amazing. 

@Kidpen I’m sure you can reach 3,000 in a month!

[Silva]

I found the Shard by accident. I read MB era 1 two years ago. It took me 1 1/2 years to discover era 2 existed. When I finished BoM I looked up when the next Brandon Sanderson book would come out. From that, a link to the Shard came up and I realized he'd written books other than MB. It was a shocking revelation. On a whim I made an account and posted in the intro section. That was my first time finding the Shard, but I didn't really become active till two months later when I remembered its existence.

There's so much I love about the Shard. The people. The environment. The RPs. The overall love of Sanderson. It's been a really nice experience overall.

[whattheHoid]

I love the Shard because of course everyone is as mad about Sanderson as I am and everyone is so nice and makes me laugh. I dunno even how I found the Shard. I must've had a question about Renarin and I googled it and someone had already asked it on the Shard and I was like ooh! there's a place for me! I have so many questions! Seriously, you guys are amazing! Thanks!

[Archer]

So this is the thread you've been preparing, you sneaky rascal you. Happy thousandth, Ink!

Like some others before me, the Coppermind was my gateway drug. The usual cabal of boredom, fandom, and chance hooked me. Shortly afterwards, I received a stroke of outrageous good fortune, and ended up becoming involved in a fantastic group of likeminded individuals. That's why I've stayed so long. That, and the memes. 

I really like the format of this site. No other forum comes close to being as easy to read and well structured as this one. The sigs are short, there's no ads, the text is a nice font and black on white. That really jumps out. But I love the subtle details too. The ranks, the filter, the widgets, even the way the administration works. I appreciate all of it. I know I'm supposed to say something here about loving the community (which I do), but have you seen the emojis? THERE'S A NINJA FACE.

Edited January 11, 2019 by Archer

[whattheHoid]

Triple Ninjas !

[+Sorana]

The coppermind was where I started, too. I didn't join for a while, but then decided to make an account and here I am.

What I like most are the people, everything else is great, don't get me wrong, or I wouldn't have created the account at all, but I spend as much time here as I do because of the people.

On top of that: I never expected to meet someone I would call a friend, but somehow I did.

[whattheHoid]

Friends friends friends! Yay! *Hugs and kisses* ❤(ӦｖӦ｡)＼(^o^)／

[Jaywalk]

I found the Shard just randomly searching for Sanderson news. That was when I discovered Shardcast—the Dark One episode, specifically—and I got hooked on that, then I started reading the forums, getting hooked on that too.

I still can’t believe it took me so long to make an account. I’m really new, but everyone here just makes you feel so welcome and part of the community.

That’s what I love about this place. It’s the people.

[+Sorana]

15 hours ago, whattheHoid said:

Friends friends friends! Yay! *Hugs and kisses* ❤(ӦｖӦ｡)＼(^o^)／

*hugs and kisses*

Friends.

[whattheHoid]

*Muah!* (•ө•)♡(ㆁωㆁ*)

[BitBitio]

On 1/9/2019 at 0:51 PM, Inklingspren said:

So how did you find, join, and what do you like/dislike, about the 17th Shard?

So about a year ago, I got Elantris for Christmas and got hooked on Sanderson. I had already read Reckoners back in '16 so I gave it a shot. Soon, I was reading Words of Radiance in the school library and @Inklingspren, a person at school I knew casually, already a Sanderfan, noticed what I was reading and we chatted, hit it off, and became pretty good friends. He introduced me to the Shard and I got hooked on the Alleyverse RP and other fun stuff (let's be honest, Alleyverse) and consistently used the Shard for a week but then went inactive outside of PMs till June. And here I am now.

I love almost everything from the community to the software to the system--the one thing I dislike is how the Shard continually says that I can't do more than 20 upvotes a day--why can't I spam upvote @Tsurerif just to annoy him? 

[Jaywalk]

Also, there’s plenty of diversity.

[AonEne]

Without the Shard, it's unlikely I would have ever met (or at least, known I was meeting) people from other countries. Now I'm friends with people across the world.

[whattheHoid]

For true! Ene! It's so cool to learn about where other people live too! As it's unlikely I'll be anywhere exotic soon, unless I find a hidden cache of Stormlight infused gems!

[Zephrun’s Imperium]

I found the Shard 'cause of my dad. He showed me a fun post and it wasn't long before I started checking the forums all the time. It took me forever to make an account. I would have an idea and my dad would say, "You should post that on the Shard!" and I would be like, "No way!" But then, well, it got to the point where I had the forums bookmarked and I was checking them every hour or so.  "Well storms," I thought. And I did it. Everyone is so nice here! And it's so fun that all of us are from so many different backgrounds and so many different ages and yet we're all connected by this one thing. You can see someone you've never met before and if they answer the question, "Do you like Brandon Sanderson?" with an emphatic, "Yes!" you're immediate friends. You know, I haven't been here very long, but it's really to be able put my ideas out there, when before I could only type about them and show my inner circle of friends. It's really nice sometimes to be able to just spill and be yourself without people looking at you weird whenever you mutter, "Stormfather..." Anyway, you guys are all great! 

[Ashspren]

What's my favorite thing about the Shard? Oh wow, this might take a while... 

Okay, so sometimes, people are... people. That's a very unfortunate thing for me, because I practically thrive on human interaction. As most of you probably already know, I absolutely love talking. Like, I can't shut up. At all. And that leads to rambling, kind of like what I'm doing right now because I don't know what else to say. 

Ahem. Moving on. 

Some people can just be awful, at times. The problem is what I do in response to these aforementioned people. Do I complain about them? Or do I pretend like nothing's happened? You can't do both IRL, because if you start complaining, it turns into this huge, gossipy thing that I don't want to deal with. 

I've made some connections with people on the Shard, and just getting to write to each other makes me feel a lot less stressed. I laugh so much while I'm on here. I have people to talk to without the drama of real life getting in the way. 

On top of that, the Shard is just fun in general. It's great to feel like a part of a community of people, where you can make contributions–– even if it's not huge, life-changing things.

But hey, you never know. I was reading a book called The Sun is Also a Star, and a huge part of the plot is showing how every action influences another. A girl simply said "thank you" to a security guard, and that made her feel a lot better on the inside. If I can post something funny to make someone smile, I'm glad that I've done something to make someone happy. Even just a bit of comfort or advice can go a long way... I've taken advice from people on the Shard before, and it turned out great. 

This turned into something a lot deeper than I expected, wow. But overall, this is really what keeps me coming back onto the Shard. 

~~~

@Inklingspren Also, happy very belated 1000th post, Ink! I'm glad you found a way to do this on your Shardiversary, and this was an amazing idea.