Why the 17th Shard is so Awesome

[Mistrunner]

To start off, I hope this is in the right place...

 

So, I've seen a lot of posts around responding to certain things saying "17th Shard is so awesome." This, my friends, is where we can plunk all of 'em down and, for me at least, rave about the wonderful things I find here.

 

So, reason #1: We can talk about religion without arguments starting. In fact, we can have intelligent conversation on religion.

Reason #2: Age doesn't matter. Age on this forum ranges from forty-something parents with children to people still in middle school, but when you post, nobody can tell. Ideas and comments are judged solely on their merit, and not dismissed because the person posting is too young or too old to understand what they're talking about.

 

So, what do you think? Why is 17th Shard so awesome?

[Peng the Just]

I think a lot of the reason is we have mods that are truly interested in the community. They get conflicts resolved before they can escalate. Another reason is we all have fantastic taste in books

[Quiver]

We have ponies.

More specifically, we have a fan base which doesn't prejudice or insult others for things they are interested in, whether that video games, movies, fantasy, science fiction, anime, books, roleplaying, superheroes or even My Little Pony.

You guys are so accepting that people don't feel the need to hide things or be ashamed of being fans of something. And that kind of openmindedness is awesome, especially in the so-iften vitriolic place known as the Internet.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Quiver

[The Honey Badger]

To add on to Quiver's sentiments, this is possibly the only place in the internet where bronies and non-bronies can meet in peace. I have a friend who hates bronies, but he has never taken the time to actually talk to one. He is blind to the fact that they are awesome, cool normal people. And this community is great because people don't have that same blindness.

[Kobold King]

The 17th Shard: A Poem

 

Or, "Why The 17th Shard is the Best Site Ever."

 

Or, "Kobold King Sucks at Poetry."

 

 

 

 

Shall I compare thee to Heaven so bright?

How did this Shard swell to such a great height?

Kindness is treasure, so rich is this site

How is it that so few feel reason to fight?

 

For elsewhere are flame wars so bright and so passionate

There is naught but cruelty from Facebook to Reddit!

The 17th Shard alone seems compassionate

With never a flame war or the throwing of fits!

 

With each brand new member

There's never an ember

Of the flames that so quickly a forum dismember.

How is it alone we steer clear of such temper?

 

The reasons are many but I'll try to stress some

Of the virtues that keep our fair site far from glum.

The key points are two, a powerful sum

Its the mods and the members that make this site thrum.

 

First are the mods and their glorious deeds

Their heads and their hearts set on our manifold needs.

Like gardeners they pluck from the midst of us weeds

Keeping harmony for all as we chatter and read.

 

But it's not just the rulers who make this site fair

It's the people whose virtue makes this a fine lair.

They've put so much kindness and thought in the air

Their pureness has built a grand castle of care.

 

So the people all drawn to B. Sanderson's genius

Have made a great stronghold of wit and of cleanness.

Their hearts oh so pure and devoid of all meanness

Have brought all the best from what's heterogeneous.

 

So stare with wide eyes upon this marvelous sight

This bright and pure paragon of a website.

Know that it's you who've made it so bright

From Brandon and staff we have made Paradise.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Kobold King

[Mistrunner]

It... it's beautiful...

 

Reason #whatever we're on: we have people willing and with the talent to write odes to 17th Shard.

[Kestrel]

People actually like me to an extent on here hahahh

or at least tolerate me

That and also we can discuss anything that would start arguments in five minutes on other forums without having the fights outselves.

Everyone is so nice. Like. There's a downvote system but its never used, which is great.

Its the only place where I can haphazardly throw around Sanderson references and people actually understand.

Downsides of the Shard

- ?????

- 404 not found

[DreamEternal]

People are capable of derailling threads with passionate 5 pages long battles between pet theories and in the end everyone agrees that the other has valid points, even if they are not convinced.

[Unknowingly]

 

So, reason #1: We can talk about religion without arguments starting. In fact, we can have intelligent conversation on religion.

 

This is the epitome of what it means to be a member of these forums. Everyone is respectful of your opinion, whether they disagree or not. Everyone is supportive of ideas, theories and Jokes.

The people on here are intelligent, resourceful, helpful, kind and i honestly love coming here as often as i do.

 

Thank you 17th Shard for making me smile and laugh, for making me think about things i never would have, for educating and humbling me, for being so Awesome.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Unknowingly

[king of nowhere]

When I read the thread title, I immediately wanted to answer with something snarky and cinic, like "the 17th shard is awesome because we all have overinflated opinions of ourselves".

 

Because it's easy to forget how nice this place is.

 

After reading a couple of comments, I was reminded of it. Yeah, the way people here are accepting is amazing. I used to hang around in the forum of the order of the stick, but they gradually banned all discussions that were flamebait after seeing some bad cases, and eventually it arrived at a point where you could discuss anything except "i think character x is going to do y in the future". But being careful to not put any moral judgment on that. here i feel like i can discuss everything.

In particular I am always surprised at finding profoundly devoted christians who are ok with other people being atheist and are even supporting of gay marriage. I don't know any strongly religious person, except maybe my grandmother, but we never talked about the issue. Most people in europe feels that religion is a private matter and it is somewhat embarassing to display it (or its lack thereof) openly, so I don't have experience of talking to other people about religion. And I found some on other forums, which are strawman bigotic fanaticists, the kind that invoked fire and brimstone on anyone slightly different from them. Heck, some of them even called me down for being a scientist, because only god knows the truth and my attempt to figure out more about the cosmos is a sin of pride or something like that. And I got a few pieces of hate for saying that I do not base my morality on the bible, containing all the old clichès like atheists having no moral whatsoever and being unable to make moral decisions, like animals. And I'm not even fully atheist, merely agnostic.

Anyway, the point is, this forum is the only place where I found people who are strongly religious but also accepting of others who are not. Without you, I'd be probably convinced that all religious people are intolerant fanatics - which in a subtle twist of irony would have made me an intolerant fanatic myself. Instead, I just think that the intolerant fanatics are the only ones who are outspoken enough to be noticed. So, thank you for helping me being open-minded.

 

EDIT: I should probably also add that this is the only place where I can find people who are even more nerds than me, so I don't feel the weird one.

Edited June 10, 2015 by king of nowhere

[Unknowingly]

And I got a few pieces of hate for saying that I do not base my morality on the bible, containing all the old clichès like atheists having no moral whatsoever and being unable to make moral decisions, like animals. And I'm not even fully atheist, merely agnostic.

Anyway, the point is, this forum is the only place where I found people who are strongly religious but also accepting of others who are not. Without you, I'd be probably convinced that all religious people are intolerant fanatics - which in a subtle twist of irony would have made me an intolerant fanatic myself. Instead, I just think that the intolerant fanatics are the only ones who are outspoken enough to be noticed. So, thank you for helping me being open-minded.

 

 

This is exactly what i am talking about. As a devout Catholic my entire life, do you know who i truly dislike most in the world? The people who hate people who are different. There is nothing wrong with having a different religion to my own, or being an Atheist or Agnostic.

 

The fact that i can say this on this forum and know that no one will attack you or me for our beliefs is why I love this place. And this goes beyond religion to any topic. If we have an argument on 17th Shard, 90% of the time it is actually just going to be an intellectual debate where, as someone pointed out before, the opposite parties will acknowledge the other persons points as valid.

 

There are no trolls here, there is only understanding and companionship. This is a true community of like-minded individuals.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Unknowingly

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

All of you lovely folks have expressed my reasons for loving the Shard better than I could, so I'll just add one:

On almost any other site, the Oregon RP would've gotten more raised eyebrows than requests to join. Here? Everyone embraces the insanity and adds to it. Case in point: I wrote a scene where a stampede of zombie caribou got sucked into a tornado, and I received upvotes and praise instead of questions about my sanity.

I love this place.

[Haelbarde]

All of you lovely folks have expressed my reasons for loving the Shard better than I could, so I'll just add one:

On almost any other site, the Oregon RP would've gotten more raised eyebrows than requests to join. Here? Everyone embraces the insanity and adds to it. Case in point: I wrote a scene where a stampede of zombie caribou got sucked into a tornado, and I received upvotes and praise instead of questions about my sanity.

I love this place.

Well, I can't say I don't question the sanity of it, but I started to sign up and it's exactly the sort of thing my sister would love, so I'm not sure what that says about me.

But I guess, what is 'normal'? What makes something 'normal' as opposed to different/odd/weird? Isn't being different to everyone else 'normal'?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Well, I can't say I don't question the sanity of it, but I started to sign up and it's exactly the sort of thing my sister would love, so I'm not sure what that says about me.

But I guess, what is 'normal'? What makes something 'normal' as opposed to different/odd/weird? Isn't being different to everyone else 'normal'?

Here's the replies I would've gotten on most other sites:

"Caribou? Why caribou? Wouldn't polar bears be more of a threat? And by does Khione care so much about oil if she can just power everything by wind?"

"A cloak made out of a polar bear? That is so cruel! I can't believe you'd put that in a story, especially one praising a woman for being so mean to animals!"

"Uh...okay, that was weird."

On this site?

"That was so awesome I upvoted another post of yours too!"

"You're the George R. R. Martin of zombie caribou stories."

I honestly don't know why that is--why some people would find a story like that odd. Maybe reading Sanderson changes your perspective of what is and isn't "normal" storytelling.

[Haelbarde]

Here's the replies I would've gotten on most other sites:

"Caribou? Why caribou? Wouldn't polar bears be more of a threat? And by does Khione care so much about oil if she can just power everything by wind?"

"A cloak made out of a polar bear? That is so cruel! I can't believe you'd put that in a story, especially one praising a woman for being so mean to animals!"

"Uh...okay, that was weird."

On this site?

"That was so awesome I upvoted another post of yours too!"

"You're the George R. R. Martin of zombie caribou stories."

I honestly don't know why that is--why some people would find a story like that odd. Maybe reading Sanderson changes your perspective of what is and isn't "normal" storytelling.

Out of context, it probably is odd. But here, you are a respected member of a community with a plethora of followers. Also, zombie caribou are totally plausible in the reckonerverse! Edited June 11, 2015 by Haelbarde

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Out of context, it probably is odd. But here, you are a respected member of a community with a plethora of followers. Also, zombie caribou are totally plausible in the reckonerverse!

Exactly! It's completely plausible, and I see no reason why it shouldn't happen.

[DreamEternal]

You are all insane. Not in a bad way, but still insane.

Says the guy who theorizes about fusing hemalurgy spikes and fabrials to force a spren bond to an unintelligent spren and see the results.

Edited June 11, 2015 by CognitivePulsePattern

[Left]

Says the guy who theorizes about fusing hemalurgy spikes and fabrials to force a spren bond to an unintelligent spren and see the results.

I've been wanting to see what this would do for ages!!! Except kind of the reverse, I want to see what a fabrial would do as a spike.....

 

I also figure that the Oregon RP, while insane, is quite normal for the internet in its insanity except that the members are kind. I've only been on one other forum and that one was really nice as well but became completely inactive after a while, and I have to agree that intelligence, kindness, and fantasticat staff are what matter. Probably has something to do with amount and activity of community, but I don't know enough about stats to really say anything about that. Would be interesting to study community sizes and how nice they are.....anyway, these really are great forums. (There, I've contributed, Lord Ruler Chaos can now refrain from using the ban-hammer on me )

[maxal]

Reason #2: Age doesn't matter. Age on this forum ranges from forty-something parents with children to people still in middle school, but when you post, nobody can tell. Ideas and comments are judged solely on their merit, and not dismissed because the person posting is too young or too old to understand what they're talking about.

 

For me this is it. As I have stated several times, I do not care if the person I am interfacing with is 13 years old or 80 years old as long as we share a common interest and when it comes to books, age truly does not matter. I sometimes smile over the age difference, but the forum makes it possible.

 

Would we talk if we were to meet in real life? Maybe not. 

 

The young want their voice to be heard and to be treated as worthy of voicing their opinion. The old do not want to be deemed too old to read fantasy books and have an interest in discussing them, so it works for everyone.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

For me this is it. As I have stated several times, I do not care if the person I am interfacing with is 13 years old or 80 years old as long as we share a common interest and when it comes to books, age truly does not matter. I sometimes smile over the age difference, but the forum makes it possible.

Would we talk if we were to meet in real life? Maybe not.

The young want their voice to be heard and to be treated as worthy of voicing their opinion. The old do not want to be deemed too old to read fantasy books and have an interest in discussing them, so it works for everyone.

I love the lack of age bias here. Although I'm well within what most people would call the "typical" age bracket for fantasy readers, I've actually been surprised several times because I'd thought the person I was trading RP posts with was older than they were. And it was a good sort of surprise, a "What the heck? That thing you wrote was so good I could've sworn you were older!" moment.

[Haelbarde]

Reason #I'lllcountthemeventually^[1]: A thread about why the 17th shard is so awesome is so awesome that it inspires the admins to make the site more awesome.

 

[1]: Turns out it's about #18

---

Edit since no ones responded yet:

 

A LIST^TM OF REASONS WHY THE 17TH SHARD IS SO AWESOME

1. We can talk about religion without arguments starting. In fact, we can have intelligent conversation on religion.
2. Age doesn't matter. Ideas and comments are judged solely on their merit, and not dismissed because the person posting is too young or too old to understand what they're talking about.
3. We have mods that are truly interested in the community.
4. We all have fantastic taste in books
5. We have a fan base which doesn't prejudice or insult others for things they are interested in, whether that video games, movies, fantasy, science fiction, anime, books, roleplaying, superheroes or even My Little Pony.
6. We have people willing and with the talent to write odes to 17th Shard.
7. People actually like [LarkoftheRiver] to an extent on here, or at least tolerate [them]
8. We can discuss anything that would start arguments in five minutes on other forums without having the fights ourselves.
9. There's a downvote system but it's never used.
10. Its the only place where [we] can haphazardly throw around Sanderson references and people actually understand.
11. People are capable of derailling threads with passionate 5 pages long battles between pet theories and in the end everyone agrees that the other has valid points, even if they are not convinced. 
12. Everyone is respectful of [our] opinion, whether they disagree or not. Everyone is supportive of ideas, theories and jokes.
13. This forum is the only place where [king of nowhere has] found people who are strongly religious but also accepting of others who are not.
14. This is the only place where [you] can find people who are even more nerds than [us[, so [we] don't feel like the weird one.
15. There are no trolls here, there is only understanding and companionship. This is a true community of like-minded individuals.
16. The fact that [we] can [talk about our beliefs/worldview] on this forum and know that no one will attack [us] for our beliefs... And this goes beyond religion to any topic.
17. On almost any other site, the Oregon RP would've gotten more raised eyebrows than requests to join
18. A thread about why the 17th shard is so awesome is so awesome that it inspires the admins to make the site more awesome.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Haelbarde

[Unknowingly]

A LIST^TM OF REASONS WHY THE 17TH SHARD IS SO AWESOME

1. We can talk about religion without arguments starting. In fact, we can have intelligent conversation on religion.
2. Age doesn't matter. Ideas and comments are judged solely on their merit, and not dismissed because the person posting is too young or too old to understand what they're talking about.
3. We have mods that are truly interested in the community.
4. We all have fantastic taste in books
5. We have a fan base which doesn't prejudice or insult others for things they are interested in, whether that video games, movies, fantasy, science fiction, anime, books, roleplaying, superheroes or even My Little Pony.
6. We have people willing and with the talent to write odes to 17th Shard.
7. People actually like [LarkoftheRiver] to an extent on here, or at least tolerate [them]
8. We can discuss anything that would start arguments in five minutes on other forums without having the fights ourselves.
9. There's a downvote system but it's never used.
10. Its the only place where [we] can haphazardly throw around Sanderson references and people actually understand.
11. People are capable of derailling threads with passionate 5 pages long battles between pet theories and in the end everyone agrees that the other has valid points, even if they are not convinced. 
12. Everyone is respectful of [our] opinion, whether they disagree or not. Everyone is supportive of ideas, theories and jokes.
13. This forum is the only place where [king of nowhere has] found people who are strongly religious but also accepting of others who are not.
14. This is the only place where [you] can find people who are even more nerds than [us[, so [we] don't feel like the weird one.
15. There are no trolls here, there is only understanding and companionship. This is a true community of like-minded individuals.
16. The fact that [we] can [talk about our beliefs/worldview] on this forum and know that no one will attack [us] for our beliefs... And this goes beyond religion to any topic.
17. On almost any other site, the Oregon RP would've gotten more raised eyebrows than requests to join
18. A thread about why the 17th shard is so awesome is so awesome that it inspires the admins to make the site more awesome. 

 

That list pretty much sums it all up(also Kobolds Poem was epic). I don't know how much more we could add to it that is different. However that doesn't diminish the importance of what is said in that list. There isn't anywhere else on the internet(In my experience) that your list can be applied to, that is what makes 17th Shard special.

 

I just hope that when Brandon becomes even more well known/famous that 17th shard isn't flooded with too many new members that ruin it. For example, if a movie is released, this could happen 

[Mistrunner]

For me this is it. As I have stated several times, I do not care if the person I am interfacing with is 13 years old or 80 years old as long as we share a common interest and when it comes to books, age truly does not matter. I sometimes smile over the age difference, but the forum makes it possible.

 

Would we talk if we were to meet in real life? Maybe not. 

 

The young want their voice to be heard and to be treated as worthy of voicing their opinion. The old do not want to be deemed too old to read fantasy books and have an interest in discussing them, so it works for everyone.

Same for me- very well said. I realize I'm likely much younger than the average demographic for this site, but nobody cares. I've found out I've been responding to people twenty years older than me. It's actually pretty cool how so many people of all ages can come together and talk about something we all like.

[WayneSpren]

This site is great for all of those reasons, but also because

 

1. it's about Brandon Sanderson books

 

2. You can offer cookies to people.

 

3. You can offer new ideas and people won't say "that's stupider than thinking Reckoners is Cosmere."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post your ideas below! Also, I like upvotes.

[Zas678]

Well, to be honest, you probably won't hear the third anywhere else either.