The 17th Shard is Amazing

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but holy crap this is such an amazing website.

I've only been posting to the Shard for 1.7419 months, but in that time I have been so impressed with every possible aspect of this website.

I don't know who is responsible for the website design and notification system, but this website is one of the best implemented websites for computer and mobile that I've ever seen. The design is simple, yet intuitive (I am in the process of finishing up designing and laying out a book on Intuitive Design). The ribbon at the top of the post exposes every tool you need to control the format of your post, and the biggest Kudos of all go to the fact that all of these tools are accessible and usable in the mobile version of the site! Holy crap, it's amazing, and because it's so amazing I know that a lot of hard work into getting it to this point. @Chaos is primarily responsible for how amazing this website is).

Prior to the release of OB, I was posting on the Tor.com forum. Adonalsium bless them for releasing the chapters 3 at a time before the release of the book, but when I was commenting on their forum I had to maintain a separate txt file that I would pre-write my posts in, because when you hit the submit button an hours worth of speculation and well worded thought could be lost in the nebulous vacuum of the interwebs. I am still continually impressed at how well implemented this forum is. The fact that if you start typing a comment, go to a different page and come back and the comment is automatically repopulated blew me away the first time I saw it. What an amazing feature! The coders that are responsible for this amazing bit of non-cosmere magic should reply to this and I will upvote you until my upvotes run out, and mention you here (so others can upvote you too).

The other thing that is truly special about this site, is that it truly is like the Forum of Periclean Athens. Every voice can be heard and all citizens are respectful, intelligent, and interested in advancing the common good.

I think actually, given the level of scholarship on this site, that the better analogy is the Library of Alexander under Ptolemy I. It is truly amazing to be able to theorize and speculate with some of the most intelligent people currently inhabiting the Physical Realm of our planet about the minute and subtle details of the Cosmere.

I just want to thank the Moderators of this site, you do an amazing job of diffusing potential problems that are counter productive to the discussion (which is why we are all here, right?) and keeping everything running smoothly. From my short time on the shard I have to say that @Chaos, @Greywatch, and @Pagerunner (sorry if I missed anyone) you guys do an amazing job fostering an environment where the discussion is the primary thing people are focusing on.

I also have to say that Arcanum is amazing! Having searchable WoBs, with the primary source sound clip included, is ridiculously amazing (and as far as I understand it @Mestiv, @Jofwu, and @Pagerunner are primarily responsible for how amazing Arcanum is). The amazing people that devote their time to make sure we have the Authoritative WoBs deserve praise as well (and incidentally these are some of the nicest, smartest people on the Shard that I have interacted with). Envisage if you will, Princess Leia is giving out very attractive medallions for you efforts in shedding light into the dark places of speculation, as she mentions your name, you come forward to receive your awesome necklace medallion (and Chewbacca does his Chewy vocalization as all of you are mentioned) @Calderis, @RShara, @Extesian  @Oversleep, @Argent, and @WeiryWriter thanks for all your work (Arcanum is RAD!).

If I had to pick a primary selector for whether I want to talk to a particular person or not, my primary selector would be "Do you like the works of Brandon Sanderson or not?".

Everyone on the Shard passes this test, and I feel truly blessed that there is a place where truly intelligent discussions about the extremely important ramifications of small factoids about the cosmere exists.

Thanks all, and if I missed anyone that should be acknowledged, let me know and I will edit this post.

*EDIT* Please don't upvote this post, upvote one of the contributors that has made this such a special place. This is a total appreciation thread, give the love to the people who deserve it.

Edited January 6, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
*Will be adding the names of everyone involved

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

You need to spend some time here in Gen disc to get even more scope,all that and the just how supportive and amazing the community is, is very awe-inspring.

 

[+Extesian he/him]

Thank you for the thanks. I was nowhere the contributor to Arcanum that some were, particularly Argent, and it would be nothing without Weiry, who created and populated the vast majority of it, and Mestiv who spent much of his year coding it (both of whom have my endless thanks). But I'm delighted you're enjoying it here and that you appreciate Arcanum

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

31 minutes ago, Darkness_ said:

You need to spend some time here in Gen disc to get even more scope,all that and the just how supportive and amazing the community is, is very awe-inspring.

I don't know any of you, and my wife would probably disagree (but if you PM with something compelling I could probably sway her) but my gut instinct says that if any of you needed a place to stay in Eugene Oregon you would be welcome at my house (note though the bolded portion above).

I realize that this is a special place, kindness and intelligence don't often align (as witnessed by Mr. T), but here they do.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

8 minutes ago, Extesian said:

Thank you for the thanks. I was nowhere the contributor to Arcanum that some were, particularly Argent, and it would be nothing without Weiry, who created and populated the vast majority of it, and Mestiv who spent much of his year coding it (both of whom have my endless thanks). But I'm delighted you're enjoying it here and that you appreciate Arcanum

Everything matters, work that you do because you believe it in is worth more than work you get paid for. Arcanum is such an amazing resource, and I can see how much time and effort went into that. It boggles my mind that it exists, at the same time, it is proof that like Pangloss said in Candide "This is truly the best of all possible worlds". Anyone that refutes that, I would say, Exhibit A: The 17th shard.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

@Darkness_ I've looked through the General Discussion threads enough to know that there are Kind (mention it first because it seems to be the primary attribute), Intelligent (second because it's the secondary Surge that Sharders share), and Creative people here. This is a special place, this is a place where people help each other out, where people hear each other out, and where we can all bask in the radiant glow of Brandonalsium.

This is totally for real. Before Oathbringer came out, my favorite author of all times was Plutarch. His comparative Lives of the Noble Grecian and Romans was the best thing I had ever read, and it was one of the ONLY books that I have ever read that made me actively try and figure out what it was to be a better person.

After OB, Plutarch has been pushed down to #2, Brandon writes with the same moral imperative but his canvas is much larger. He's not restricted to details that have actually happened, and he seriously has outlines that span 4+ books for extended metaphors. Possibly the best thing about Brandon's writing is that, as a thinking, critical human being, after finishing one of Brandon's books, I think that I am better human being. The questions he raises, the thought he puts into the character arcs, they all add up a picture of everyone trying to do better. And really this is the ultimate aim in life, try and do better.

I am seriously thinking about making a t-shirt based on OB that says (OB spoilers):

Spoiler

Stand up and do better — Dalinar Kholin

[Mestiv he/him]

I'm really happy you enjoy your time here  But I have to correct you! I haven't touched any site under the 17thshard.com domain. No forum, no gallery etc. It's all managed by @Chaos, so it's really him you should praise for design  (And creators of IPS suite, that is behind this forum). I'm only responsible for coding Arcanum/Palanaeum. As time-consuming as it was, it's much simpler and smaller than the forum itself.

 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

@Mestiv I updated the OP, does this look like the attribution is right? If not, let me know and I'll change it so it's right. I love your signature by the way, creepily reassuring....

[Oversleep]

5 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

I am still continually impressed at how well implemented this forum is. The fact that if you start typing a comment, go to a different page and come back and the comment is automatically repopulated blew me away the first time I saw it. What an amazing feature!

Do not rely on it, though. It's useful at times but it's not something you should rely on. If I'm posting something long, I occassionaly back it up somewhere else (like I did when writing the Oathbringer Letters Theory).

Thanks for your kind words, but I'm nowhere near the top contributors to Arcanum. I don't remember stats right now but I feel there are some more people that deserve a mention

[Calderis he/him]

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine as far as Arcanum goes, there's two people I'd like to mention as well.

@Jofwu for having magical ears that can make out words in the worst audio, and @Pagerunner for being singlehandedly responsible for compiling damnation near every Reddit and Twitter WoB we have (Page is a beast) 

 

[Pagerunner he/him]

Hey watch it with the double posts, buddy. Flattery will get you nowhere around these parts!

(In all seriousness, using the "+" button to the left of the quote button will let you reply to a multiple people at the same time. And thanks for the kind words.)