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Wow, thanks so much for the great responses! I give you all +700 awesomeness, plus good karma in the form of finding a great parking spot when you least expect it. You've earned it.

Hi, all. Here’s the thing. I’m about to finish up my degree in English and only one project stands in my way: a virtual ethnography for a folklore class. Basically what that entails is picking an online community and observing/interviewing its members to get a feel for the "culture" of the community. ("Culture" meaning anything from inside jokes to slang to memes, etc.) I've always been a fan of Brandon Sanderson and I kept hearing about this 17th Shard fansite and wanted to check it out… so I did. Turns out it’s pretty great. In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, I've decided to use the awesome 17th Shard community for my ethnography. And so I come to you, dear Sharders, for help. Any time that you could put into answering the questions below would be greatly appreciated. The paper will only be read by my professor, and responses can be kept anonymous if desired. (Note: I got permission from Chaos to post this, so pretty please don’t come chasing after me with torches and pitchforks) • What does a new member need to know in order to really fit in with this community? • What is a common mistake that new group members often make? • Has the community helped you through a tough or emotional time? • Is there a specific event/post/moment where you felt like you had transitioned from noob to accepted member? (hopefully spikes weren’t involved…) • Tell me about your favorite meme or inside joke from the 17th Shard. (For instance… what’s with the waffles?) • Is there anything you think I should know about this great community that I haven’t asked about? Feel free to respond in a post below or via email on my profile. Again, any input would help immensely and will be rewarded with a substantial number of awesomeness points.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone! I prefer to write young adult fiction; however, my undergrad program shuns genre fiction in favor of plain literary fiction, so I haven't been able to dabble in YA for a while. I've been getting into a bit of creative nonfiction lately as well.

Hi all! The name's Brooke. I'm a student just finishing up my undergraduate degree in English. My emphasis is creative writing, though I've done a lot of work on the technical writing side as well. I'm a longtime fan of Mr. Sanderson's. I've read all of his works except Alloy of Law. I've been using it as a motivational tool for graduation. (Two weeks!) When I'm not doing homework I enjoy playing all kinds of sports, especially soccer. Any MLSers out there? I'm also teaching myself how to play the acoustic guitar. Kind of cliche, but there you have it. Excited to be here with you all!