Why are you lurking? Huh? HUH? WHY???
Open up pretty much any post in this community and you are likely to see lots and lots of comments. A lot of them are by the same ten to fifteen people, and many of them contain references to in-jokes that you may not understand unless you happened to have read the posts within which they originated.
You may also have noticed that a certain tone tends to govern the discourse around here. While the active participants may not always agree with each other, there's a certain straight-lacedness to how we disagree. The insanity is free-wheeling, but substantive discussion is always respectful and tolerant.
The question is, is it too tolerant? Is it all so respectful that you feel almost afraid to join in, lest you trample some subtle flower bed of etiquette and receive a darn good talking-to? Or be snubbed and ignored?
Seriously, though, if you are a lurker in our community, we (the more active community members) would like to hear about why you choose to remain on the sidelines. If we are projecting an air of exclusivity, we want to know. If we are somehow being intimidating or unwelcoming, tell us about it.
We all want the best for our fandom, including continued growth and a healthy culture of variety and diversity. If you would like to be more active but are being stopped by something the rest of us are doing or not doing, I really hope you'll take this opportunity to tell us about it. For this purpose, IP logging has been turned off and anonymous posting has been allowed, so please speak freely.
Give it to us straight, folks. We can take it. :)
You may also have noticed that a certain tone tends to govern the discourse around here. While the active participants may not always agree with each other, there's a certain straight-lacedness to how we disagree. The insanity is free-wheeling, but substantive discussion is always respectful and tolerant.
The question is, is it too tolerant? Is it all so respectful that you feel almost afraid to join in, lest you trample some subtle flower bed of etiquette and receive a darn good talking-to? Or be snubbed and ignored?
Seriously, though, if you are a lurker in our community, we (the more active community members) would like to hear about why you choose to remain on the sidelines. If we are projecting an air of exclusivity, we want to know. If we are somehow being intimidating or unwelcoming, tell us about it.
We all want the best for our fandom, including continued growth and a healthy culture of variety and diversity. If you would like to be more active but are being stopped by something the rest of us are doing or not doing, I really hope you'll take this opportunity to tell us about it. For this purpose, IP logging has been turned off and anonymous posting has been allowed, so please speak freely.
Give it to us straight, folks. We can take it. :)