Welcome to our (mostly) weekly discussion group to talk about Stephen, our lives, our friendships with each other, and pretty much anything you’d like to talk about with other readers of No Fact Zone, what we here affectionately call “the Zoners”.
Good morning, Zoners! I hope everyone is having a fantastic second-to-last-weekend of the summer. This morning’s brunch is Taco Cabana breakfast tacos, which hubby was nice enough to procure for us when we looked at the room service menu and realized a bowl of oatmeal was $6.50, plus $2.50 room service charge per order, plus 18% gratuity per order.
I’m at the Crown Plaza in Addison, Texas (just north of Dallas) as one of the presenters at the OpenCamp 2010 conference. I’ll be speaking about online community because, let’s face it, the Zoners are one of the best communities out there. And I love to talk about you guys, and how Stephen has brought us all together. I think my favorite phrase I’ve ever heard about our community is that Stephen made us fans, but No Fact Zone made us friends. That’s the core of who we are and why we are here.
I believe the speakers for the conference (including me) will be streamed thanks to Cali Lewis and a couple of other magical AV ninjas. My presentation tomorrow will be at 1:30p CDT, and I’ll get more information to you if you get a chance to watch the presentation.
Also, since I’m talking about community, let’s do a little exercise in community building, shall we? Here’s your question for the day to answer and share with each other:
What motivates you to participate in the online communities where you are active?
You can talk about why you participate here at No Fact Zone, or the Colboards, the LJ forums, or even communities on other sites and in other fandoms. Please feel free to share some of the other awesome communities that you know of. I just want to hear from you what turned that switch on for you from being a passive fan to being an active community member. And those of you visiting from OpenCamp, feel free to chime in – a new, fresh perspective is always welcome here at No Fact zone!
Have a fantastic day, and I can’t wait to see the comments fill up!
Honestly, I think I skipped the passive fan and went straight into mega-superfan overdrive when I discovered The Report. When I first started watching the show (after I figured out that it was all satire), I found myself on this crazy adrenaline high, and I had nobody to share this high with. Until I found No Fact Zone.
My fandom began around the time Stephen broke his wrist, and I HAD to know what happened. I began searching online for information and No Fact Zone had every tidbit of information a serious Colbert fan NEEDED to know.
And it was it was there that I found my people.
All of the comments were completely in line with my mindset — I needed to devour every spec of information that I could about Stephen and the show, and I needed to commiserate with others who needed the same thing. And everyone who participated in the comments were all there for the same reason — because of our beloved fandom. Over the years, I have to say I’ve never come across a community of people who support each other and are there not just because of Stephen, but also for each other. And I believe, it’s through this shared love of ours and of each other that makes us one of the happiest, shiniest, blog communities on the Internets. Our little community has expanded to Twitter as well, so we’ve clearly taken our Zoner fandom and friendship to other places on the Internets.
All in all, I’m so very thankful to have become a Zoner and that I’ve been lucky enough to meet and make some wonderful friendships here.
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Wow. That was awesome, Lilimich! Well put! :)
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You hit the nail on the head with this line:
And it was it was there that I found my people.
Ain’t that a fact! I love all my NFZ friends.
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My experience is very similar to Lilimich’s! I originally discovered this site while searching for ticket information about TCR. What I found at No Fact Zone not only answered my question but provided me with an opportunity learn more about the show, its contributors, and most importantly, the host! My passive fan faded and I became a superfan, too! For a while I lurked around, reading taping reports, episode guides and other posts. I found that many of the Zoners held the same views I had, read many of the same books, were interested in the same movies, etc. But, some didn’t and it didn’t matter. I was exposed to new ideas and perspectives in a wonderful, supportive forum of “it-getters” (not many of my family/friends are “it-getters” so it is wonderful to have an outlet!)
Soon, I was commenting pretty regularly and felt right at home. In fact, I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to do so! The community here was, and continues to be sincere, honest and respectful. Because of this site, I ventured on to Twitter (shellichelle) and have extended the community feeling. In my opinion, that has so much to do with DB and The Completists’ hard work in maintaining such a thorough site and modeling their expectations. They are always on the lookout for blog content and regularly pose questions to the community to gain our input for the site.
I have not experienced another fandom that is as consistent, positive and supportive! It is so much fun to go to a place where participants can discuss, laugh and geekout/freakout over the contents of our favorite show and Fundit, Stephen Colbert. I am so thankful to be a Zoner!
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Hey! I didn’t know you were shellichelle! Silly me… :-)
I agree with all you said.
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I am! I really should streamline my online id’s so it’s not so confusing. :)
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i discovered tcr last summer when i was at home and very bored. my mom mentioned him and i searched youtube and then google and then i discovered that they have all the episodes online! at first i would participate on the colboards on tcr website but i hate how u need to click so many things just to enter a comment.
whenever i would search for something abt colbert a nfz article would pop up and i was like wow this website is rlly good with colbert facts. it took me a good couple months to realize that nfz is only devoted to stephen. and thats rlly when i started to comment more and more.
its a running joke in my family to see how long dinner will go before i mention colbert. and i think NFZ gives me and others the opportunity to just go crazy with our love for stephen
good luck at the event db!
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I discovered TCR in November of ’06, and once I became obsessed with the show I had to know all things Colbert and find like-minded people to share my obsession with. NFZ was one of the first places I landed, and I haven’t left since. Not only was I getting every bit of Colbert news that could possibly be found on the Internets, but I discovered that everyone else who posted here was just as hooked on the show as I was, and equally eager to discuss it. This is one of the friendliest and most supportive communities I’ve ever encountered online, and even though I’ve had to curtail my participation in other online forums due to a lack of time, I’d never consider leaving here. This is my favorite place to hang out. I like it so much I even volunteered to be part of the amazing team of Completists who keep everything running around here. I’m not really a “joiner,” but that’s how awesome our little community is. My whole experience as a Zoner has been completely positive, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
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I discovered NFZ during a holiday break and I was hungering for Colbert Report news. I was so psyched to find such a great fan-driven community, and very shortly thereafter I volunteered to help out with the site.
And I agree with luvtcr above — the community here is positive and supportive, and it’s a joy to interact with folks here. We might not always agree (although we seem to a lot of the time), but the discussion never degenerates into flaming or name-calling like you see on a lot of other fansites, or news sites or even YouTube for heaven’s sakes. I’ve stopped reading comments on pretty much every other blog that I read, but not here.
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I’m trying to remember when or how I discovered the No Fact Zone, and coming up empty. I love this site, and everyone on it! DB, you and all the Completists keep us entirely up-to-date with all the Stephen factoids, and the community here couldn’t be nicer.
I’ve been watching the Report since the very beginning, and it’s great to have a place to go to find out either what something meant (Four Horses of the Apopcalypse) or to re-live what suits Stephen wore last week (Fangirl Suit Report).
The re-caps are also wonderful (thank you, DB). They give me a chance to kind of re-live each episode, and try to vote for my favorite segment.
As Lilimich and luvtcr pointed out, our friendships with each other have spilled over to FB and to Twitter, for which I’m thankful. It was fun to follow along on Twitter as Lilimich just went to a taping. My Colbert Tweeps are definitely more like actual friends than anyone else I follow there.
And who better to geek out with about every little Stephen thing? His hair, the character breaks, Cheating Death segments, or the ridiculous King Tut’s Penis recurrence? I love it all, and hardly anyone in my real life is much of an it-getter. My husband is an it-getter, but he’s not the fangirl that I am. Thankfully, he’s pretty understanding. :-)
Anyway, it’s nice to spread the joy of the Joy Machine around our community. Thank you, DB for bringing us all together!
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I can’t entirely remember how I found No Fact Zone, but I believe — like several people here — it was during a search for tickets. And ultimately thanks to a heads-up posted on NFZ, i did get to see a taping! Thanks, DB.
But if that’s the reason I first discovered NFZ, that’s not the reason I’ve stayed tuned or keep posting. I did a graduate degree in cinema studies, and one of my pleasures is having good, in-depth discussions of films and TV shows I love–hearing different opinions, discovering something that I missed but someone else caught, and exchanging ideas. I had that in the past when I used to be on The X-Files site, and I really enjoyed that. But once that show ended (or should I say, kind of faded out), I didn’t belong to any other TV fan site till now.
I came to Colbert rather late, and am still playing catch-up in a way. NFZ is a great place to get background and find old clips that I may never have caught before. Plus, there are always inside taping reports and advance news on Stephen’s activities. And it’s a consistent pleasure to find intelligent, respectful, enlightening commentary on TCR. (After all, does the show deserve anything less?) I always learn something new, or find a humorous comment to amuse me. It’s just a great site.
And have a great time with your talk tomorrow, DB! Hope it goes brilliantly.
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What motivates me most to participate in communities on LiveJournal in particular is the small, tight-knit family of friends that you can create there. I like the environment and their slogan actually proclaims that you can find friends with similar interests to yours all over the world, and that’s what I’ve done in my five years there. Of all the social networking sites I’ve participated in, I’ve had the best experience with LiveJournal, by far. I like the people there and I just like the atmosphere that LiveJournal creates, with the capability to create your own content and build friendships.
I’m not sure if that answers your question, haha. As for No Fact Zone, what motivates me to participate here is that we all love Stephen! It’s really nice to have a place where I know I can log on, find the news circulating around Stephen, and then discuss it with you guys. I know my family certainly doesn’t care much about how much I love Stephen, but I know that you guys do. It’s great that you’ve created a place where we can all gather and talk about something important to us.
So, I suppose the all-encompassing reason for me to participate in online communities is to find people with shared interests and to gain that sense of belonging. That’s part of why I love the internet so much, and it’s definitely why I love No Fact Zone. :)
Best of luck on your presentation tomorrow, DB! :D
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“I know my family certainly doesn’t care much about how much I love Stephen, but I know that you guys do.”
Apparently we have the same family. ;)
My brother is a big fan of both TDS and TCR (he’s the one that rode to New Jersey with me to see Stephen last year), but the only time I talk about either show with my parents is when there’s a particularly great segment that I want to mention to them. I actually like that I can’t talk about Stephen to most people; it’s more fun to share it with people that I know will understand and it does help create that sense of belonging that you mentioned. :)
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HA! This is almost creepy…we do have the same family. My brother watches the shows with me, and I’m glad to at least have someone to enjoy the shows on that level. And I do the same thing with my parents – just mention specific segments. But fangirling over Stephen is definitely an internet thing. That’s a good point, it makes this place more special. :)
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Everyone’s comments have been so wonderful, I can only do my best to add to them.
I’ve been a part of other online communities before, but none as much as NFZ, and NFZ is the only one I am still an active member of. I’ve always been a fan of the Report, but became a hardcore fan last year, immediately after watching the first episode they broadcast from Iraq. I don’t remember the specifics of what happened after that, but I do know that No Fact Zone was the first TCR and All Things Colbert-centric site that I stumbled upon, and I haven’t looked back since.
The thing that separates NFZ from everything else on the web, Colbert-related or otherwise, is the level of respect and intelligence. It’s just nice to be able to share ideas with everyone here in an intelligent, ridiculously fun way. Everyone here is so respectful of Stephen, the show, and all of the other Zoners; it’s like the site is waving a giant Welcome flag every time I come back. A very shiny, very happy, Welcome flag.
Part of the reason that respect is so important to me is that it gives me a comfortable outlet for when I just can’t contain my geekiness over Stephen and TCR…which, let’s face it, is most of the time. Sure, I love things like episode re-caps and Zeitgeist posts, but sometimes I just wanna talk about how cute Stephen looks in a pinstripe suit. Or when a moment on the show makes me laugh until my face hurts. Like Lilimich said, I finally found my people. :)
I can’t imagine my life without NFZ – I’m so happy you’re all here. :) And good luck at the conference, DB!
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I absolutely agree – there’s a level of respect and intelligence that just permeates this site and it makes it a pretty unique place in the interwebs, I think. That’s a great point. =)
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