I'm similar to you, PaintedWings. Any form of group or community is intimidating to me, both online and offline. I have some sort of expectation - or fear - that I'm going to make myself look like an idiot in front of everybody... And I stay away from most social interactions because of that. Even my closest friends sort of ignore me at times. I really only have like 2 or 3 friends that actually care about me. This fandom is different, though. Mostly everybody involved is nice, kind-hearted, or generous. It's certainly different than, say, the furry fandom; sure, they look like a friendly bunch, but really, the communities are filled with arrogance and generally just really weird people, for the most part. In short, life's sometimes not fair; you just have to make good of what you have, and you'll be fine.