I'm really late to the party. I stumbled across QAF just this past fall, and LJ and IJ soon after. I lurked around for several months reading lots, but not even commenting. One day, a couple of months ago maybe, I realized I felt terrible for not telling folks how much I liked their work (must have been the ghost of my Mother telling me it was rude.) So I started commenting(probably a little too much)on peoples fics and am slowly working my way into participating in other things. Everyone is super nice and I have felt very welcomed.