I was reading an old Clay Shirky blog post, A Group Is Its Own Enemy.
It talks about some of the interesting characteristics of groups (in particular online communities), such as how essentially groups need some kind of government, otherwise they’ll spend all of their time talking about “enemies” or sex or how awesome their values/heroes/etc. [...]

How can wallflowers become great schmoozers? There’s a lot you can learn from great talkers. First, don’t let common myths about schmoozing stop you from being a great conversationalist.