For the attention of Alex. Re: new forums.

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Here's a link to it Alex, Paolo also started a thread about it, outlining suggestions, I'm just trying to track it down.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... sc&start=0



I'm hoping that Paolo will comment about this, and as Bizarre can't write much at the moment ~ I'll try and encapsulate it. As I see it, there is a need for a forum for the older members, say 30+ because although there is the Dino-Aspie forum, which is very popular, many of us find it a problem to follow a discussion in a single thread. Also a 30+ forum would include more members. (I'm sure younger members who wished to post here would be very welcome too, if they were interested).
I think Paolo was thinking of a slower-moving forum where specifically age-related topics could be discussed, also a corner for discussing books and articles about autism and also a 'reading group'.
Maybe it would be possible to combine the two requirements into a single forum. The Random Discussion is too 'busy' and WP does lack a more 'serious' area for discussions, of a slower-moving nature, I feel anyway.

I think Aylissa would want to comment further about the Parents forum, but I am looking for further links to the threads in which all the new forums were discussed.

Also, why 30+? well, there is definitely a need for an 'older' forum, otherwise the Dino-Aspie corner would not be as popular as it is. If we made it 30+ and with separate threads, it would not exlude the 'younger oldies'.

i don't see why old people can't talk about adult issues in the adult issues forum.

I'd lend my support to the 30+ thread and the Parents with AS thread.

In particular, I find that the Parents forum doesn't feel particularly welcoming for me as an AS parent with NT kids. I have a whole host of different problems to those of NT parents bringing up AS children. Whilst clearly any of us can post in there, it is couched in the terms of being a forum for parents of AS children, and that's what it mostly seems to be.

The 30+ thread - well there are a lot of experiences that relate to older Aspies, really just through the fact we have been around longer. Obviously it would still be open to all, but we could keep our "old fogie" threads together where we're not necessarily going to be boring the hell out of the younger members.

Alex, we're asking about a forum for older people discussing stuff, not Adult Issues - whihc to my mind is the stuff you wouldn't want your kids to see.

Well the adult issues forum is just for X rated stuff mainly.

It sure is! It even makes me blush and I'm not exactly shy Hardly the place to have a nice quiet discussion

Here's Paolo's original thread (from page 2 onwards refers to the ideas about new forum)

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... c&start=15

There is no x rated stuff in the adult forum, by the way. Wrong Planet is not that kind of a website...

Also, I don't see very many "adult" threads (i don't know what to look for though really) in the general autism forum either which is where you'd post if you were embarrassed about descriptions of normal human processes.

I can't create a new forum until there are enough posts on a daily basis and enough already existing threads that would go there that I can move before I open the forum to the public. (like what happened with the quiz forum) I can't just open an empty forum...

noone has even given me an example of what would be posted in this +30 forum. In the past I've created forums based on popular request that I had to kill off due to the fact that none of the people who complained earlier actually posted in it. But at least those proposals were based on something concrete that I was made aware of.

OK well, firstly a lot of members who would probably post in the 30+ forum already post in the Dino_Aspie. They would probably use both.

For example, all of Paolo's posts could be classed as suitable. Have you noticed that a lot of members who used to post in those 'more thoughtful' threads, (for want of a better word ) no longer post anywhere. So why would that be? Maybe because there is no discussion forum here! (Apart from Random, which is good, but too quick-moving, too random)
By 'Adult' do we mean the same thing here? I'm talking 'more serious discussion' for want of a better description.

Couldn't you start a couple of new forums, say 30+, and the AS Parents with kids, and see how they go? The threads supporting them got LOTS of support. It would make a lot of members happy, maybe bring back some who've left. What harm could it do? I'm sure they'd be popular and if they weren't well, you'd have been responding to the requests of WP members. Which is

And also....it would be the ideal forum for members to write about their special interests, to share them with others. It is one of our qualities, as people on the spectrum, that we like to explore subjects in great depth.

You've given the role-players the section that they asked for...so don't discriminate against us oldies.

Tell you what Alex, you are a very hard man to convince. I wouldn't like to try and sell you double-glazing, lol.

Last edited by Starr on 02 May 2007, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My theory is unknowingly the real motivation for this new forum is to create a forum where persons who have relatively low ADHD traits(50% or less on my test ) can be free of those of us who are highly ADHD. Oh thats why I created my ADHD /ASD ratio tests to see if people who tended to dislike me score much less ADHD than me and vise-versa. I think my theory is correct for the simple reason that people could post and do post in an existing forum now like the Dino-aspie thread. So they could create unlimited new threads in the same forum with Dino in the subject line. But what they really want is a place to draw a clear line that separates what they do not like about WP from them and hope they will feel more comfortable there. Which may in fact happen.

Ooh, I'm not sure about the ADHD theory TM1, I don't think I've done that test. Have you a link to it? Might be interesting to take the test.



Hmmm, well, I have to disagree with this personally, although I don't know what motivates everyone else who wants a separate forum. I don't post in the Dino Aspie at all because it's too confusing trying to follow the conversation without separate threads. I don't think I'd be one of the 'go into a forum and never be seen again' members, lol. I like the 'play' threads a lot too. I think it's good that members of all ages mingle, seniors and kids, I kind of see the new forums as giving WP an added dimension, not somewhere to go and be 'intellectual', lol.

Actually, if I were to name a forum for me, it would be the 'slightly bewildered' forum

Hmm...perhaps instead of a topical forum
we should just have a 'long-winded' one?

I'll shut up then.

No, because my best friend in real life has ADHD in fact she is my only real friend and we have been friends forever - almost 20 yrs.

I think I proposed something like “Books and discussion about autism”. That should make clear that it would be different from “Do auties prefer cats or dogs?” , a thread that I initiated myself a little while ago and received many nice and interesting posts. The idea is not to cut anybody out (so I am against “30+” and the “adult” idea, which seems to refer to adult intimate problems, quite legitimate, but again off the mark). I understand that there is something a little stratifying in this. But it’s only focusing better on some problems, not elitism or much less snobbery.

What he said. All of it.

Hope no one minds me butting in here, but I think a separate place for older Aspies is a wonderful idea. I've tried participating in the Dino thread, but I get lost within that long spiral of conversation, and feel a little awkward, as if I'm crashing an exclusive party (I know -- silly). It's just that so many folks there are having long, ongoing conversations, so it feels weird for me to suddenly jump in... A separate forum where we can start new threads or join in existing ones makes sense.

I tend to stick to only a few forums as it is -- a lot of the ones I don't visit regularly include much banter between the youngsters, playful flirting, discussions about school and whatnot. I WISH I could fit in there, but alas, I am a hag.

Also, the Adult Forum, although certainly not X-rated in the least, is not my cup of tea. I don't know...Could it be that I have absolutely no interest in if someone's tasted their own semen, perchance?

What Hamster said!! Exactly.

(Sorry calandale, I'm off again, chattering on as usual, you'll just have to put yer fingers in yer ears )