Should I become a mod here?

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Its not 'interesting'.

It's exactly what you would expect...because WP has looser rules, and AF has tighter rules.

I joined AF about a year ago and was active for about one week. Long enough to say hello to one former WP person there.

Its peaceful there. They dont ALLOW you to talk politics UNLESS you go to one specific subforum reserved for that (and even then there some hoops you have to jump through in order to use that subforum as I recall). So you dont get the vitriol you get here. But it is rather stifling. And they have odd rules like you can't post just to say "i agree with the above post".

So take your pick. AF is like a monastery, and WP is like a western saloon (you hafta start a drunken brawl before they toss you out ).

Just now revisted the site. You now have to download an app to use it. Hate that.

I'd like to join a different forum, as this one is getting on my nerves. Things that should be rules aren't rules, and some of the rules that do exist are too ridiculous. Also this place is way too PC, so I have to mask a lot when here as not to get people excited. It's just where I live - nobody I know is PC.

But I'm not downloading an app for a forum though, because I have too many apps on my phone as it is.

Many forums have stricter rules than WP, and some are so impersonal it’s hard to get to know people and form friendships. There’s no perfect forum out there.

I tend to like the rules that WP has because it makes things more inclusive for everyone.

I read one such thread on that forum. I recall that Alex Plank himself pitched up with a couple of posts, and got a very 'mixed' reception, to say the least.

Maybe I should have said amusing. Another way to put it is the complaint here is that people on AF are too nice. The complaint on AF is the people on WP are too mean. I think maybe the reason why the mods seem too touchy on AF to some WP people, is because they get reported a lot by AF members who are used to more civility.



I just went onto AF on my PC and phone and didn't experience that.

I've spent a little bit of time on AF over the years, but not much.

Pros:
It's a totally different climate but it has its benefits. I find there's much more of a focus on autism support, and most people are interested in having serious or even academic conversations. There's very little infighting, sarcasm, joking around, or trolling. I've never used their politics section so I can't speak to that. Political fights don't leak out into other areas of the forum at all. People are free to have any religious or political affiliation and no one gets bullied for it. I like that they aren't obsessed with talking about sex there, like some people here. There's a big chat room if you want to IM. The PM system is much better and it's more advanced in features. There's always a mod on site, 24/7. Everything I've ever reported has been responded to and dealt with within five minutes of my report (that's no exaggeration). That's not a slight against WP's mods, just something noteworthy about AF. There are some other perks like being able to block or totally ignore specific users, create multiple levels of privacy safeguards, create blogs, or access a full library of ASD and mental health resources.


Cons:
I don't like the idea of people "following" each other so that's an issue for me. Unfortunately you have to "follow" people in order to block other people, so it's kind of a Catch-22. Another issue I have there is that somehow it feels bigger than WP. I know it isn't, but somehow everyone seems polite and unfamiliar like a roomful of strangers, whereas I know the main players here, and WP feels more like a family (albeit a dysfunctional one, sometimes).


Overall:
Most people I know have accounts at both sites, so it's not a matter of choosing one over the other. It's just a different vibe. If I had a specific problem about autism or I needed autism support I would almost certainly go there. If I wanted to have fun and joke around or argue with people, I'd come here.


I'm in other autism forums as well so there are definitely more than two.

Oh, also .... I don't need an app for AF, although I have shortcuts on my phone for all of the forums.

As far as I know the follow feature isn't really any different than the "see member's posting history" on WP. It's just quicker and more efficient. Putting someone on ignore is a different feature and it's very efficient. WP would likely have these features too, except it apparently hasn't been updated along those lines since it was first created.

AFAIK the current version of phpBB has no "follow" capability and would therefore require bespoke programming to add it.
Given that simply keeping phpBB up-to-date here doesn't happen, the likelihood of bespoke programming would probably be somewhere below that...

I'm not familiar with that terminology. But I do know that other forums that have been around for a long time, became more advanced than their original format.

Reading this has made me want to check this AF forum out. Sorry for being thick but what does AF stand for again? Is it just Autism Forum?

I know I read somewhere in this thread that WP has less rules than AF, but the way I see it sometimes less is more. Maybe I'll fit in more on this AF site and not keep being corrected all the time in a way that makes me feel belittled. Some people here expect you to know everything and if you unintentionally get your facts wrong some jump all over you because of it.

I think I'll go and check this AF place out. I'm slowly being driven out from WP and I don't know why I stay here to be honest.

phpBB was launched as v1.0 in 2000 so in that respect, it's venerable, widely used, and still well-supported.

I suspect that, rather than adding "me too" Facebook capabilities the concentration is on stability, longevity, with a slower introduction of whizz-bang features that might be seen as frivolous.
But aside from being intrinsically highly configurable it also supports add-ons; there's lively development in that area so theoretically at least, users are free to take it in whatever direction they want.

Unfortunately, not here...

It does seem to be a safer feeling place but some say it can be a bit boring too.
There is no reason why you cannot be on both?
Variety is the spice of life and all that.

^ Safer in what way? I don't find wrongplanet unsafe.

Safer psychologically and emotionally mostly due to tighter rules and regulation by mods.
Less trolling and jumping on people.

I did not say WP was unsafe when I said AF had a safer feeling about it.

Some just find the boundaries on AF reassuring.

Some people feel the same way about straight-jackets.

Well I do want to leave here now, maybe I'll just pop back every now and again to read PMs, as I don't want to just abandon the nice people here, such as Kraftiekortie, IsabellaLinton, Caz72, Chris89, KitLily, TwilightPrincess, Fnord, Enviro(can't remember rest of name), Funeralxmpire, oh and many more (apologies if your name hasn't been mentioned, doesn't mean I don't like you). But you know who you are and if you like you're always welcome to PM me.

I just feel like you can't say anything on here any more without your post being deleted, even this one will probably be deleted. But I've reached my limit now, my posts have been deleted once too many times now, and I feel it's time I moved on and started over again on a different forum.

But if you're also on AF please don't go yelling out "are you Joe90 from WP??" because I really need to move on from this place and I don't want to be reminded of it on another forum.

It's been a great 12 years and I would stay here forever but it's obvious that things have changed here and it's been slowly driving me away for the last year or so now. Please don't delete this post because it might be my final post and I'm bidding all the good people here a farewell. Maybe I'll be back someday.

Goodbye.